Tim Duncan, The Spurs & The Magical 50-Win Streak

[ace3g]

http://www.nba.com/media/hoop/DuncanPop2011b.jpg

http://www.nba.com/hoop/lowpost/tim_duncan_the_spurs__the_ma_2011_03_03.html

By Darryl Howerton

Trivia question: Can you name the only Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs squad that did not win 50 games in a regular season?

If you said, the 1999 NBA champion Spurs who went 37-13 in a lockout-shortened campaign, you’d be correct.

That’s right! The only thing that kept TD’s Spurs from Fiddy was a lockout.

And if you projected that 37-13 lockout record over an 82-game season, San Antonio would have won 61 games that championship year. So it’s not a stretch to say, Duncan has played for a 50-plus win club in every one of his 14 NBA seasons.

With Wednesday’s win at Cleveland, San Antonio became the first 2010-11 NBA team to win 50, doing so at the team’s fastest pace yet, needing only 61 games to get the job done.

Do you realize how great 14 straight 50-win seasons are?

No one’s done it ... Not even Charlie Sheen wins this much!

Only Magic Johnson’s Lakers (1980-1991) could match Duncan & the Spurs' actual 12-straight streak.

Bill Russell’s Celtics (1959-1968) were the greatest teams ever, winning 11 NBA championships, but even his first two Boston teams and his last C’s squad didn’t win 50, giving Russ 10 straight 50-plusses in his 13-year career.

Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks have become a model of consistency, but even Dallas trails San Antonio with 10 straight (going on 11). And unlike TD, Dirk did not have winning seasons his first two years in the NBA.

No matter how you slice it—14 straight or 12 straight—the Spurs’ streak really is one of the most amazing feats in sports.

To paraphrase T-Pain: "All they do is win, win, win, no matter what."

You've got to give credit to Gregg Popovich, who was Spurs' head coach and architect for the entire run. Credit All-Star teammates David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and the other Spurs who made it possible. And of course, credit Duncan.

The only player who had a similar run in NBA history is Duncan's boyhood hero Magic Johnson, who had All-Star teammates Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and A.C. Green during that span.

So it got me thinking. Has Duncan become a more accomplished player than Magic at this point in his career?

I like looking at players historically by accomplishments. When you do that, you’re able to see where the greats rank amongst themselves, even though they played in different eras.

By doing it this way, I’m comfortable saying Bill Russell was the NBA’s greatest teammate ever, Michael Jordan was second and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was third (even the great MJ can't top Russell's accomplishment-line of 11 rings, 5 MVPs, 11 Top 5 MVPs, 11 All-NBAs, etc.).

Stack their feats up and the numbers speak for themselves.

That said, this streak made me wonder if the 34-year-old Duncan is close to passing his hero Magic on this NBA All-Time Accomplishment list.

And if he hasn’t done so yet, will a strong 2011 NBA Playoff run from Duncan and the Spurs get TD from the No. 5 slot to Magic’s No. 4 position on this list?

I’ll let you be the judge of that (it's getting close) …

Magic NBA championships: 5

Duncan NBA championships: 4

Magic playoff series wins: 32*

Duncan playoff series wins: 25

Magic MVPs: 3

Duncan MVPs: 2

Magic Top 5 in MVP voting: 9

Duncan Top 5 in MVP voting: 9

Magic Finals MVPs: 3

Duncan Finals MVPs: 3

Magic All-NBA squads: 10**

Duncan All-NBA squads: 13

Magic All-Stars: 12

Duncan All-Stars: 13***

Key

* Magic’s series win total could be even higher. In his first four years in the league, the NBA only had three rounds of playoffs, as opposed to the four rounds played the rest of his career … and still today.

** The NBA didn’t go to three teams on the All-NBA squads until 1988-89. So if you held Duncan to Magic’s standards, TD would have made first- or second-team All-NBA squads 12 times in his career (not counting this season’s possibility, of course).

*** Don't forget, Duncan was cheated out of another All-Star appearance during that lockout year because no ASG was played that season. A 1999 All-Star would have brought his total to 14.

[tdunk21]

:toast

good read

[Fpoonsie]

There were several Sheen references in my ENGL class last night, and now one in this article.

I'm starting to re-think my user title, 'cause the jokes are already gettin old.

[polandprzem]

All defense - where is magic at?

[moisaenz]

You forgot to mention one thing no player has accomplished all this in such a small market like san Antonio,and with such a low payroll ...

[Dex]

Do you realize how great 14 straight 50-win seasons are?

No one’s done it ... Not even Charlie Sheen wins this much!


:lol

[romain.star]

I know spurs people are all about rings but regardless post season successes or failures, it's always sweet to support a +50 winning team for more than a decade.

[DesignatedT]

yup yup.

[poop]

when you consider the defensive end of the floor (where duncan destroyed him), and the fact that Magic was surrounded by hall of famers his entire career (duncan had to make due with mostly role players and super high draft picks), it no contest LOL

[poop]

14 straight 50-win seasons
14 straight all star starts

hahahaha duncan ftw

[GrandeDavid]

As that loser in The Last Boy Scout would say, "Nice job, Timothy."

[boutons_deux]

It's not all Tim.

The only 2 constants have been Tim and Pop, plus the type of organization and principles that Pop built and insisted upon.

[Seventyniner]

The Lakers and Celtics have done more with more than any team ever.
The Spurs have done more with less than any team ever.

[ace3g]

Who saw this coming?

by Chris Tomasson

http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/tomasson/2011/03/03/who-saw-this-coming/

David Robinson is a Navy man. You’d think he pretty much stays on an even keel.

But Robinson can’t help jumping out of his seat these days at the AT&T Center. The Hall of Fame center hardly can believe the success of his former team.

“Absolutely, I’m surprised,’’ Robinson said of the gaudy 50-11 record of the San Antonio Spurs. “I expected them to be good but the record they have put up is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. (It’s) unbelievable.’’

The Spurs became the first NBA team this season to reach 50 wins with a 109-99 triumph Wednesday at Cleveland. They’re on pace to go 67-15, which would be the best record in team history and a win total only nine NBA teams have reached.

The Spurs have won 60 or more games three times before. They put up 62 in 1994-95, when Robinson was MVP, 60 in 2002-03, Robinson’s final season, and won a franchise-record 63 in 2005-06, when big man Tim Duncan was in his prime.

But nobody anticipated what would happen this season. The Spurs were coming off a 50-32 mark in 2009-10, their worst in 13 years. They were looking old and injured.

Some thought the Spurs, who won titles in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007 under coach Gregg Popovich, might blow it up and look more toward the long-term future. But no dynamite was carted into the Alamo City.

After he opted out of his contract, the Spurs re-signed underachieving forward Richard Jefferson to a four-year, $39 million deal. Jefferson’s scoring average is actually down from last season, from 12.3 to 11.6. But he’s been much more of an outside threat, raising his three-point percentage from 31.6 to 43.6 and closing in on having made twice as many three-pointers as last season.

The Spurs resisted the urge to trade point guard Tony Parker, who showed some signs of slippage during an injury-riddled 2009-10. Instead, they signed Parker to a four-year, $50 million contract extension at the start of the season. Parker, 28, has bounced back strong, although he was lost earlier this week for two to four weeks due to a calf injury.

The Spurs also didn’t worry when looking at the calendar and seeing Duncan will be 35 in April. Popovich simply devised a plan of further cutting his minutes to keep him fresh. Duncan, who in his heyday played 40 minutes a night, is averaging a career-low 28.8.

Still, it looked as if the Spurs’ best hope was to squeeze out another 50-something win season and then try to turn it on the playoffs. But being on pace now to reach the upper 60s in wins? No chance, right?

“I’m surprised, actually,’’ said New York forward Amare Stoudemire, who had lost four consecutive playoff series to the Spurs while with Phoenix until the Suns swept San Antonio 4-0 in a Western Conference semifinal last spring some thought might have been a sayonara series for the Spurs. “I didn’t think they would be this good. But I knew they were going to come back because they have their core guys and the guys who have been there forever.’’

That category includes Duncan, Parker and guard Manu Ginobili, who all have been around at least nine years in San Antonio. Then there’s Popovich, who is in his 15th Spurs season and has the longest ongoing tenure of any NBA coach after Jerry Sloan resigned from Utah last month.

But even Popovich didn’t see this coming.

“I think everybody is surprised the record is what it is,’’ Popovich said when told about Robinson being flabbergasted. “There’s no reason why David shouldn’t be surprised too. I’m surprised. You don’t go into (the season) saying by the All-Star break we want to have 46 wins (the Spurs were then 46-10). That doesn’t happen that often.’’

It sure doesn’t. During San Antonio’s title seasons of 2003, 2005 and 2007, they had records at the break of 33-16, 41-12 and 35-18, respectively (there was no All-Star game during the 50-game lockout season when the Spurs won their first title in 1998-99).

With the exception of the 2005 championship team, which started 47-13 before finishing the regular season a mundane 12-8, San Antonio title teams usually have started slow and then shifted into gear at the end. The 1998-99 outfit began 6-8, the 2002-03 team 12-9 and the 2006-07 gang was 33-18 before going on an incredible 25-3 spurt.

It’s interesting to note the team that provided Popovich with the best regular-season record in team history didn’t even make it to the conference final. The 2005-06 Spurs were ousted 4-3 in a West semifinal by Dallas.

Considering San Antonio’s trademark is usually playing its best ball at the end of the season rather than at the start, Popovich does admit some concern about his team peaking too early.

“Absolutely’’ he said. “I hope this doesn’t mean that we can’t do what we usually do in March and April and get on a good run, that it exempts us from that. So we’ll see.’’

The Spurs could face some adversity due to Parker’s injury. But you get a feeling that San Antonio, called the “smartest team in basketball’’ by Denver coach George Karl, will figure it out.

The Spurs are 2-1 without Parker, including last Sunday’s 95-88 win over Memphis, when he was done for the night in the second quarter. That was their 21st straight home win, which tied a single-season team record and which they will try to break when they play host to Miami on Friday in a possible Finals preview.

Filling in for Parker has been George Hill, who had 22 points against the Cavaliers. Hill emerged last season as a second-year man and this season’s big surprise has been guard Gary Neal, whose minutes are becoming even more important with Parker out. Neal ranks sixth among NBA rookies in scoring with a 9.3 average despite having hardly taken the traditional route by being undrafted in 2007 and playing three years in Europe.

Throw in San Antonio’s terrific trio of Ginobili, averaging a team-high 18.0 points, Parker, averaging 17.1, and Duncan, still putting up 13.5 points and 9.5 boards a night, and the wins have been piling up.

“You can’t anticipate the chemistry thing,’’ Robinson said. “And I think the chemistry factor, with the young guys coming in (Hill, Neal and second-year big man DeJuan Blair), and you’ve just got the right mix of guys and a great level of confidence. They’ve proven to me, day in and day out watching them play, that they can do this all year long. This is not some kind of a little run that they’re going through. They’ve dominated night in and night out.’’

In other words, Robinson expects the ridiculousness to continue.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

But don't call it a dynasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah right.

[Thomas82]

:toast

good read

+1

[Obstructed_View]

But don't call it a dynasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah right.

Tony Kornheiser did today. He and Wilbon were very complimentary to that achievement by the Spurs.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

I remember the great turnaround season we had in '90. The Mighty Admiral steering the Spurs ship. 56 wins. What a run we've had since

Go Spurs Go!!!

[TampaDude]

Sustained excellence over a long period of time = DYNASTY

Could've had a 5-peat, but no matter...the Pop/Duncan Spurs ARE a dynasty. :hat