Monroe: Spurs' Duncan Puts Long-Range Shooting On Display

[duncan228]

Spurs' Duncan puts long-range shooting on display (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Duncan_puts_long-range_shooting_on_display.html)
Mike Monroe

The Spurs public scrimmage at the AT&T Center was followed Sunday by a 3-point shootout that produced a surprise ending: a victory for power forward Tim Duncan.

After several guards and forwards, including veteran Michael Finley, failed to make more than four shots in a truncated version of the All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout — 12 attempts in 45 seconds, rather than 25 attempts in 60 seconds — Duncan volunteered to try the long-distance competition.

Five makes later, he was the team's unofficial 3-point champion.

“When the magic number was four, I didn't think it was going to be too hard,” said new Spur Richard Jefferson, who served as PA announcer for the contest, “If he would have had to make eight, or so, it would have been hard. But either way, to have our center win the 3-point contest was very impressive.”

Jefferson, it seems, hasn't been with the club long enough to realize Duncan prefers his teammates always to refer to him as the team's power forward, and never as its center.

Tutoring the rookie: Duncan has taken rookie power forward DeJuan Blair under his wing, in more ways than one. When the Spurs came out to the court before the scrimmage, they made Blair run out first. Somewhat surprised at the cheers that greeted his arrival on the court, Blair stopped and stared at the crowd before Duncan jogged out, grabbed his arm and played puppeteer, making the rookie wave to the fans.

Blair's play in the scrimmage impressed many of his teammates, including Manu Ginobili.

“He played great,” Ginobili said. “Today we probably saw more of him than in scrimmage at the practice facility. But he did great. We know the kind of player he is. He plays really hard, with a lot of aggressiveness. He runs the floor hard.

“Today he was good. He attacked the rim hard and made some good plays. It's what we need: some aggressiveness and toughness coming from the bench.”

Fore! Spurs coach Gregg Popovich scheduled a brief practice for this morning to precede the team's annual preseason golf outing, a benefit for the Spurs Foundation. The team's preseason opener, against the Houston Rockets, is scheduled for Tuesday at the AT&T Center.

The event, with a 1 p.m. shotgun start, will be held at Canyon Springs Golf Club.

The Spurs Foundation raises funds for various programs in the community that emphasize the importance of education and recreation for children in need.

*********************

Express-News Scrimmage Slideshow.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/San_Antonio_Spurs_Scrimmage_100409.html?c=y&page=1

[Spursmania]

Duncan winning the 3 point contest :lol

[J.T.]

"But either way, to have our center win the 3-point contest was very impressive."

:nope

[siraulo23]

Is there anyway i can watch preseason games online? league pass?

[mVp]

Perfect moment to remember that three in game 1 vs Phoenix last year... someone post the vid :p

[duncan228]

Perfect moment to remember that three in game 1 vs Phoenix last year... someone post the vid :p

CmDiq9M6Sx8

[mVp]

CmDiq9M6Sx8

Still got goosebumps with that play. Love it.

[RobSM64]

I remember screaming like a nut when TD hit that 3 against phoenix.

:flag:

[TDMVPDPOY]

i say that 3 is more clutch than seans 3 against the jailblazers in 99

[J.T.]

i say that 3 is more clutch than seans 3 against the jailblazers in 99

Go directly to fail. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Turn in your Spurs fan club membership card at the door.

[WildcardManu]

I remember my brother and me going crazy in our living room with that shot.

[J.T.]

I remember when the Spurs had zero championships and I told the mall Santa that I wanted a Spurs championship for Christmas

[mystargtr34]

I think RJ is going to call him C all season - they seem to have a playful back-and-forth going.

[coopdogg3]

I remember screaming like a nut when TD hit that 3 against phoenix.

:flag:

I remember screaming like a nut "NO!!!" when he took the shot. Which was quickly followed by a very different scream. What a great game.

[Obstructed_View]

I think RJ is going to call him C all season - they seem to have a playful back-and-forth going.

I agree. I think he's just fucking with Timmy when he does that.

[Ditty]

he seemed like he shoots those 3's with ease and could clearly make them if pop wanted him too but i guess pop wants him to stay on the low block

[Agloco]

Great, just what we need, more ammo for the Anti-Mason crowd. Thanks a lot Timmy..... :rolleyes

[lurker23]

Duncan has always been capable of making three pointers, but don't expect it to become part of his regular repetoire. The Spurs offense has always been predicated on getting the best shot possible. Even if Tim were able to shoot 35% from long range, Pop and Tim both know there's half a dozen guys on the team (and likely 2 on the floor) who can do better, so why settle for the lower % shot? Tim already hits 18-footers with enough regularity to get respect outside.

[angelbelow]

Nice to hear that Duncan has taken Blair under his wing. I hope him and Blair develop a great relationship. If Blair follows Timmy's footsteps in terms of work ethic, he may become someone special.

[EmantheSpursFan]

I recorded Tims performance lol i will put it up on youtube sometime
this week haha tim made it seem easy :P

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I think it was one of the championship SI articles that told the story about Tim putting on a shooting display like that while making a commercial for a video game in a gym. After he found out that the cyber Timmy's outside shot wasn't very good in the game the real Tim proceeded to knock down three threes in a row in protest.

[duncan228]

I think it was one of the championship SI articles that told the story about Tim putting on a shooting display like that while making a commercial for a video game in a gym. After he found out that the cyber Timmy's outside shot wasn't very good in the game the real Tim proceeded to knock down three threes in a row in protest.

One of the best pieces ever done on Duncan. It's from the SI Sportsman of the Year issue, 2003. The rest of the article is on the first page of the Duncan Forum.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/group.php?groupid=7&pp=10&page=46


The Quiet Man

Two-time MVP Tim Duncan doesn't like to sound off or even share what he's really thinking. But the NBA's master of the mind game has one obsession: He needs to win at everything he does.
By S.L. Price

The basketball player is bragging again. It is endless. "Do you need a big man in the middle?" he says. He is scowling, shoving a basketball into your face. "Then I'm your man."

He has been doing this for 15 minutes: telling how great he is, how necessary, how unstoppable. "Do you need a guy who can score inside?" he says, cocksure, full of attitude, incredulous that you could even think about anyone else. "Outside? From the line? From just about anywhere on the court? Do you need a shot blocker?" He spins the ball on his finger, looks you dead in the eye. "Do you need an MVP on your team? Then I'm your man."

The director calls for a break. Outside the gym, which is tucked away at the end of a dim, hot hallway in New Jersey's Bayonne High School, the cluster of technicians, ad execs and handlers watching a monitor sit back, look at each other and begin cooing in relief and delight. "He's good! He's really good!" Truth be told, no one involved in this commercial shoot last summer for an Atari video game, Backyard Basketball, which was taped as Tim Duncan and his U.S. teammates practiced in New York City for the Olympic qualifying tournament, knew what to expect from their new spokesman. The San Antonio Spurs forward has, over the seven years of his NBA career, been a paragon of anticharisma. Addressing the world in a polite monotone, complementing his self-effacing game with a dullness so deep that it borders on funny, Duncan has never pounded his chest, drawn a finger across his throat or bantered about some reporter's wacky sport coat. Looking completely uninterested, he rattles off postgame clichés, then flees from the microphone as if from a burning automobile.

But today is different. Today, Duncan is anything but Duncanesque. Never mind that the words come from a script or that he's getting paid well to say them. To hear those words from that mouth is a shock akin to hearing a silent-movie star speak for the first time. Not that any of the words are untrue: Duncan has been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player the last two years. He is indeed your man if you've got a stake in the Spurs' drive for their third championship in six years, or in the U.S. team's hope of reclaiming its preeminence, or in some barroom argument about the one player to build a franchise around. What's surprising is that he's not hesitant to say so. He isn't going through the motions here. He's all edge and aggression, his eyebrows perfectly arched. Either he's the best actor since De Niro or, in sending out a message to an audience of seven-year-olds, Duncan has given himself permission to state his undeniable case.

"From just about anywhere on the court? Hey," he says sharply, "I'm your man."

Even when taping stops, the attitude doesn't fade, not completely. Duncan knows his own reputation, and when one of his representatives approaches to say how pleased everyone is with his performance, he begins to giggle. Duncan does this quite a bit when he's relaxed, but for those not accustomed to it, it's like watching one of those Star Trek episodes in which Spock drinks from the wrong cup and gets all goofy and human. Then someone shows Duncan the Backyard Basketball rating system of 1-to-10 cartoon balls for various skill categories, which has given Duncan low marks -- one ball only -- for outside shooting and, most egregiously, defense. "One?" he says. "But I've been named six times to...."

His voice trails into another giggle, because for someone named six straight years to the NBA All-Defensive first or second team, that's kind of funny. Duncan says no more, but he doesn't forget. When he goes back to be taped taking some shots, he waits until after he buries a succession of three-pointers before loudly chiding the game designers for their error.

"One ball?" he shouts. Swish.

[duncan228]

The Atari commercial.

4WIcjJFy_p8

[lefty]

LMAO at Suns fans reading that article

[Mavs_man_41]

I still laugh my ass off every time I see that Duncan 3 :lmao

[TIMMYD!]

badass

[sananspursfan21]

wish dirk would have made a special appearance. then timmy would've beat him at his own game lol