And yes, Manu was the real MVP in the 05 finals. Everybody knows that.
Hakeem’s teams had a winning record against Jordan. One of the few. Hakeem elevated his performance in the playoffs. Shot 47% against the McHale frontline Celtics. And was the best player on each of his finals teams. Duncan, got outscored by Parker in 07, shot 41% against Ben and Rasheed Wallace, choked about 8 free throws in a pivotal game in the 4th quarter, lost another finals MVP to Kawhi. Statistically, Duncan was only the best finals player twice out of his 5 rings.
And yes, Manu was the real MVP in the 05 finals. Everybody knows that.
I repeat he was out in Round 1 with alarming regularity.. So elevating his level of play in the playoffs looked nice on the stat sheet.. And that's about it.. Larry Bird lost a finals MVP to Cedric Maxwell.. Magic won 3 of the 5 same as Tim. Duncan was better for longer than Hakeem. Easier to build around, and far more lasting success..
Duncan first 8 years of his career did more than Hakeem in his whole career..
98 Round 2
99 Champ Finals MVP
2000 Injured for playoffs
2001 Conference Finals
2002 Round 2
2003 Champs Finals MVP
2004 Round 2
2005 Champs Finals MVP
2 league MVP's and nothing but first team all NBA for 8 years.. Hakeem didn't win like Duncan until late in his career with Jordan playing Baseball. And even then the Knicks pushed them to the limit..
I’m pretty confident Tim Duncan and the 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014, Spurs would handle business against Patrick Ewing and the Knicks.. Ewing He’s lucky he was injured in 1999. Because Tim Duncan was going to kick his ass.
Last edited by dbreiden83080; 04-28-2020 at 09:36 PM.
Knicks always got pushed to the limits by Miami which had PJ Brown/ZO. Duncan/Robinson was much better than PJ/ZO so I definitely agree the Spurs would have still won had Ewing played.
Patrick Ewing was also old and didn’t have much in terms of movement on defense at that stage of his career. But even in his prime he didn’t play well In big playoff series. The 1994 finals I was re-watching a lot of those games, and he basically stopped himself. Constantly settling for bad jump shots and just missing them.
God that is so ing lame. That’s like Skip Bayless level bull right there. Manu played very well, but it’s like “well if you didn’t win the finals MVP Tim that means you ing suck”. And when he does, you talk like he should not have. You should apply for a job on first take. Or undisputed.
To me growing up it was weird how Rik Smits always seemed to play him to a standstill. I thought that was a match up he should dominate. He did have some big moments like when he played big in game 7 of the ECF in '94 but your right most of the time he wasn't there when it really mattered in the playoffs. On a side note Ewing's offensive game is very similar to LMA. Both have a fade away, great mid range shot.
Good points. It’s weird because out of college they thought he was going to be a monster on defense and rebounding like Bill Russell. He was good on defense, and a good rebounder. But he ended up being Actually better on offense than any of those categories. But he wasn’t consistent in big moments. He didn’t have classic low post skills. It wasn’t a lack of desire that I saw. He just didn’t get it done. Tim Duncan in only his second season at 23 years of age was ready to become a champion. And play at a dominant level to make it happen.
Akeem Olajuwon<<<<<< Tim Duncan. He made it to the finals in 86 but man he was a mess of a player and people forget how bad of a franchise player he was. He fought teammates. He fought coaches. He missed the playoffs. He was so ed up that the Rockets were trying to trade him. People rarely talk about Akeem Olajuwon.
Hakeem Olajuwon is more compe ive when comparing the two players. The sad part is that Hakeem only lasted like 4 years. But for those 4 years he was pretty damn dominate. Once the Rockets got an actual coach and a game plan on how to build a team around him, they were amazing. I mean peak for peak it’s hard to decide. Both won a championship without another all star on the team (only 4 people have ever done that as lead dog). Both had amazing all time performances in the playoffs. Both were monsters on defense. Both were so fundamentally sound and unguardable. Career wise it isn’t even close as obviously Duncan had the better career, but I think I would choose peak Hakeem over peak Duncan. Though barely.
Sidenote: Drexler really saved Hakeem’s legacy as well as the 95 Rockets SUCKED in the regular season without him. I know they had some injuries but they weren’t even in the playoffs when they got Drexler and had to win like 16 out of there last 20 to even get the 6th seed. But once they did make the playoffs, Olajuwon dominated and that’s why I chose him slightly over Tim. I haven’t seen a player that dominate ever. He went through every big man in the game to win and that’s damn impressive to me. Ewing, Malone, Barkley, Robinson, Shaq. They all fell to Hakeem.
Manu was actually better that entire playoff run
At the age of 28 for Duncan, Manu outplayed Duncan in the playoffs in 05.
Drexler? Same one from Houston University. Made two NBA finals on his own.
Olajuwon slow development + early drop off. Keeps him out of the GOAT conversation for me.
Duncan in 23 Games 24/12.5 on 47% FG
Manu 21/5/6 on 51%
It's close Manu had a great playoffs.. That's what you need to win chips. Pippen had an amazing 91 Finals putting up 21/9/7.. You need help.
Side Note Duncan was 28/14 against the Suns. That's pretty dominate..
Many had a higher TS percentage, 0.7 higher win shares, almost worth one more win than Duncan in those playoffs, higher box plus minus, offensive and defensive. Manu played better than Duncan.
Not to forget Duncan shot 10-27 in game 7 of the Finals, shot 11 for 24 going 4 for 11 from the FT line in a crucial game 5, most of those misses coming in the clutch. Give me Hakeem.
I mean Duncan was playing on a right sprained ankle and his left leg had plantar fasciitis during those finals. Was amazing that he was still so dominant
Ramadan. Isn't this why Rockets historically flamed out early in playoffa
So what was his excuse for shooting 10 for 32 In the last two games of the 07 finals against Big Z and Anderson Varejo?
Same as Akeems for not making the all star game, all nba, and the playoffs in his prime. He didn’t play well
Hakeem had one small window in his prime where he put together a few exceptional mvp seasons.
Duncan was way more consistent with his all Star level play from rookie to retirement.
Taking a couple games off. Saving himself for Game 5. If Manu and Tony wanted to win it before then, then okay.
Not everyone had a prime Ginobli and Parker. Yet and still, the one time Hakeem missed the playoffs in his prime they missed by one game, in a season Hakeem missed 10 games because of injury. Go back and tell me how many all stars he played with for most of his prime
Last edited by Joey Gallo; 04-30-2020 at 09:05 AM.
Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Big Z, Anderson Varejo, Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace. Duncan did not fare well against, seeing how Duncan lost to the 8 seed as a 1 seed. None of them are stopping Hakeem in his prime.
You should check Hakeem’s numbers in 86-87 especially in the playoffs
When exactly was his prime? Bc he was bounced 4 years straight in the 1st round and missed the playoffs another year. How many All Stars did Duncan have between 01-05? The answer is 1: Ginobili in 2005. And yet his results were conference finals, second round, championship, second round, and championship. I’m supposed to be impressed that he was only one game away from making the 8th seed in his prime?weak as
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