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The Spurs swept the Lakers in '99 and closed it out in LA; it was the last game the Lakers played there before moving to Staples.
Great Western Forum??? Alamodome??
The Spurs swept the Lakers in '99 and closed it out in LA; it was the last game the Lakers played there before moving to Staples.
Rose referring to O'Neal and Bryant as the two best players in the game and saying they still were afterwords, even though he was not only on Duncan's team, but is good friends with him. Considering the season and performance Duncan had in that series, I don't know what he was thinking.
Bryant wasn't even in the discussion. It was between O'Neal and Duncan. In my mind, Duncan had already passed him, but that series made it official and it quickly became the consensus.
The revisionist history is the funny part to me..
Doug Collins said Duncan was the best player in the NBA all the time during the '99 run..Walton and Tolbert continuously said the same thing..Magic's comments about Duncan during that game 6 were special as well, saying he has the best footwork he's ever seen from a big man..Byron Scott said Duncan was easily the most dominant player in the NBA once the Spurs got to the Finals and were about to face his Nets..
It seems like a lot of this is forgotten now and when certain publications talk about the Player of the Decade(even though a lot of them did pick Tim)..
This was before the media would actually ask players and coaches about the best player in the NBA like they have in the past few years in order to inflate Kobe's legacy..
Ahh memories. I was a senior in hike school, and the youngin 26 year old Duncan drops 37 and 16 en route to a 30 point beat down on the Lakers home floor. Good times, good times.
As usual Harlem, you're spot on. The Gasol trade apparently gave people amnesia when it comes to the Duncan era. New/casual fans probably have no idea how great a player Duncan was or that he was the best player of his generation, because all of these on air clowns sit around pretending as if he was just another good player during the era now.
Johnson is a joke. On ABC a few weeks ago, he was talking about the best players in the league and he goes "Michael passed it on to Shaq, Shaq passed it on to Kobe, now Kobe has passed it on to LeBron". None of their pathetic panel even had the decency to correct him.
I had the same thought when I heard it the day he said as I did after rewatching a couple of hours ago. But, honestly, I think Malik was still in "don't-rattle-the-cage-mode," if you catch my drift.
You know how this team always tries to keep themselves off the bulletin board -- per club policy -- I think Malik was just still in that mode.
Hearing Walton, Costas and Collins after all the recent hyperbole over LeBron and Kobe among others, I thought to myself, "They ought to require their sportscasters to get on YouTube and refresh themselves on past games and the comments they've made." Too often are these guys prisoners of the moment and too often do they forget just how truly great a player like Duncan was. They got used to the guy battling through injuries and fatigue and have come to think of him as the player he's been in most recent years; and the further '03 and prior gets from them ... the less great Tim becomes.
Duncan was basically in the MVP argument the moment he stepped foot into the league, he won a championship his second year in the league and won his second championship by the age of 27 (with a roster that had a huge turnover from the year before and no established No. 2 -- he won it all in a year that was supposed to precede their real run at a le when they'd be able to sign a max free-agent).
Rookie of the Year, All-NBA and All-Defensive Team every year of his career, All-Star MVP, 2 League MVP's, 3 Finals MVP's and 4 Championships later, the guy's done a thing or two (or 3, or 4, or 5, or . . .).
Unfortunately, substance is a hard sell if it's not in the right packaging or market.
Lmao
That's 'bout all I gots to say about that . . .
Whenever i watch Pre-2005 Tim Duncan, the youthful athletic version, i get this wierd feeling i cant explain, and i realise why he became my favourite player the moment i saw him play.
Im not from San Antonio and i dont have any roots to the team or anything like that, but i was always a huge basketball fan, and the first time i saw him was in the 99 Finals (we hardly use to get NBA in Australia in those days) and that was it, i was only like 11 or 12. And from then it just grew.
Dude is amazing, i just still cant put my finger on why i became such a huge fan of him (and consequently the Spurs).
[quote=Blackjack]Why would he have been in that mode after the series? If anything, I'd expect that he'd be caught up in the moment and say flat out that Duncan was the best player in the world. And that wouldn't be the typical biased teammate saying that, that would have been, obviously, a legitimate comment. It made no sense.I had the same thought when I heard it the day he said as I did after rewatching a couple of hours ago. But, honestly, I think Malik was still in "don't-rattle-the-cage-mode," if you catch my drift.
You know how this team always tries to keep themselves off the bulletin board -- per club policy -- I think Malik was just still in that mode.
Extremely well said. Collins has been regurgitating the same nonsense about Duncan and the Spurs for years now. He as much anyone has forgotten just how great Duncan was.Hearing Walton, Costas and Collins after all the recent hyperbole over LeBron and Kobe among others, I thought to myself, "They ought to require their sportscasters to get on YouTube and refresh themselves on past games and the comments they've made." Too often are these guys prisoners of the moment and too often do they forget just how truly great a player like Duncan was. They got used to the guy battling through injuries and fatigue and have come to think of him as the player he's been in most recent years; and the further '03 and prior gets from them ... the less great Tim becomes.
Duncan was basically in the MVP argument the moment he stepped foot into the league, he won a championship his second year in the league and won his second championship by the age of 27 (with a roster that had a huge turnover from the year before and no established No. 2 -- he won it all in a year that was supposed to precede their real run at a le when they'd be able to sign a max free-agent).
Rookie of the Year, All-NBA and All-Defensive Team every year of his career, All-Star MVP, 2 League MVP's, 3 Finals MVP's and 4 Championships later, the guy's done a thing or two (or 3, or 4, or 5, or . . .).
Unfortunately, substance is a hard sell if it's not in the right packaging or market.
It's not just the talking heads though, it's the coaches too. When's the last time you heard an opposing coach, particularly in a playoffs series, say they were seriously concerned about Duncan or call him their number one priority? In '07, it was about Parker. In '08, it was about Ginobili. In '09, it was about Parker. In '10, it was about Ginobili.
In this league, perception becomes reality and even though no coach or talking head will come right out and say it, they don't have to, it's obvious that a lot of these clowns see him as a virtual non factor and close to washed up. They respect what he's done, but they don't seem to respect the player he still is, which is foolish because he's still one of the best players in the league, especially when he receives sufficient rest.
Watching that was special, Thanks for posting that.
I noticed how almost all of Tim's moves in the post were automatic. He knew he was the go to guy and he was going to score. This came before the NBA started to enforce the 5-second rule on Post/back to the basket play. That is something that #32 keeps preaching, but he is right. And Oh he was so damn quick...
I'm under the same impression that the ESPN/ABC fools have a very selective memory. The more that they mention something that someone did that was so spectacular and that he is the GOAT, it cheapens the other experiences from the past.
Ftr:: Timmy IS the Player of the Decade, Shaq is Mercenary of the Decade, and Kobe is Overrated player of the Decade.
It's just a guess on my part. It just force of habit; you don't need to do it or say it anymore but you've yet to process that you don't. It's almost a reflexive action: play the game, finish the game, talk to reporters (watch what you say) head home, rinse and repeat.
But Malik was a good friend of Tim and never went too overboard with the praise (they liked to screw around with each other), so he might've just assumed to downplay Tim's greatness than have to hear about it later on.
Regardless, There really is no argument that Tim wasn't the player of the decade (or that the Lakers were the team of the decade).
I definitely agree there's a trickle down effect. A lot of the new media and personalities set a tone and present a storyline that the rest just fall in line with. And if the people that set the tone are inept or asleep at the wheel, that trickles down as well.Extremely well said. Collins has been regurgitating the same nonsense about Duncan and the Spurs for years now. He as much anyone has forgotten just how great Duncan was.
It's not just the talking heads though, it's the coaches too. When's the last time you heard an opposing coach, particularly in a playoffs series, say they were seriously concerned about Duncan or call him their number one priority? In '07, it was about Parker. In '08, it was about Ginobili. In '09, it was about Parker. In '10, it was about Ginobili.
In this league, perception becomes reality and even though no coach or talking head will come right out and say it, they don't have to, it's obvious that a lot of these clowns see him as a virtual non factor and close to washed up. They respect what he's done, but they don't seem to respect the player he still is, which is foolish because he's still one of the best players in the league, especially when he receives sufficient rest.
It's always about the next-best-thing and the narcissistic tendencies of people to want to believe that they're witnessing the best and greatest performances ever displayed, and that in some way enriches their own lives. But in their quest to find the next-big-thing or the greatest-that-ever-was, they miss on the greatness that is and lose sight of the greatness that was.
It's human nature, it's not left solely to sports. We've got current and recent administrations comparing their achievements to people that founded and shed blood for the country; people comparing their little social projects to some of the biggest and greatest struggles of all time; and a music industry that lacks much if any artists but has no problem claiming what's being produced is greatness personified.
Humility, respect and grace. This league, culture and planet, could use more of it.
You're probably right about the Rose statement.
There is no argument to be made about Duncan not being the player of the decade, but it's still annoying that more and more, it appears he's not being recognized or remembered as such. I thought back in '07 that they had no choice but to concede that he was the clear cut player of the decade and a no brainer top ten player of all-time; apparently not. If all he's accomplished to this point hasn't done it, a fifth championship won't either. He's seemingly destined to never get the respect that he deserves.
Individual skills are already amazing. What's more is how Tim makes his teammates better, which distinguishes him from some other great players.
True for all parts of the world.
I didn't know Pargo was there too.
that year was amazing
anyone have this:
i wonder how good at do enting the series it does.
I have the 3 DVDs and also the 99 VCR and the 2003 is the best one. The Extras are greatanyone have this:
i wonder how good at do enting the series it does.
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