Duncan The Destroyer Strikes Again

[duncan228]

Nice piece for us Duncan fans. :)

http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/deepsixer/2008/01/duncan_the_destroyer_strikes_a.html

Deep Sixer
News and notes from Inquirer 76ers beat writer Marc Narducci

Duncan The Destroyer Strikes Again

SAN ANTONIO -- If anybody is wondering why the Sixers are so desperate for a low post presence, all they had to do was watch Monday’s 89-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Sixers played their collective hearts out and the main difference was that they don’t have a nine-time all-star in the post and the Spurs do.
While Manu Ginobili was cited for his fourth quarter heroics by scoring 14 points and hitting all four treys in the final period, the person who set everything up was Tim Duncan.

Duncan might be the most unappreciated superstar in all of sports.
He isn’t flashy, doesn’t seek headlines and isn’t very interested in compiling statistics, only rings.
Duncan has four rings and there is no reason to believe he won’t fill up his hand soon.

One reason Ginobili was so wide open for his treys was that Duncan commanded double-teams down in the post. And there are few big men who are more adept at kicking the ball out to open teammates once it is passed inside.

The Sixers don’t have that type of presence so they have to mix and match in order to score. The reason they don’t get many wide open looks is that teams don’t feel compelled to double-team in the post.

When your best post up player is your point guard (Andre Miller) then you know that it's a part of your game that needs to be upgraded.

Before he is through, Duncan could be considered one of the top 10 players ever to compete in the NBA. He’s that good, even though he does little to bring attention to himself, other than win championships.

It can be argued that this was the Sixers best game not only during their seven-game losing streak, but in a long while.
They didn’t back down from the defending champions, but they also didn’t have Duncan.
He had 18 points and 16 rebounds, but his dominance of the game went well beyond the stat sheet.

On most nights the Sixers would have won this game. Then again, they can take consolation that on most nights, in fact 80 out of 82, they don’t have to deal with Duncan.

[TDMVPDPOY]

beating a team we are meant to beat...

[duncan228]

beating a team we are meant to beat...

True, but not the point of the article...

[Pistons < Spurs]

The Destroyer.....?

[SAGambler]

True, but not the point of the article...

The point of the article is that without Duncan commanding double teams, Manu would never have gone off for 12 points at the end of the game.

The fallacy with that point is that Duncan commanded double teams all night, yet noone, not even Manu, went off on them earlier.

In fact the shooting was so bad last night, that noone seemed like they even wanted to attempt a shot most of the last quarter. It was like a hot potato was being tossed around out there. I don't know how many open shots were simply passed up in order to get the ball to someone else. Hell, it was almost comical on a few possessions.

[AFBlue]

I think the point of the article is that the Sixers are in desperate need of an offensive low-post presence. And he's right....

Sam Dalembert has great length, can grab rebounds, and block shots...but he's not effective in the low post.

Reggie Evans rebounds....and that is all.

Jason Smith can hit an open 15ft shot....and that is all.

None of the guys listed above have even a respectable low post game and it hinders their ability to get quality shots.

Ed Stefanski's #1 priority (other than re-signing Andre Iguadola) should be to acquire (via trade, FA, or draft) a reliable low-post threat.

[telecomguy]

The point of the article is that without Duncan commanding double teams, Manu would never have gone off for 12 points at the end of the game.

The fallacy with that point is that Duncan commanded double teams all night, yet noone, not even Manu, went off on them earlier.

In fact the shooting was so bad last night, that noone seemed like they even wanted to attempt a shot most of the last quarter. It was like a hot potato was being tossed around out there. I don't know how many open shots were simply passed up in order to get the ball to someone else. Hell, it was almost comical on a few possessions.

The fallacy of your post is that eventually odds are in Spurs favor that they will start hitting their wide-open jumpers sooner or later. Also the Spurs didn't initiate through Duncan as much in the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th Qtr until they got behind and continued to miss all their jumpers. It was in the meat of the 4th that TP or Fin or Manu started dumping it into TD right off the bat and let him draw the double team in the deep post.

This writer is making the points I was making when I was watching the game. The game was won by TD not Gino. Gino just hit the shots in the end that he (and the rest of the Spurs not named TP who can't hit jumpers) was expected to hit.

[duncan228]

It's a Philly beat writer, so the first point is what the 76ers are lacking.
The Duncan piece, and the reason I posted it, is simply telling us what we already know. Duncan is brilliant, one of the best, and in last night's game he was great.
He was quiet, he just did his thing and kept them in it. I said in the game blog that his game would be lost in all the Manu flurry. Manu deserves the attention, watching him go off in the end was wonderful.
But Duncan gave us the opportunity for that to happen. He usually does, and if we're going to repeat we need Duncan to play his best when it matters.


In all the Manu flurry at the end, Duncan ended up steady from the second quarter on.

18 points on 8-14
16 boards, 6 offensive
6 assists
2 blocks
2-3 FT
only 1 TO

[spursfan09]

The Destroyer.....?

Yeah! LIke he destroyed the pistons dreams of winning back to back in 05.

[my2sons]

The fallacy of your post is that eventually odds are in Spurs favor that they will start hitting their wide-open jumpers sooner or later. Also the Spurs didn't initiate through Duncan as much in the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th Qtr until they got behind and continued to miss all their jumpers. It was in the meat of the 4th that TP or Fin or Manu started dumping it into TD right off the bat and let him draw the double team in the deep post.

This writer is making the points I was making when I was watching the game. The game was won by TD not Gino. Gino just hit the shots in the end that he (and the rest of the Spurs not named TP who can't hit jumpers) was expected to hit.

c'mon now, although I agree that manu got open looks because of timmy, don't discount the play of manu, he steps up when no one else will. alot of the players with open looks kept swinging the ball instead of taking the open jumper and one of manu 3pt shots was a good three feet behind the three point line, a heat check shot, and it was verified

[WalterBenitez]

TD demands so many attention, that the rest shines... TD decides mostly of the games when his presence/abscence.

[bigfundamental21]

Thanks for posting this article, duncan228. It only states what we Duncan fans know to be fact. It's just nice to see other people taking note from time to time of how much Duncan means to our team. He just goes out and does what is necessary to win and it often goes unnoticed because he does it quietly and without drawing attention to himself.

This was my favorite part by far:




Duncan might be the most unappreciated superstar in all of sports.
He isn’t flashy, doesn’t seek headlines and isn’t very interested in compiling statistics, only rings.
Duncan has four rings and there is no reason to believe he won’t fill up his hand soon.

[m33p0]

....
Before he is through, Duncan could be considered one of the top 10 players ever to compete in the NBA. He’s that good, even though he does little to bring attention to himself, other than win championships.
....


:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap

[m33p0]

The Destroyer.....?
somehow, i'm havng a hard time imagining duncan wearing a horned helmet and a double bladed battle axe.

[m33p0]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2197078124_28e7ea0738_o.jpg
Duncan The Destroyer

[mbass]

Thanks for posting this article, duncan228. It only states what we Duncan fans know to be fact. It's just nice to see other people taking note from time to time of how much Duncan means to our team. He just goes out and does what is necessary to win and it often goes unnoticed because he does it quietly and without drawing attention to himself.

This was my favorite part by far:

And that was the point of the article - it was a Duncan love-fest.

[ancestron]

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/ancestron/pimptimduncan-1.jpg

[m33p0]

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/ancestron/pimptimduncan-1.jpg
yeah, baby!

[m33p0]

Yeah! LIke he destroyed the pistons dreams of winning back to back in 05.
or his latest conquest last summer where he destroyed the army of the pretenders of phoenix. there was lamentation in the desert that lasted the whole off season. he wasn't much interested in the child-queen, err.. king, though. he let one of his lieutenants dispatch that one.