Game Thread: Spurs @ Nuggets -- Fri. (2/23) - 8:00/C (4:00am Riga Time)

[Slippy]

Couldnt get stops. Bryce , patty , joeff & Rudy are the weaklinks. They also cant hit the three with any consistency. Take away Pattys threes from the first half that strike rate of the spurs looks worse. That's not even counting the extra threes this team is passing up because they aint confident at shooting.

Amazing the spurs made a game of it. LA a lone soldier tbh.

[Killakobe81]

I've bought this up numerous times in the past, but do you guys agree that TD was one of the best closing big men of all-time? I'd rate him number 1. I can't think of anyone else better than him.

I shouldn't be too hard on Aldridge not being able to close too well. I've said before that Shaq, Malone, D-Rob, KG, and even Hakeem weren't that good in crunch time. I really shouldn't even be mentioning LA's struggles at the end of games, as I know that even some of the greatest big men were never that great at closing with the game on the line.

Agree defonitely up there with Hakeem ...
So makes it more puzzling pop sat him in a key moment in the Finals vs the Heat tbh ...

[Killakobe81]

I know that about TD, I'm just saying I never thought about it at the start of his career, but towards the end of his career, I tried to think about where I would rank him as far as clutch big men go and I rank him number 1. I'm trying to prop him up even more.

I obviously haven't seen every big man play, so I was asking those who may have seen more of the older generations what their opinion is? Is there any true big men that were more clutch/better closers than TD?

If you are old enough, in your opinion is there anyone better than TD? From the guys I know - Shaq, Malone, Ewing, D-Rob, Hakeem, none of those guys IMO were even close to TD as far as closing games went and in clutch play/shot-making down the stretch like TD was.

I'm also not talking about perimeter oriented bigs like Dirk who had no post game whatsoever.

Hakeem not close?!

[Snaq O'Meal]

key moment:

3q - Pop replaces 6'9 '' Kyle Anderson for 6'2 '' Bryn Forbes, Denver goes on a run and gets a boost, good God, I could make better subs utes than Pop at that stage of the career.
damn dwarves, basketball is still a game that size and athleticism matters

“My system turns dwarves into giant killers.”

[Snaq O'Meal]

Agree defonitely up there with Hakeem ...
So makes it more puzzling pop sat him in a key moment in the Finals vs the Heat tbh ...

“My midgetball system wins championships. Tim needed to get over himself.”

[tbdog]

I know he dominated, but I don't remember him dominating the last few minutes of a game, then again, I was too young to remember. He had all those clutch shooters around him. I was just curious how he performed in crunch time in the years before he won any Championships. I never saw him play before '93-'94.

Look, Manu was our closer for years and not TD. But TD and Hakeem came up with big baskets and big plays often down the stretch. TD has his demons though, game 5 vs Pistons he missed a tip in which ended up Horry going nuts in OT. And of course game 7 miss against Battier. Hakeem would have his fair share, but he was far more reliable than KG and C.Webb who were known to falter down the stretch.

[TD 21]

Agree defonitely up there with Hakeem ...

So makes it more puzzling pop sat him in a key moment in the Finals vs the Heat tbh ...

Situational. Duncan was damn near playing on one leg at that point, with his specially made, highly restrictive knee brace essentially locking his knee place and providing a semblance of stability. As good as he still was, the one thing he struggled with was switching/guarding out in space, which was obviously required on that play.

Look, Manu was our closer for years and not TD. But TD and Hakeem came up with big baskets and big plays often down the stretch. TD has his demons though, game 5 vs Pistons he missed a tip in which ended up Horry going nuts in OT. And of course game 7 miss against Battier. Hakeem would have his fair share, but he was far more reliable than KG and C.Webb who were known to falter down the stretch.

Apparently you didn't follow Spurs from '97-'04, when Duncan was the undisputed closer. From '04-'08, he was still co-closer and even after that, had plenty of games where he did the same, most notably closing out Thunder for essentially the championship in '14, in game 6 of the WCF.

[Ice009]

Again, all you guys propping up Hakeem, did you watch him play in his prime before the Championship seasons? He wasn't the closer in the Championship seasons. The Rockets had a bunch of clutch players they went to that got them over the line. I want opinions from people that watched him before that.

I still say TD was the best closing big man of all-time. Like TD21 said, TD was closing for a long, long time. It seems that all you guys are either too young or just don't remember and are only looking at a past his prime TD.