One is a 32-year-old point guard, born in Belgium, a citizen of France, a man of the world as at home modeling expensive watches as he is running an NBA offense.

The other is a 23-year-old small forward who until last summer lived with his mother and speaks English, but only when spoken to.

Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard are joined by Finals MVP awards, and for a large chunk of December shared space on the injured list.

After the Spurs claimed their fifth consecutive victory Sunday, this one a 116-105 handling of admittedly short-handed Chicago at the AT&T Center, no two players have been as vital in the champs suddenly looking like the champs again.

"When the ball is moving and we're making shots, everything is easier," said Parker, who poured in a season-high 32 points. "The energy is good and we're playing defense. We're pushing the ball. Everybody is playing better."

Sunday's victory, combined with the L.A. Clippers' loss at Golden State, moved the Spurs (39-23) into a virtual tie for fifth in the Western Conference.

It doesn't take a basketball savant to pinpoint the pair whose revival has sparked the Spurs' recovery.

Asked before the game to diagnose the Spurs' resurrection after a rough February, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau began his answer this way:

"It looks like Parker's getting back to being Parker."

Backing up Thibodeau's point, Parker had everything working for a national television audience on ABC.

Parker buried a jumper on the Spurs' first possession, albeit after dribbling off his foot. He had his spin move working. He wiggled for tough shots and — most importantly of all — knocked down the open ones.

Parker finished 13 of 19, putting further distance between himself and a ragged rodeo trip. When he was done, Parker had his highest-scoring outing since Game 1 of last season's Western Conference semifinals against Portland.

"He's been in that mode for the last two or three games, and feeling very confident about his health," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I think he is where we'd like him to be."

It was a fitting explosion, perhaps, on a day Parker passed David Robinson for second on the Spurs' all-time games played list.

"I do think he needed (a game) like this," guard Manu Ginobili said. "Because he did struggle for a couple weeks with his confidence."

When Parker wasn't taking over Sunday, as he did with 15 straight Spurs points in the third quarter, last season's Finals MVP took the baton.

Leonard finished with 20 points — his career-best fourth consecutive game with at least that many — and had three of the Spurs' season-high 15 steals.

He and Parker were a key part of the Spurs' season-high 35 fast break points.

"It starts with Kawhi," Parker said of the Spurs' penchant for turning defense to offense. "Kawhi has been unbelieavble the past four or five games."

Parker has begun to turn the corner as well. The effect has been obvious on the Spurs' offense, which looks like the Spurs' offense again.

"Him scoring the ball causes double teams; him driving the lane, it gets the double," Leonard said. "He gets all of us open shots."

Sunday, the Spurs had five players in double figures and blew out the Bulls (39-25) on an afternoon in which the third Finals MVP winner on the roster — Tim Duncan — went without a field goal for the first time in his career.

Duncan missed all eight of his attempts, finishing with three points and eight rebounds, and had his hands full with Pau Gasol (23 points, 15 boards).

News of Duncan's first field goal-less outing in 1,311 games inspired a "holy (expletive)" from at least one teammate afterward. It was a mere footnote to another victory Sunday, thanks mostly to Leonard and Parker.

Before the game, Popovich said he thought his team was finally pulling out of the doldrums of the past three months.

"We're still not at a championship level," Popovich said. "But we're playing better than we have all year."

With Parker attacking and Leonard starring — the Spurs rolling with one former Finals MVP playing off another — Sunday did feel a little like a June afternoon in the AT&T Center.

Next comes the hard part.

"Now," Parker said, "we just have to maintain it."

JMcDonald

@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN