It was sad, frustrating, and shocking. Everything from getting blocked on a dunk (again), getting dunked on by Amare, not being unable to back down Channing ING Frye, missing easy shots, the lack of assertiveness, missing free throws, and worst of all...the body language. Tim's body language was awful and has been for some time.
This season was a roller coaster season for Tim. He started off rusty, regained form and was the best big in the league for the first half of the season...then he fell off a cliff.
Throughout his struggles to finish the season, I think we were all holding out hope that he would be ready when the playoffs started. Sure enough he played three teasingly great games against Dallas, but then almost immediately after he turned 34 and his play saw a decline. That decline was capitulated tonight. He seemed like he had nothing left in the tank. Throughout the series against Phoenix he was never really bad (until tonight), but never great like the Spurs needed him to be. Sadly, it SEEMS like the days of playoff Tim coming to the rescue have come to an end.
Two questions:
1) Can Tim come back next year and become a top 5 player in the league again, or will it be the same old story of the last two years where his knees simply give out?
2) If he can't, then wtf are we going to do in order to still contend for a championship?
The last dominant playoff performance Tim had was Game 1 vs. Phoenix in 2008. He's not going to suddenly find the fountain of youth.
At this point, it's asking too much of him to carry the offensive load. He should be able to focus on defense and rebounding and look to score in opportunistic situations. The Spurs are going to have to find other solutions as far as having a player who can take over offensively.
Duncan can stil be dominant.we saw it the first 2 games of the playoffs.Mavs could not stop him.The problem is with the lack of depth at he had to play more than he should and the phoenix series got him tired from all the pick and roll and chasing frye.Tim can;t play 40 min anymore.If he plays in the low 30s he'll be fine.
get a better bench and you solve 90% of the Spurs problems these playoffs.
Period.
whatever. people expecting to much out of him are stupid. It's about time you realize he is 34 years old. He left it all on the court, even though it wasn't enough. This series or better yet this season isn't on him... Exactly the reason we went way over the tax and picked up RJ.
TD left it all out on the floor...he just ran outta gas..
Duncan carried the load the first half of the season. Honestly this team wouldnt have made the playoffs if Tim played his ass off that start of the season.
Give Tim a better set of role players and you will still see how affective he is. It's like people still think he's 25. He needs help.
Timmy expected this one that's why he agreed to a $2.5 cut of his paycheck. he NEEDS HELP.
He practically took care of his health this yr, he knows losing a few pounds was kind of a plus factor for his knees & ankles he just did that last summer. But those around him, the defense was not good like it used to be. And defense was the main ingredient for this team winning their les and you just can't find it anymore, it's missing as if Bruce packed it in his bags when he left.
This is it exactly.
He needs help in the paint specifically. Tim's legs have a lot of miles on them. He needs somebody next to him that can contribute on both ends of the floor. I thought McDyess did a good job this post season, but it isn't enough. We need another legit starter so McDyess can come off the bench with Blair. I really don't know what Splitter's game is like, but hopefully that pans out since everybody seems high on him (including the FO)
What's the 10% they do not solve with better bench?
Never question the greatness of Tim Duncan.
This. X1000000000000000
What does greatness got to do with the way he plays now?
To me, it was more painful watching Manu throw up all those bricks and then watching Nash scorch us in the 4th quarter with only one eye.
No doubt Timmy is on the downside of his career. However, he has been carrying this team on his back for quite some time now. To me, it seems like Timmy just said " it", I don't wanna continue carrying these scrubs. C'mon, the dude has more heart than any other player I know. Dude goes out and plays hard night after night. God forbids the coach give this 34 yr old vet a breather. Just to allow scrubs like Bonner, Mason, Bogans, let ing 20 pt leads slip away. Oh yeah, this HAS been happening all season.
Personally, it sickens me to see this icon play along side these slime nuts like Bonner....Mason.
I say fish big for Bosh, shift Timmy over to the 5. Who better to groom Bosh than Timmy. Hey, I remember when the Admiral was on the downside of his career, they brought in this young, athletic 7 footer whom DRob groomed quite well. The rest history!
TD best days are in the past, not matter how much we do care and how much we do appreciate him, his intensity, his warrior side are calm down.
TD not being able to finish some easy (to him) baskets? that's not the TD I remember, but ... having not big contribution from Manu, neither having a championship caliber bench killed us.
For the record, Suns played great and his coach found so many ways to kill us that the 4-0 i fair.
We should also recognize that Nash is fantastic and Amare is starting to avoid those stupid gesture/behavior he had ... (well that foul on Hill at the end...)
It hurts to watch TD in that mood, obviously ... he could bring some good minutes and his FT's issue has no solution in his present life.
A lot of these comments remind me of the Rockets forum when Hakeem was in decline. It's hard to accept the inevitable, so there's a lot of denial and magical thinking.
Even with limited minutes next year, I wonder about his reliability. That's the first thing to go...One good game every now and then ain't going to cut it. And if he's to assume a supporting role, similar to what the Admiral did, who's he going to be supporting? Certainly no one near his caliber is in the pipeline.
I can't help but wonder if the Spurs decision to stop having shootarounds has any play to Duncan's production. Thats a lot of practice shots and time that the Spurs simply don't do which is a far cry from Sloan who still gets his team to wake up early in the morning to practice.
Well, whatever advice/guidance/coaching or lack thereof regarding his FT's is an abject failure.
it was gonna happen eventually, but i still think he left it all on the court. can't disrespect that.
He can still be a effective, with dominant stretches, but he can't be asked to carry the team for a season plus the playoffs. He needs help, obviously. But... his FT shooting made a big difference.
He's going to continue to struggle against more athletic, younger big men. But, it's up to the front-office to give him more support. Blair, Bonner and McDyess can't be your solution for helping a 33-34 year old Duncan, maybe 5 years ago, but not now. They've gotta go away from this idea of a three-point shooting power forward (ala Robert Horry) and play a more traditional front-court line-up. Signing Splitter is a great start, but playing Blair strictly at power forward and limiting McDyess' regular season minutes are also necessary.
At 34-years old he's still better than 75-80% of the big men in the NBA.
I'm not against a powerforward with an outside shot, but they also should have some post moves as well, and the ability to put up good help defense, and guard the opposing teams opposite where ever on the floor he is fairly effectively.
He needs more help. No he can't dominate like he once could, age does that to everyone. Look at Shaq, The Admiral, Kareem, Hakeem, Malone, Barkley etc. Age always catches up.
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