AZ Republic: Robinson knows no way to keep Duncan down

A little something for whottt in here:

Robinson knows no way to keep Duncan down

Paola Boivin
The Arizona Republic
May. 25, 2005 12:00 AM He knows Tim Duncan as well as anyone.

The elbows.

The footwork.

"The consistency. He's an assassin. He'll work and work until he gets something right, and he'll be relentless at it. He's incredible."

It is just hours before tip-off of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals and Texas' most famous minister, David Robinson, is settling in at his San Antonio home to watch Must See TD. Even for a man whose post-basketball life is filled with playing carpool dad and building and running a school for underprivileged children, Robinson says this series has his attention.

It may also have something to do with the fact that he's now an investor in the team.

Robinson laughs when asked what the Suns can do to stop Duncan.

"The thing about Tim is you're not going to stop him," Robinson said. "If you cut one thing off, he'll do another thing. He'll shoot jumpers all night long, but if you get up on him, he'll make great passes.

"If I had to coach against him, I would just do everything I can to get the ball out of his hands. The more touches he gets, the more he gets into a rhythm and look out . . . "

It turns out Robinson's analysis was right on the money. Early on in Tuesday's 111-108 loss, the Suns were effective at keeping the ball out of Duncan's hands. They fell short in the fourth quarter, and Duncan made them pay.

In the first half, the Spurs forward was 1 for 7 with five points. In the fourth quarter alone, he was 5 for 8 for 14 points and was a force in the final minutes. Duncan is the biggest reason the Spurs head to San Antonio with a 2-0 series lead.

"You get the ball in his hands and he just makes the right decisions," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said.

For much of this game, the Suns were effective against the two-time MVP. Their defense was focused on keeping the ball away from Duncan, as opposed to defending him once he got his hands on the ball. That's where teams get into trouble, because Duncan is so strong and so smart that he'll make a great offensive move and score or he'll pass it to an open teammate and the Spurs will benefit from the same result.

The Suns were also more aggressive inside than in Game 1, and with 8:14 remaining in the third quarter, Duncan found himself with four fouls. The Suns outscored the Spurs in the paint 58-52 on Tuesday after being outscored 62-40 in the paint in the first game.

But the difference came down the stretch, and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich credited Duncan "with leadership when it counted."

"We always talk about playing 48 minutes," Duncan said afterward. "Even though we didn't play well early, we knew we had to stay with it."

"That's the kind of guy he is," Robinson said. "He'll never quit. We used to play video games and I used to just kill him. He's one of those plodding guys who says, 'I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to figure it out.' In the end he was just killing me."

As it got closer to tip-off, Robinson's thoughts turned to Steve Nash. Robinson admires teams that communicate well, that put individual desires aside for a common goal.

He sees that in the Suns and appreciates how much Nash has had to do with it.

"I think how if I had Steve Nash early in my career it would have been a world of difference," Robinson said. :wow "I'm very impressed. If you had to pick the guy who was most valuable to a team, it was definitely him. He made them a championship contender."

Nash did his best to even this series Tuesday. He finished with 29 points and 15 assists.

He didn't have an answer for Duncan, though. Nobody did.

"Really, there are no answers," Robinson said.

Link

No doubt about it. Replace Strickland with Nash, the no look pass out of bounds does not happen, and Spurs beat Blazers in 1990.

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Originally Posted by Jimcs50

No doubt about it. Replace Strickland with Nash, the no look pass out of bounds does not happen, and Spurs beat Blazers in 1990.

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and detroit to earn their first title (spurs handily swept detroit that year)
:spin

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Originally Posted by Jimcs50

No doubt about it. Replace Strickland with Nash, the no look pass out of bounds does not happen, and Spurs beat Blazers in 1990.

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If Sean doesnt stop and continues his cut to the basket the Spurs would have won the game with a Ninja dunk. who in the right mind stops cutting to the basket?

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Originally Posted by GoSpurs21

If Sean doesnt stop and continues his cut to the basket the Spurs would have won the game with a Ninja dunk. who in the right mind stops cutting to the basket?

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YES!!!! It was not all Rod's fault!!!

Yeah, when you start a cut, you're supposed to go all the way.

"I think how if I had Steve Nash early in my career it would have been a world of difference," Robinson said. "I'm very impressed. If you had to pick the guy who was most valuable to a team, it was definitely him. He made them a championship contender."

YOU MEAN HE IS BETTER THEN AJ
OUCH AJ

DROB speaks the truth, anyway never knew he liked playin video games....at least nash doesnt flop on the sidelines

duh.

Nash > Avery???? wow thats a relevation.


Suprised David would say that though.

If Robinson had had Steve Nash early in the Admiral's career the Spurs would have had a 12 year old starting point guard...and it still would have been better.

DRob probably knew this back in '98-99 when he first practiced with TD.

DRob in his prime against TD would be a sight to see.

I think DRob was referring more to Del Negro / Strickland (early in his career), not Avery.

For all the Avery humpers, now we know what DRob dreams of at night. Nash coupled with DRob's athleticism, size, quickness, explosiveness would make Nash - Stoudamire look like a poor imitation on the pick and roll.

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For all the Avery humpers

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Avery did a good job in the system he was in.

Now how he wouldve done in pop's system with worse defense than Brent Barry?? Who knows.

DROB was a rare player who was sadly stuck on decent Spurs teams, but not great teams until AJ & Sean matured & their game too & TD came in.

If DROB had a 2nd Star on his team & a good 3rd player we would have won titles before TD arrived. Rodman helped a great deal, but DROB still had to do majority of scoring.

Amare has nada on DROB, DROB top 5 greatest BBall athletes in NBA history!

Amare is the modern day version of David Robinson, at least on offense...Drob knows it...he's probably gets a big smile on his face thinking about what he could have done with a guy like Nash getting him the ball(Shaq probably thinks about it too)

Put Steve Nash with Amare and Amare becomes upstoppable...with the way Nash sets him up...

Don't remember the old Drob...the young one lead the NBA in slam dunks 3 years in a row, and was quite possibly the fastest guy in the NBA...

Drob was good enough to win a scoring title, with no PG, I mean no fucking PG, not nada, zip, zilch...No Avery, no Strickland....no real PG. Vinny D :rolleyes

It's funny that DRob finally ended up getting his titles as the defensive anchor on a halfcourt team...

Because he began his career as a freak 7'1 guy that was usually the fastest guy on the court... who ran like a mofo.


It also would have helped Drob if he had some guards that could stretch the D...he never really had that except for his first couple of years in the league...and Strickland didn't exactly have a legendary J either...but Willie was pretty good back then....things might have been different(for the Admiral, Willie, and the Spurs) if only Willie hadn't gotten hurt.

But no one was going to win a title with AJ and Vinny D as their starting guards(unless their names were Duncan and Robinson, together)...it's the truth.

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Originally Posted by T Park

Suprised David would say that though.

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Yeah, that was my point.

Although I'm sure DRob didn't mean it as a slight to anyone, especially AJ, it kinda came out that way.

And those of you saying Sean should have made the cut are absolutely right. I've been saying that since the day after The Pass.

It was a a stupid pass to make, in the OT of a game 7 against a 60+ win team, on what looked to be the last posession they would have that game. It was a dumb play.

Elliott also should have hit his FT's in game 1 of the 95 WCF.

And Drob is just being honest, he played with shit guards virtually his entire career, it's the truth, and only homers don't admit it...being truthful...kinda like AJ thought he was being when he said the Spurs were sending a boy to do a man's job :rolleyes

AJ never had any problems holding his tongue..why should Drob? AJ fans think AJ is a badass for making comments like that...

I think DRob also said Brent Barry sucked in the regular season and needed to man up in the playoffs.

:)

Drob would be right about that mostly...except for the man-up thing...

I don't think DRob likes the soft label that even many Spursfans give him as they suck AJ off...I think he'd be careful about throwing that label around..Drob's smart you see ;)

Out of curiosity, why did the Spurs lose 3-1 to Golden State the following year after the Portland debacle in 1990?

Who stepped up or didn't that playoffs?

In the first game? Nearly everyone...the Spurs blew the Warriors off the court with their running game.

IIRC, Drob, Willie and I believe Elliott(it could have been Strickland or TC though) all scored 30+points in the first game...

After that Nellie busted out one of his patented small ball lineups double teaming the bigs and denied Drob the ball and turned it into a perimeter game...

Nellie's perimeter players were Run TMC....

IIRC correctly TC wasn't very good in that series...but it was a long time ago and I have blocked out a lot of that series...

It's kind of funny though...that Spurs team was pretty much a running team...and it's coach was Larry Brown...and one of it's assistants was Greg Poppovich...now there is a good chance those two will meet in the finals and their calling card is half court defense oriented teams...

And you know what else is weird? That season nearly everyone expected...the Spurs, and the Pistons, to meet in the finals...

Seems to me like Drob's most talented teams were in his first two seasons as a pro 1989-1991. He didn't have a championship calibur team until 1994-95, and after that never really had one until Duncan came.

I wonder how Drob might have done with some solid support from 1991-1995?

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Originally Posted by whottt

And you know what else is weird? That season nearly everyone expected...the Spurs, and the Pistons, to meet in the finals...

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Which one, Drob's rookie season or second?

The second one...the season they got eliminated in the first round...the one you just asked about. No one considered them an NBA contender in the first season(until late in the season).

The problem with those early Drob teams was not talent...it was a lack of an identity...and inexperience.

They weren't really good in the half court even with the inside muscle of TC and Drob...but there were too many great running teams for them to be the best running team...

The 89-90 team was actually more of a defense and half court team than the 90-91 team...I wiill never understand why the Spurs traded Brickowski...he was awesome in 89-90...so was David Wingate...David Wingate gave a performance similar to Jaren Jackson...defensive player that all of a sudded started stroking threes like a madman in the playoffs...then he got accused of rape...I think that had a lot to do with the Spurs moving him...and I don't think Brown and Brikowski got along very well.

And the 89-90 team Drob played on his rookie season was THE most talented team he ever played on in his prime.

The 89-90 team was more talented than the 98-99 champions if you ask me....what they didn't have was clutch perimeter shooting and Mario Elie's toughness(and of course, that Duncan guy).

One thing Drob did have for nearly his entire prime was a quality PF along side him...

What he didn't have were good guards and coaching and organizational stability...Strickland always made stupid plays, couldn't really shoot, and was arrogant...Willie was damn good about his only flaw was stepping on the 3 point line nearly every time he took one. And the Spurs had a revolving door at the coaching spot.....But honestly...Elliott was kind of a choker until the 98-99 season...he was a great player, but he choked quite a bit in big games. I actually think AJ and even Vinny were more clutch on the mid 90's Spurs teams...


Vinny was weird...Vinny couldn't hit an open shot to save his life in the 94-95 WCF...but he could shoot pretty well when he was being defended...Vinny was a pretty big reason we won those two games in Houston, in the games in SA he got a ton of open looks when the Rockets doubled teamed Drob extensively...in the two games in Houston, where Drob and Hakeem pretty much went 1 on 1...and there was constant perimeter pressure...Vinny shot fucking good those two games, at least the way I remember it. Go figure..but the 89-90 team was way more talented than the team that made the 94-95 WCF IMO.

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Originally Posted by whottt

After that Nellie busted out one of his patented small ball lineups double teaming the bigs and denied Drob the ball and turned it into a perimeter game...

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That was also when Nellie turned Tom Tolbert, Alton Lister, Paul Mokeski, and Tyrone Hill into a multi-headed goon squad that basically took turns beating the shit out of DRob every chance they got, and mostly getting away with it.

Vinny was scorching them off pick after pick those games. I can't remember if the Rockets adjusted well or we just went away from it.