One of Duncan's undervalued strengths...

[Phenomanul]

I noticed this about 4 years ago... and haven't found a place that keeps tabs on this particular statistic...

Duncan is a master of the jump ball...

If I had to guess, based on when I made a more concerted effort to pay attention to this part of his game (within a game)... Duncan wins about 90% of jumpballs...

Some other observations...

He struggles in jumpballs against D. Howard / P. Gasol / and at the time (Andrew Bynum)... he dominates everyone else.

[Arcadian]

Funny, I see him lose a lot of jump balls. But I haven't really kept a quantitative record, so I don't know.

[Phenomanul]

Last night he won all three jumpballs that he participated in...

[hater]

he also went vs. midgets and scrubs last nite. Sure he's above average but there is no mystery to a jump ball imo.

[Robz4000]

What Duncan has is good situational and spatial awareness. The jump ball for the most part is all about who can jump higher, but in those instances where Duncan hits the ball first or both miss (happens surprisingly often), Duncan knows where everyone is at and is able to get the ball to his teammates.

[FromWayDowntown]

Hard to find numbers on this. In 2012, someone did a 4-year study on who took the most jump balls and who was the most successful in those situations; Duncan was, roughly speaking, at or above 50% in those 4 years:

2007-08 - 60/100
2008-09 - 54/111
2009-10 - 54/93
2010-11 - 55/88

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/jump-balls-in-the-nba-4-year-data-winners-losers/

Maybe others can find more recent statistics.

[capek]

What Duncan has is good situational and spatial awareness. The jump ball for the most part is all about who can jump higher, but in those instances where Duncan hits the ball first or both miss (happens surprisingly often), Duncan knows where everyone is at and is able to get the ball to his teammates.

I've noticed that, this year at least, Duncan has been gambling on touching quite quickly, maybe right as the ball reaches its apex, though sometimes it has been very close. If you touch it on the way up it's an infraction and the other team gets the ball, of course, but it seems like Duncan is intentionally pushing that line, putting the officials in a position to make that call. They haven't so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if teams start sending in tapes on it if he continues to do it. Smart move until he starts getting called for it.

[Spur|n|Austin]

I noticed this about 4 years ago... and haven't found a place that keeps tabs on this particular statistic...

Duncan is a master of the jump ball...

If I had to guess, based on when I made a more concerted effort to pay attention to this part of his game (within a game)... Duncan wins about 90% of jumpballs...

Some other observations...

He struggles in jumpballs against D. Howard / P. Gasol / and at the time (Andrew Bynum)... he dominates everyone else.

I've noticed the same! For one it helps being a 7 footer, but considering he's usually jumping with other 7 footers, I think it's his hand/eye coordination.

[Phenomanul]

Hard to find numbers on this. In 2012, someone did a 4-year study on who took the most jump balls and who was the most successful in those situations; Duncan was, roughly speaking, at or above 50% in those 4 years:

2007-08 - 60/100
2008-09 - 54/111
2009-10 - 54/93
2010-11 - 55/88

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/jump-balls-in-the-nba-4-year-data-winners-losers/

Maybe others can find more recent statistics.

So my initial guess had some hometown bias... Must be nostalgia for 21.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Duncan is the master at stealing the tip. They never call it and he exploits it.

and :lol Speights over Bogut down the stretch.

[wildbill2u]

I thought I was the only one who notices that while Duncan can't jump over a matchbook any more, he still gets an unnaturally high percentage of jump balls against players of similar size. In fact, I began to doubt my own sanity for thinking he was so good at it. So muchas gracias for the stats and reinforcement.

I agree that his skill is he's able to get the exact moment of the ball at its apex going up--or maybe a fraction before that apex. And if both guys miss the tip, fuggettabboutit, he's gonna come up with the second try most of the time if its within reach.

This skill has to be one of those 'crafty veteran of thousands of tips' things.

[FromWayDowntown]

I thought I was the only one who notices that while Duncan can't jump over a matchbook any more, he still gets an unnaturally high percentage of jump balls against players of similar size. In fact, I began to doubt my own sanity for thinking he was so good at it. So muchas gracias for the stats and reinforcement.

I agree that his skill is he's able to get the exact moment of the ball at its apex going up--or maybe a fraction before that apex. And if both guys miss the tip, fuggettabboutit, he's gonna come up with the second try most of the time if its within reach.

This skill has to be one of those 'crafty veteran of thousands of tips' things.

I'm also frequently surprised by the jump balls he wins. I don't think opening tips make much difference to determining how games go, and live-ball tips are often decided by mismatches (or by the players who are grabbing the ball after the tip), but there are times certainly when the tip can either extend or end a crucial possession and it feels like Tim has a better chance in those situations than we might normally assume.

[DAF86]

One of Duncan's undervalued strengths that I have always noted but nobody ever seems to mention is his ability to foul the shooter holding him by the waist with his left hand while going for the block with his right one and not getting called for it.

[Ignignokt]

Duncan is the master at stealing the tip.

Guiseppe is not gonna have a field day with this one.

[Uriel]

What I know is if there's a correlation between winning the jump ball and winning the game.

[Phenomanul]

What I know is if there's a correlation between winning the jump ball and winning the game.

Likely a no... but, it does afford an extra possesion... where winning jumpballs becomes key is during the clutch or OT.

[MI21]

One of Duncan's undervalued strengths that I have always noted but nobody ever seems to mention is his ability to foul the shooter holding him by the waist with his left hand while going for the block with his right one and not getting called for it.

He does it every time, even when he was in his prime.

[capek]

Likely a no... but, it does afford an extra possesion... where winning jumpballs becomes key is during the clutch or OT.

The only time I've ever felt it really had an impact was in that '05 WCF series against Phoenix, where Manu got the opening tip and made a layup like three games in a row! That was some wild shit, the Suns seemed to be on their heels the rest of each game. Granted, Spurs would have kicked their ass either way, but it sure did set the tone.

[aal04]

Ive noticed a very high percentage of games when Tim Duncan participates in the jumpball the spurs win. something along the 50+ wins a season rate.

[kobyz]

Nazi Muhammad is better!