2003 NBA Finals - Game 1

[Thomas82]

This is one of the more underappreciated games of Tim Duncan's career. Check out this stat line:

32 points, 20 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 blocks, 3 steals

He came within 2 steals of having the only 5x5 game in NBA Finals history. I went back and did some research to see if any other player had a Finals performance quite like this and couldn't find one. I went back to the 1973-74 season, when the NBA started keeping track of blocks. I couldn't find another player in the last 45 years that had 30 points and 20 rebounds with at least 5 blocks. What an amazing performance!!

[Play Boban]

But Speedy Claxton

[Thomas82]

But Speedy Claxton

Yeah, he was clutch.

[exstatic]

2001-2002 and 2002-2003 Duncan was a beast on both ends of the floor. This game, and game 6 of this series were two of the best individual Finals performances, ever, coming within a whisker of both a 5X5 and a quadruple double in the same series.

[Thomas82]

2001-2002 and 2002-2003 Duncan was a beast on both ends of the floor. This game, and game 6 of this series were two of the best individual Finals performances, ever, coming within a whisker of both a 5X5 and a quadruple double in the same series.

I think he was every bit as good in the 2003-04 season as well, but he was tired from that championship run and playing FIBA. He also had that knee injury that kept him out 13 games.