Spurs Brazil
12-13-2008, 07:59 AM
Marc's Quote
"Really? That sucks. I wish it was 100 and I had 900 to go."
Spurs forward Tim Duncan, upon being informed by a reporter Tuesday night that his next game would be his 1,000th game in the NBA.
Turns out Duncan has reached a thousand games only if you add up his regular-season and playoff work, but you can understand the sentiment. At 32, Duncan is much closer to the end than the beginning of a career that finds him holding four championship rings through 11 full seasons ... but he's in the sort of turn-back-the-clock groove where he'd rather not hear about longevity milestones.
Duncan is looking refreshed, spry and as sharp as ever after an offseason during which he and several other Spurs took up the sport of chucking tractor tires (as well as some boxing training) to stay lean. Maybe that's why carrying this team nearly solo for a big chunk of the first 20 games while Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker recovered from ankle injuries doesn't look like it's taken much of a toll, judging by the 23 second-half points Duncan smoothly shredded Dallas with in San Antonio's double-overtime road victory Tuesday. The Mavs were hesitant to double-team Duncan with four quality shooters on the floor flanking him -- Roger Mason's fast indoctrination to the Spurs' way makes doubling Duncan even more dangerous than usual -- and were left feeling helpless when Duncan got his trusty bank shot going.
Said good friend and former Olympic teammate Jason Kidd, when asked why San Antonio's execution looked the smoothest in crunch time in what wound up as the first setback for the new three-guard lineup (Kidd, Jason Terry and J.J. Barea) that Dallas has relied on to get through Josh Howard's ankle injury: "They've got Duncan. It's a little easier when you can play through him. I don't care how old he is."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-081213-14
"Really? That sucks. I wish it was 100 and I had 900 to go."
Spurs forward Tim Duncan, upon being informed by a reporter Tuesday night that his next game would be his 1,000th game in the NBA.
Turns out Duncan has reached a thousand games only if you add up his regular-season and playoff work, but you can understand the sentiment. At 32, Duncan is much closer to the end than the beginning of a career that finds him holding four championship rings through 11 full seasons ... but he's in the sort of turn-back-the-clock groove where he'd rather not hear about longevity milestones.
Duncan is looking refreshed, spry and as sharp as ever after an offseason during which he and several other Spurs took up the sport of chucking tractor tires (as well as some boxing training) to stay lean. Maybe that's why carrying this team nearly solo for a big chunk of the first 20 games while Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker recovered from ankle injuries doesn't look like it's taken much of a toll, judging by the 23 second-half points Duncan smoothly shredded Dallas with in San Antonio's double-overtime road victory Tuesday. The Mavs were hesitant to double-team Duncan with four quality shooters on the floor flanking him -- Roger Mason's fast indoctrination to the Spurs' way makes doubling Duncan even more dangerous than usual -- and were left feeling helpless when Duncan got his trusty bank shot going.
Said good friend and former Olympic teammate Jason Kidd, when asked why San Antonio's execution looked the smoothest in crunch time in what wound up as the first setback for the new three-guard lineup (Kidd, Jason Terry and J.J. Barea) that Dallas has relied on to get through Josh Howard's ankle injury: "They've got Duncan. It's a little easier when you can play through him. I don't care how old he is."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-081213-14