San Antonio, TX (My Sportsbook) - Anthony Carter's basket with 28.4 seconds remaining lifted the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs to an 83-82 win over the Phoenix Suns at the SBC Center in the season-opener for both clubs.

Tim Duncan, who has been named the MVP of the regular season the last two seasons and was also the MVP of last year's Finals, scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Spurs, who led for only 46 seconds of the game.

Malik Rose ended with 12 points and Carter finished with 10 for San Antonio, which has won nine of its last 12 home games against Phoenix.

Stephon Marbury scored 24 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists for the Suns, who have lost their last five season-openers.

Shawn Marion added 20 points and seven rebounds for Phoenix, which was ousted by San Antonio in six games in the first round of the playoffs last year.

Prior to the game, San Antonio received its championship rings in a special on-court ceremony conducted by league commissioner David Stern and then unveiled its 2002-03 championship banner. The Spurs won their second title in the last five years by defeating New Jersey in six games in last season's NBA Finals.

Phoenix took a 76-71 lead on Joe Johnson's floater with 5:53 left in the fourth quarter, but the Spurs scored four straight to get right back to within one. Hedo Turkoglu's jumper with 3:51 left gave San Antonio its first lead of the game at 77-76, but Johnson then hit one free throw to tie the game.

The Suns scored five of the next seven points, capped by a free throw from Marbury, to claim an 82-79 edge with 1:26 remaining in the fourth. After a San Antonio basket, the Spurs forced a turnover and then took the lead at 83-82 on Carter's layup with 28.4 seconds left. Carter collected an offensive rebound on Bruce Bowen's miss as he was left alone on the weak side and put in the easy bucket for the lead.

"It was looking real ugly at the beginning, but we knew we had a 48-minute game," said Carter. "Everybody just stayed focused and did their job."

Phoenix came down and held for a shot as the clock was running down, but Marbury missed a jumper. The rebound was tapped back to Marbury, but he missed again and Anfernee Hardaway's desperation chance just before the horn sounded fell short.

The Suns grabbed a 16-2 edge seven minutes into the game courtesy of a 12-0 run to seize the double-digit lead. San Antonio was not able to get anything going as it went 1-for-9 from the field with seven turnovers in the early stages of the contest.

Phoenix led by as many as 15 in the first period and held a 28-19 cushion after one quarter. Marbury keyed the fast start as he hit on 6-of-8 shots and scored 14 points.

Bowen's layup with 5:24 left in the opening half brought the Spurs within 32-26 and Ron Mercer later trimmed the deficit to just two points. However, Phoenix went into the locker room with a 42-38 advantage.

Marbury led all scorers with 18 first-half points, while Duncan paced the Spurs with 10 points and eight rebounds in the opening 24 minutes.

The Suns built their lead to 10 early in the third, but San Antonio answered with an 8-0 run, capped by Carter's layup, to climb within 54-52. Phoenix got some breathing room as it stretched the advantage to nine with 2:51 left in the period, but the Spurs ended the third quarter on an 8-0 burst and trailed 68-67 after three quarters.

Duncan energized the Spurs with 10 points in the third quarter.

San Antonio's bench outscored the Suns' reserves 35-15.

Spurs' center Rasho Nesterovic, who was signed as a free agent after David Robinson retired at season's end, had only two points in 15 minutes. San Antonio point guard Tony Parker missed the game with a sprained left ankle.

Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire, the reigning Rookie of the Year, scored 10 points before fouling out.