CLEVELAND - Tim Duncan, the stoic and selfless foundation of the San Antonio Spurs, finally let the emotions flow Thursday night after he won his fourth NBA title.

Duncan, on the court to the final second, jumped up and down, caught teammate Bruce Bowen for a bear hug, and held his arms above his head as a champion once again.

“It never gets old, it never gets old. Unbelievable,” Duncan said. “Such a great run, a great journey, a great bunch of guys, it’s unbelievable.”

Duncan, one of the best center/power forwards ever to play in the league, has led the Spurs with discipline, dedication and diligence.

“We’ve come so far as a group of guys going through our ups and downs and learning from them. It is such a relief to finally get it done,” Duncan said.

But in Game 4, at least, the Big Fundamental had quite a bit of help. Duncan wasn’t as prolific offensively as usual, finishing with 12 points and 15 rebounds in the Spurs’ 83-82 victory that gave them a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“You know, it was a tough close-out,” Duncan said. “It would have been sweet either way, but it made it sweeter for them to make a run, for us to answer, for us to keep our composure and to find a way to win, no matter what.”

Instead it was the team’s second- and third-leading scorers, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, who bumped up the score for San Antonio.

Parker had 24 points and was selected finals MVP, an award Duncan won after the Spurs’ titles in 1999, 2003 and 2005.

“He carried the team and I’m just happy he was on my team,” Duncan said.

Parker gave Duncan — now in his 10th year in the league, all with the Spurs — and coach Gregg Popovich credit, too.

“It starts with Pop, the fact that he never let us, you know, get comfortable,” Parker said. “Every day in practice you just get that mentality. And then Timmy is the same way, he comes to practice and practices hard every day. When your superstar practices like that, you have to practice hard.”

The Spurs completed their first-ever sweep of a finals. The Spurs are 16-6 (72 percent) all-time in the finals, the best winning percentage in the championship series history.

“We knew today that we had a great opportunity, that if we kept the game close around to the fourth quarter, we were going to have a great chance,” said Ginobili, who led the Spurs with 27 points, 13 in the fourth quarter.

While the Spurs winning without much offensive help from Duncan shows that the team is more balanced than ever, even though Duncan remains San Antonio’s base.

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“Tim is the common denominator,” Popovich said before Game 4. “It doesn’t matter what year he’s been in or what championship year. He’s got a different cast around him from ’99, ’03 and ’05.

“He’s welcomed them all, he’s found a way to help them all fit, feel comfortable in their roles, and not many players can do that.”

Duncan, the team’s leading scorer averaging 22.7 points per game in the playoffs, was largely absent offensively on Thursday. He was just 4-of-15 from the field. He did his job on defense, though, going strong on the boards to lead the Spurs with 15 rebounds.

“I didn’t play the greatest, people missed shots, they got offensive rebounds, they made plays,” Duncan said. “But we found a way to win. That’s what this team is all about.”