San Antonio Express-News
Let's clear up something.
This isn't the first time Tim Duncan has been in an NBA Finals without David Robinson.
Robinson ? at least the Hall of Fame Robinson ? wasn't here in 2003. He was sometimes stiff, aging with a sore back, not nearly what he had been earlier in his career.
His 17-rebound finale against the Nets was both a nice farewell and a nice camouflage to what he really was. That playoff season, Malik Rose played more minutes.
But the idea keeps getting repeated, that somehow Duncan is trying to prove something by winning now without Robinson, when the concept isn't accurate. If anything, Duncan has more help now than he did in 2003, and the help was there when these Finals began Thursday night.
As it was with Robinson, this one is also left-handed.
Manu Ginobili isn't the only one who helped Duncan on Thursday night. Bruce Bowen harassed Rip Hamilton into a 7-of-21 night, and then there's Nazr Mohammed, the one who actually plays Robinson's position.
When Mohammed stayed in the air with a rebound with about seven minutes remaining in the game, then dunking, it was a move Robinson would have been pressed to make that final season.
Mohammed's numbers, as ordinary as they are, compare to Robinson's in 2003. And because he's younger and quicker, he's arguably better. Denver's Kenyon Martin, who as a Net played against Robinson in the Finals, said that during the first round this spring.
Asked if Mohammed was more effective than Robinson at the end of his career, Martin got expressive as if the answer was obvious. "Did you see Mohammed last night?"
But Ginobili is the one who has given Duncan the All-Star help he didn't have in 2003. As he did against Denver, Seattle and Phoenix, as he seemingly does every time, Ginobili slithered inside and attacked.
Robinson was a great player and an even better person. But he didn't have the killer instinct that Ginobili has. Then again, how many do?
For the last three years, no one has won as he has. Ginobili beat the U.S. team in the 2002 World Championships and likely would have won everything then had he not severely sprained his ankle. He was a key part of the Spurs' 2003 le, and it took Derek Fisher's 0.4-shot to stop him the next summer. Then he won the gold medal in Athens, beating both Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich, and now he's ahead 1-0 in the Finals.
So how has Ginobili lost? Hurt him, or find a miracle.
The Pistons did neither Thursday, even after taking a 17-4 lead. Then, as Ginobili struggled, Tayshaun Prince's long arms came as advertised. Did Detroit have the counter?
Duncan kept the Spurs in it without much help. And afterward someone asked Popovich if Ginobili appeared frustrated then. Popovich smiled and said, "Frustration isn't part of his personality. He just goes."
Ginobili just goes, all right. He goes in bursts, with frenetic energy, and it's no coincidence that these moments come when they do.
Such as? Late in the third quarter, with the Pistons within two points.
Then Ginobili went on a 15-point run, bumping by Prince once, grabbing a waist-high rebound for another, twisting in with some creativity. Just for fun, he used his right hand.
Ginobili showed signs of this in 2003, but not at this level. Is his confidence different now?
"Our confidence in him is different," Duncan said. "He gets on those rolls, and Pop lets him go. When he really starts to feel good, you let him roll."
With Ginobili as a partner, Duncan took his own turn to roll then. He threw in two jumpers, one with the shot clock down, on his way to the kind of night that won him two Finals MVP before.
Ginobili would dunk later and throw in a 3-pointer. And with about a minute left, with the ball loose, both Ginobili and Duncan went to the floor. They sat up facing each other, and then, as if on cue, they held out their arms and simultaneously helped each other up.
Let's clear up something.
This is the way Duncan and Robinson were in 1999.
This is a pretty good article by by Buck..but he's wrong about one thing...David was huge in the Lakers series on Shaq....especially in game 5(when he proved he could still dunk like Mohammed on the go ahead basket). Without David we don't get by the Lakers in 03, Manu or not.
This article is dumb. The effectiveness of Tim and Manu is not the same as the synergy between Tim and David in 1999. Tim has interacted differently with each one.
The one good point Buck had is that it's not all on Duncan. With Parker and Manu and very solid role players, Tim has about as much help as any superstar in the league.
But Robinson and Ginobili are so different...We're talking about a seven foot former MVP and superstar who had become mostly a defensive and rebounding specialist. He was still very good in 1999, but he was on the decline even at that point.
Ginobili is a guard. He's on the upswing. His primary contribution is his ability to score.
The only similarity between the two is that they both took pressure off of Tim Duncan. It seems like Buck is trying to say more than that. And if he isn't trying to say more than that, it's clear he doesn't really have much to write about right now.
Buck is very consistent: melo-dramatic BS, confused points, what points?, extraneous points, is there a main point? The guy couldn't get out of 10th grade English composition class.
Buck is a dumbass and I seldom like his stuff...but his point is pretty easy to get in this article and I agree with it.
His point is simple...he's saying Manu is now the bonafide second SuperStar on this team. I think he's right...Parker and Horry are making huge contributions too...but down the stretch we go to Manu just as much as Duncan.
But I don't care how much of a decline David was in during either of our le runs...he was still the guy guarding Shaq and making him, "just another good C" in both years. Come to think of it, every time we played the Lakers. And DRob's absence was noticable last season. It probably would have been noticable this season as well if we had ended up playing Shaq.
Buck does suck. He uses a tired, overplayed formula over and over again, he seldom gives us any real analysis or tells us anything we didn't already know, and he seems very detached from what's really going on. I used to like Buck, but I just think his style is tired.
If he's truly only saying that Manu is now the official second fiddle on this team, he really didn't need to write the article.
Unrelated:
I've been thinking about how Whottt declared that I was Vince Carter yesterday. I've decided that Whott is the Danny Fortson of the forum. He doesn't have any real skill, so like Danny, he just shoves a bunch of stuff down your throat and hopes that you'll submit. But in the end he always comes up short because more skilled players prevail in the end, even if it takes some time.
That may be true...but Vince Carter doesn't prevail
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