TD is really out of rythim

[m33p0]

Once more for the remedial class.

Pops:


Pop:

while you're at it, let our members know that 'Malik' refers to this man

[Duncan2177]

It's called 'TEAM' and nobody in the NBA understands it better than Timmy...outside of Pop, of course!

As long as others are playing like they have lately, there is no need for Tim to put up monster numbers. It is actually nice to see guys like Hill & Mason play like tonight.

Tim has led us to 4 Championships and this year he will lead us to #5...!!!

[Thomas82]

I think he played ok. He had a double double. Did look rusty, but everybody stepped it up. And, it was a great team win which is all that matters right now. As far as his health is concerned, with tendonosis he will not heal before the summer. It takes months to heal that ligament above his knee. So he is and will be playing with pain. The severity will differ night to night.

I can only imagine the restless nights Pop has knowing that Tm will not be 100% for the playoffs, but he'll play through like he did when he had Plantar Fascitis, I believe in the 2005 season when we won the Championships. He'll give it his all in the playoffs like he always has and that is all we fans can ask of him.

Actually in 2005, Tim had 2 sprained ankles that he had to play through.

[i have bone spurs]

It's obvious to me that TD has been pretending to be slow for the past few games. He's going to explode with outrageous athleticism in the next game or so. It's a big ol' psyche out tactic.

[Thomas82]

It's obvious to me that TD has been pretending to be slow for the past few games. He's going to explode with outrageous athleticism in the next game or so. It's a big ol' psyche out tactic.

I really do hope it is a mind game, but I think he is really hurting.

[Josepatches_]

I'm not worried about TD's numbers.He doesn't need to score 20.
It's about how I see him.He seems to be very desesperate.He takes some very stupid shots.He is blocked a lot too.I'm afraid he can lose his confidence.

I want to believe he is out of rythim since the all star break but he was playing a lot better this year.

And I don't think he has to be slow last games.Then you wouldn't take 18 shots.

[HarlemHeat37]

He's hurting, but a lot of it is rust too..he's missed some chip shots in the last few games that he'll make regardless of injuries..he won't be a 100% this season, but he'll be much better than he has been the last few games..

We won't be getting the same Duncan that was straight dominant before the injury, but we all know he's a different player in the playoffs..he had PF in 2006 and he had a sub-par regular season, but he put up 33 and 11 on 50+% shooting vs. the Mavs in the 7-game series..I don't worry about Duncan..

He's getting older though, so we're going to need more of a team effort this year..Tony will have to continue to be the main scoring option, and we'll need the role players+Manu to step up..

[Obstructed_View]

while you're at it, let our members know that 'Malik' refers to this man

Yeah, there's probably not a bigger Hairston supporter around here than me, and I'm not ready to refer to him by his first name yet.

[HarlemHeat37]

It takes longer for big men anyways..look at Boozer, he's been back for weeks, and he still lacks most of his rhythm right now..

[Spursfan092120]

Yeah, there's probably not a bigger Hairston supporter around here than me, and I'm not ready to refer to him by his first name yet.

[GSH]

Just out of curiosity, I took a look at Duncan's last 5 games. The blowout wins don't say too much, but in general, he has come out pretty strong in the first quarters, and then faded. You would expect that from pain and tightening up, more than from being rusty.

Here's the way his scoring fell in those games. You can see he's had some very good quarters and halves. But it looks more like he can't keep it going for a full game.

Clippers - 12 PTS, 9 RBs, 4 AST at the half. 6 PTS, 3 RBS, 2 AST in third quarter. Not really needed in fourth.

Mavs - 11 PTS, 3 RBS, 2 AST in the first quarter. Only 2 RBS in second quarter. 8 PTS, 6 boards in second half.

Wizards - Blowout win. Duncan only played 18 minutes.

Suns - 13 PTS, 12 RBS, 4AST at the half. Only 4 PTS, 3 RBS in the second half. (The Spurs were up 58-45, and the whole team came out flat to start the second half. Maybe that was part of it.)

Bobcats - 7 PTS, 4 RBS in first quarter. Only 2 RBS in second quarter. 11 PTS, 5 RBS in second half.

[Obstructed_View]

Just out of curiosity, I took a look at Duncan's last 5 games. The blowout wins don't say too much, but in general, he has come out pretty strong in the first quarters, and then faded. You would expect that from pain and tightening up, more than from being rusty.

Here's the way his scoring fell in those games. You can see he's had some very good quarters and halves. But it looks more like he can't keep it going for a full game.

Clippers - 12 PTS, 9 RBs, 4 AST at the half. 6 PTS, 3 RBS, 2 AST in third quarter. Not really needed in fourth.

Mavs - 11 PTS, 3 RBS, 2 AST in the first quarter. Only 2 RBS in second quarter. 8 PTS, 6 boards in second half.

Wizards - Blowout win. Duncan only played 18 minutes.

Suns - 13 PTS, 12 RBS, 4AST at the half. Only 4 PTS, 3 RBS in the second half. (The Spurs were up 58-45, and the whole team came out flat to start the second half. Maybe that was part of it.)

Bobcats - 7 PTS, 4 RBS in first quarter. Only 2 RBS in second quarter. 11 PTS, 5 RBS in second half.

There was a joke in a tasteless joke book that I had when I was a kid about a black guy who came home with 500 dollars. His wife asked where he got the money, and he said that as he was on his way home, he passed by a biggest contest with 500 dollars as first prize. His wife said, "Please tell me you didn't actually pull out your in public", to which the husband replied, "Only enough to win".

Tim Duncan is ALL about "Only enough to win"

[Nrod1]

TD is most def off

[Josepatches_]

I still think he is far away to be at his level.
Did he play today with kneepads?

But maybe we could use him more.Tonight he shooted 13 times but he doesn't have enough low post plays.He scored after pick&roll.

IMO he needs to have more ball in the post.Pop has to work on that kind of plays and forget to use the ing pick&roll and the TP's dribble & dribble plays all the time

[HarlemHeat37]

He looked great in the 2nd half..he missed a few chip shots, but that's expected with rust..

the encouraging part to me was that he was dominant defensively in the 2nd half..

[MaNu4Tres]

This team will go however far Tim will take them. Since his return from injury Tim is avg. 15 points on 43 percent shooting. If I'm pop I'm really questioning on playing Tim and would consider shutting him down for 2 or 3 weeks. We need Tim to get back to where he was playing a month and a half ago.

[m33p0]

he moved well and was aggressive in the second half. but it's tough to deal with constant double teams especially against a team with length and quickness.

[HarlemHeat37]

Based on his D and rebounding, I don't think it's a physical thing anymore..I think it's about his rust and confidence..it's also possible that he's scared for the knee..

[Agloco]

I don't want to see his stats since he returned but he's not playing very good when he was great before the problem with the knee.
If I'm not wrong he was not able to get 20 points in the last 4-5 games.His FG% are below 50% and he is missing very easy shots.

I don't like that.Against the Mavs he looks desesperate and tonight I saw the same look in his eyes.And his D is losing all his intensity because he miss easy shots and he's out of the game.Okafor scored tonight very easy against him.

We have to increase his confidence because we are not going to win anything if our best player is playing like that.It was very significant how TP jumped very happy when TD made that 2+1 in the 4th quarter.even i think that he was looking to pass the ball to TD after the pick&roll more than usual.

TD is as good that he gets a double-double even if he plays awful.

This is not the playoffs but I would like to see TD scoring 30 or 40 one night to see he is really back.

I only hope his knee is well and the reason why he wasn't playing very well isn't that he has a problem with the knee

I'll bet dollars to donuts that it is his knee, but at this point the Spurs can't afford to have both Manu and Timmy out.

It's very ominous though. Timmy is not playing very well at all. I don't think I've ever seen him labor quite this hard

[The Truth #6]

TD is not right. He's trying but has the least amount of athleticism I've seen from him. Even one-foot 2005 Timmy looked better than this.

As soon as Gooden feels better he needs to get thrown out there to give TD some relief. I realize that's not a great scenario either, but we have to be at full strength when it really begins, even if we're the 6th seed or whatever. As long as we're not the 8th seed it doesn't really matter, so to speak.

[Josepatches_]

The problem is serious.
Sice he returned these are his scoring numbers.

7-18 FG 15 pts
7-18 FG 18 pts
6-13 FG 16 pts
5-9 FG 17 pts
2-5 FG 5 pts
7-21 19 pts
7-11 18 pts
6-15 14 pts

42.7 FG% 15.25 ppg

While he was 52 FG% 20.9 ppg before.

NBA season it's over for us if the injury is the reason of these numbers. He is not going to be better.He didn't improve since his return.Even he begin to play with kneepads.His NBA career could be in high risk as well as our chance to win another NBA tle someday.

If the problem isn't the injury and he is really out of rythim I would try to recover him right now and let him try 30 shots per game if it's necessary.Nobody can say there's not a problem.

[NewJerSpur]

If he doesn't come alive in the playoffs, then I'll be GRAVELY concerned; for now I'd just see how things go especially given he SHOULD get some additional rest within games as Gooden progresses. He's had to work his but off this season moreso than the past few years because of our major injury problems early on.

However, and it pains me to acknowledge this, I think it will be soon time to begin looking for our next longterm plan at the PF/C position. Tim is not going to be around forever, but while he is here we are going to have to start lightening his load more down low to keep him around.

[HarlemHeat37]

limited concern from me until the playoffs..he's been solid in the 2nd half of 2 games in a row, and he has no reason to go full out 100% right now, since they're meaningless games..I don't expect the usual playoff Duncan, but I'd be happy with a similar Timmy that we saw in the 1st half of the season..

he also said "the knee is getting better" in one of the articles that Duncan228 posted, so that's encouraging..he won't be a 100%, but if he can get to 85-90% for the playoffs, that's fine with me..

Duncan has extremely high basketball IQ..he'll adjust to the injury, and so will Pop..Tim is extremely versatile, so he can easily play inside or outside, and his passing benefits the team greatly..I'm not that concerned..

this year could be Tony's break out party as a superstar though, since we'll have to lean on him more..

[NewJerSpur]

Yeah. Tony's showed he can go into, "I can carry a team on my back" mode since that game in Minnesota early in the season when he dropped 55. If there's anything to take from Tim and Manu being hampered healthwise moving forward, it's that.

[Blackjack]

limited concern from me until the playoffs..he's been solid in the 2nd half of 2 games in a row, and he has no reason to go full out 100% right now, since they're meaningless games..I don't expect the usual playoff Duncan, but I'd be happy with a similar Timmy that we saw in the 1st half of the season..

he also said "the knee is getting better" in one of the articles that Duncan228 posted, so that's encouraging..he won't be a 100%, but if he can get to 85-90% for the playoffs, that's fine with me..

Duncan has extremely high basketball IQ..he'll adjust to the injury, and so will Pop..Tim is extremely versatile, so he can easily play inside or outside, and his passing benefits the team greatly..I'm not that concerned..

this year could be Tony's break out party as a superstar though, since we'll have to lean on him more..

I am worried about Duncan, not only how the knee affects him physically but mentally, but Tony is giving me hope that Tim can be "good enough."

I've said it before, but Tony has been almost Wade-like in the way he's taking ownership in end-game situations. He's even stepping into 3's under pressure, when it's something that has never been his strength.(ala Wade)

If Tony can replicate that type of play throughout a playoff, and play with the confidence to be "The Man", the whole equation changes.