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The impossible that happened 3 years ago when the Spurs beat that Lakers ass. Hmmm sounds possible since it happened when Duncan did it supposedly working up to his prime that was to be now.
I never said that was my expectation of Duncan, but what it would take for me to "apologize" to him. However, I do expect more from him than what he has shown this season. He has completely ditched his assorted post moves that made him so special.
I also didn't say the Spurs didn't have enough talent - although I highly doubt they take the crown this year, but they are still an elite team.
The impossible that happened 3 years ago when the Spurs beat that Lakers ass. Hmmm sounds possible since it happened when Duncan did it supposedly working up to his prime that was to be now.
That was a healthy Duncan.
Dudes got 1 foot.
It would be nice, but he cant physically do it.
You want the impossible.
If his foot was 100%, then yeah, I would expect him to do that.
That's what a lot of people don't understand. I'm not really so much with his statistics as I am with how he plays the game. As you can tell, Duncan can put up 19 and 10 in his sleep, but I'd like to see him take over games, not meagerly make his way to those numbers.
Even when Duncan scored in the high 30's against Denver in last years playoffs I wasn't really all that impressed. He wasn't scoring nearly as easy or as efficient. It's a trend that started when the Lakers swept the Spurs in '01 I believe. Duncan wouldn't really go up fearlessly against Shaq and instead started resorting drawing weak fouls and resorting almost soley to banks without the angle or space or his scared version to his right hand hook.
He snapped out of it, but not against the Lakers until '03. Now he plays that way all the time albeit with injury now, but like I said last season he wasn't playing so hot either.
Here's a newsflash, Duncan should be in his prime right now. You're saying this like he's 36. Maybe his athleticism has gone down a touch from old age - I don't know - but sheer athleticism was never what made him so great.
You're not crazy, you must be a bandwagon fan that came after the 2003 championship, because you obviously never watched Duncan.
Are you 16? If so, I doubt you're even old enough to really remember who Tim Duncan was.
Tim Duncan age 26 would dominate Tim Duncan age 29
Eric,
I will repeat this once more for you. He was. He was playing. He was playing bad. He was playing bad before. He was playing bad before he. He was playing bad before he got. He was playing bad before he got hurt.
When was the PF diagnosed?
That post read like a Laurie Anderson song, kris.
November?
To show you I was at this train station a long time ago, here is an article I wrote last year:
One Fan's Opinion: A Shadow of Duncan
LAST UPDATE: 5/16/2005 7:24:10 PM
Posted By: Kori Ellis
Gregg Popovich said nobody on the team came to play playoff basketball…except Tim Duncan. Duncan may have had a big game statistically, but he didn’t play inspired basketball either.
Duncan’s game of today is a far cry from how he used to play. Duncan’s past play was skillful, dominant, and assertive all in one. In Game 4, he was beat to a rebound by Luke Ridnour after lazily walking over to collect it. Throughout the series, he has passed up opportunities to take the ball strong to the hoop – resorting to floaters, finger rolls, and short jumpers instead. Weren’t you waiting for a huge dunk over Nick Collison after he up-faked Danny Fortson? Yeah, well those don’t happen anymore.
Going to Duncan one-on-one in the low post is no longer a gimme. It’s a belabored point. Sometimes, he just jab steps and pump fakes until he jacks up a shot. Sometimes he waits for the double team, so he can pass. Others, he drives to the paint and chunks up a one-handed eight footer. Most often he’s seeking to create contact instead of actually trying to make the basket.
Gone is the intricate footwork that left defenders befuddled and drew comparisons to Hakeem Olajuwon. When is the last time you saw him switch things up and go to his left hand? Where is the guy that used to posterize other centers and power forwards on a regular basis?
That player is dead. The new T.D. doesn’t do that sort of stuff anymore. He’s still worried about getting hurt again - so now, he doesn’t jump. I always knew he wasn’t the “athletic” type of power forward, but since when does Tim have the spring of Dikembe Mutombo? Rather than snaring reachable rebounds, he elects to try to tip them out of the opponents’ grasp to himself. Blocking shots isn’t really his forte anymore, either. Instead of meeting driving opponents at the summit, Tim usually concedes baskets that close now.
His precision footwork in the low block has morphed into ramming defenders within seven feet of the basket and tossing up his right handed shot. Through four games against Seattle, Duncan has failed to prove he can dominate any of their big men over the course of a game. He’s shown he can draw fouls on them. He’s gotten a few angled bank shots on them, in addition to a few right handed hooks. But, he has not dominated anyone.
There is no variety in his game like there was in 2003 when he went head to head with Shaquille O’Neal. The dominance he showed in 1998 versus Karl Malone is also gone. The overall package displayed in the championship clinching game versus Kenyon Martin is missing several components.
I’m under the impression experience has made Tim Duncan worse. The craftiness with which he uses to draw fouls has turned into a liability. His agility and good hands have given him a false sense of confidence into underestimating the opposition. Injuries can scare him into playing different – even if he is no longer injured. Past playoff disasters refresh in his mind and are now making him wonder if this Seattle series will be like an old Lakers’ series.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking the Spurs hold Tim Duncan, the ace, in the 2005 playoffs. He can average 20 points through put backs, free throws, and a couple of bank shots, easily. The Spurs power forward is playing similar to his lackluster performances against the O’Neal anchored Lakers, where he could muster no efficient offense. Had Manu Ginobili not played the role of MVP against the Nuggets, the Spurs could have very conceivably found themselves in a dangerous game 7 duel.
As it stands now, the Spurs have enough to douse a feisty Sonics squad if they can regain their defensive focus and exact better contributions from the rest of the team. However, the road to the championship will require much more than that.
Tim Duncan needs to prepare differently than the other Spurs. Manu, Tony, Bruce, Nazr, etc. – they need to look in the mirror, and then at some game tape.
Tim needs to look at some photos and then at some game tape. But not tape of opponents, tape of himself. Vintage film of when he used to be better than good, of when he used to be great.
So when did he injure his ankle that year?
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