Originally Posted by Kori Ellis
A Shadow of Duncan
By Kris Rivenburgh
FullSportPress.com
Gregg Popovich said nobody on the team came to play playoff basketball…except Tim Duncan. Duncan may have had a big game statistically, but he didn’t play inspired basketball either.
Duncan’s game of today is a far cry from how he used to play. Duncan’s past play was skillful, dominant, and assertive all in one. In Game 4, he was beat to a rebound by Luke Ridnour after lazily walking over to collect it. Throughout the series, he has passed up opportunities to take the ball strong to the hoop – resorting to floaters, finger rolls, and short jumpers instead. Weren’t you waiting for a huge dunk over Nick Collison after he up-faked Danny Fortson? Yeah, well those don’t happen anymore.
Going to Duncan one-on-one in the low post is no longer a gimme. It’s a belabored point. Sometimes, he just jab steps and pump fakes until he jacks up a shot. Sometimes he waits for the double team, so he can pass. Others, he drives to the paint and chunks up a one-handed eight footer. Most often he’s seeking to create contact instead of actually trying to make the basket.
Gone is the intricate footwork that left defenders befuddled and drew comparisons to Hakeem Olajuwon. When is the last time you saw him switch things up and go to his left hand? Where is the guy that used to posterize other centers and power forwards on a regular basis?
That player is dead. The new T.D. doesn’t do that sort of stuff anymore. He’s still worried about getting hurt again - so now, he doesn’t jump. I always knew he wasn’t the “athletic” type of power forward, but since when does Tim have the spring of Dikembe Mutombo? Rather than snaring reachable rebounds, he elects to try to tip them out of the opponents’ grasp to himself. Blocking shots isn’t really his forte anymore, either. Instead of meeting driving opponents at the summit, Tim usually concedes baskets that close now.
His precision footwork in the low block has morphed into ramming defenders within seven feet of the basket and tossing up his right handed shot. Through four games against Seattle, Duncan has failed to prove he can dominate any of their big men over the course of a game. He’s shown he can draw fouls on them. He’s gotten a few angled bank shots on them, in addition to a few right handed hooks. But, he has not dominated anyone.
There is no variety in his game like there was in 2003 when he went head to head with Shaquille O’Neal. The dominance he showed in 1998 versus Karl Malone is also gone. The overall package displayed in the championship clinching game versus Kenyon Martin is missing several components.
I’m under the impression experience has made Tim Duncan worse. The craftiness with which he uses to draw fouls has turned into a liability. His agility and good hands have given him a false sense of confidence into underestimating the opposition. Injuries can scare him into playing different – even if he is no longer injured. Past playoff disasters refresh in his mind and are now making him wonder if this Seattle series will be like an old Lakers’ series.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking the Spurs hold Tim Duncan, the ace, in the 2005 playoffs. He can average 20 points through put backs, free throws, and a couple of bank shots, easily. The Spurs power forward is playing similar to his lackluster performances against the O’Neal anchored Lakers, where he could muster no efficient offense. Had Manu Ginobili not played the role of MVP against the Nuggets, the Spurs could have very conceivably found themselves in a dangerous game 7 duel.
As it stands now, the Spurs have enough to douse a feisty Sonics squad if they can regain their defensive focus and exact better contributions from the rest of the team. However, the road to the championship will require much more than that.
Tim Duncan needs to prepare differently than the other Spurs. Manu, Tony, Bruce, Nazr, etc. – they need to look in the mirror, and then at some game tape.
Tim needs to look at some photos and then at some game tape. But not tape of opponents, tape of himself. Vintage film of when he used to be better than good, of when he used to be great.