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What a whack article.
Tim's timbre falls flat as monotone
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 04/20/2007 01:54:53 AM MDT
Which is a tougher task: defeating the San Antonio Spurs in a first-round series or getting Tim Duncan to show some emotion - any emotion? (NBAE, Getty / Chris Birck)Does Mr. Robot Face ever crack?
There's no face like it in the NBA.
Tim Duncan wears a mask devoid of emotion. Is there any superstar athlete in America more technically brilliant, sterilely detached and downright boring?
The San Antonio Spurs have all the personality of their marquee player.
Which is to say: None.
"He plays with no face," Nuggets forward Nene said Thursday, wiping a hand in front of his mug and erasing all trace of human expression, doing his best imitation of the inscrutable, unflappable Duncan.
Underneath the basket, Duncan is as solid as a statue, cooler than marble, with a heart of stone.
"Yeah," Nene said. "There's no anger, no frustration, no anything. He plays like a robot. He has the robot face."
Duncan is Mr. Robot Face.
Can the Nuggets get him to crack?
Or will Duncan, whose uniform number should rightfully be R2-D2 rather than 21, systematically bland the Nuggets to death?
While dispassionately producing 21.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.2 yawns per game for a decade, nobody has put the NBA in a sleeper hold the way Duncan can. He has elevated boring to an art form.
"We have a team that thinks we can beat them," said coach George Karl, whose Nuggets open a best-of-seven series in San Antonio on Sunday. His reasons for optimism are as undeniable as a Carmelo Anthony drive to the rim and as sublime as the crossover dribble of Allen Iverson.
Denver, however, has not yet earned the right to be taken seriously as a championship contender. Three straight trips to the playoffs have ended with a thud. Try as the Nuggets might to talk a good game, this series does not truly begin until they get a reaction out of Duncan.
Denver must coax a little frustration from Mr. Robot's face, make Duncan sweat. The Nuggets must prove that at age 30, Duncan is fallible, maybe even almost human.
He has been called the Big Fundamental for the most laudable of reasons. But there is very little about Duncan that is fun.
Although truly admirable for putting his art above the bombast that defines so many sports heroes of the 21st century, is there anybody else out there who agrees that Duncan's art most closely resembles ballet? Puts me to sleep before intermission every time.
"I'm a big fan of Tim Duncan outside the court. But on the court, I don't know who he is," said Nene, a 24-year-old power forward who gladly steals every move and attribute he can from basketball's dullest leading man, named the league's MVP in 2002 and 2003.
"You never know what is going on inside Tim Duncan's head. Whether he misses a shot or makes it, you don't know what he is thinking. He is very smart," Nene said.
Although the Spurs play basketball the right way, they are about as tasty as the right things to eat. Tell the truth, nobody wants to see them in the NBA Finals. Not you. Not me. Certainly not ABC-TV.
While the excellence of Duncan remains as reliable as his bank shot and Gregg Popovich might be the most underrated basketball coach on the planet, if you talk to the Nuggets privately, they look at Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley and Robert Horry, all old enough to have fought at the Alamo, and wonder if all those proud veterans in San Antonio's black uniforms might be showing the gray of vulnerability.
Let Duncan play catch and shoot on the low block, while intimidating the referees with his Marvin the Paranoid Android act, and the Nuggets might as well not show up.
Denver, however, is not scared.
"I've never been intimidated by nobody," Nene said.
So the Nuggets could start by irritating Mr. Robot Face. Ask Duncan to show them his Olympic bronze medal. Whisper the name of referee Joey Crawford in his ear. Anything.
Duncan tries to stare through you with impenetrable eyes for a reason.
Underneath that tough exterior, Mr. Robot Face is soft.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or [email protected].
What a whack article.
Kiszla is on a roll. It's funny how he tries to hide his insecurities through trash-talking. And in his naive world, he probably thinks he can 'help' Denver 'irritate' Timmy with this first-grade article...Sadly, I don't even think Tim would read this.
bwahahahahahaha
i thought the seattle journalism was bad during that one series but I am quickly reminded of how journalism from Denver is the LOWEST OF THE LOW.
too funny
The beauty of that article almost made me shed a tear...the eloquence...the brilliance...ah that type of smack talk brings back fond memories of playing basketball in elementary school.
i thought the article was good, until he called Duncan soft.
Crappy article, Duncan is probably smarter (and even funnier) than the whole Kiszla family together. Tim actually has a great personality, it's funny how idiot people thinks that being quiet and not all emotive isn't actually a kind of personality. He is just a "reserved" person.
And I don't know how talking about the Spurs will help Denver.
It's really a disgusting article. That's the only word I have for it, disgusting.
Although truly admirable for putting his art above the bombast that defines so many sports heroes of the 21st century, is there anybody else out there who agrees that Duncan's art most closely resembles ballet? Puts me to sleep before intermission every time.
One sentence the guy is complimenting Duncan for being substance rather than hype, but he trashes him for it in every other sentence. I hate what's become of the media, I really do. Basically he hates Duncan because he doesn't scream after every dunk, he doesn't do a dance after a blocked shot, he doesn't make stupid rap albums or movies. He doesn't get into trouble off the court or have all these children outside of marriage.
Everything people criticize athletes for, Duncan doesn't do.
And he gets on for being too boring. It's like an athlete can't win with the media. No matter what you do, YOU. CAN'T. WIN.
Well, it is good to see other teams' writers giving kudos to Duncan while not branding him as a whiner and/or reminding him of a Crawford backlash.
Cheers!
So first he's a whiner, now he not emotional. surely whining is some kind of emotion.... o denver media. make up your mind
I hope the Spurs face some better journalists in the second round.
Mr. Robot Face?
Sounds like something a second grade student would write.
is this the same guy who wrote the whiner article? i kind of laughed at that one but this is downright pathetic...he needs to stop now, let the nuggets speak for him if he's a nuggets fan, he's not even dissing duncan with this article, it's terrible
What a great article! Wow...I forgot how much personality of a team determines a championship. I didn't realize that if you don't show a lot of emotion, you can't put the ball in the basket or rebound or play defense.
Man...are my eyes open now!
The fact that Duncan dunks on you then runs the other way without fist pumping or staring you down makes him more of a badass in my opinion...
Do you stare down a 3rd grader when you dunk over him on a 7 foot rim?
I kind of feel like thats how he makes opposing players feel when he does that to him...
stupid is what stupid does
Man, I forgot how bad they were. Hopefully this series will be over pretty quick....my 10 & 11 year olds come up with better insults than that.
*sigh*
Meh... same crap as 2005.
I'm learning that the days of having a sports columnist like Peter Gammons in the Boston Globe are over. Most of them now are monkeys flinging poo.
Last edited by Extra Stout; 04-20-2007 at 10:43 AM.
Heh. Duncan's game is so faultless that you can't insult it, so journalists have to resort to criticizing his personality. It's the only thing they know how to do.
feels like 2005 again. lol
haha. klisza picks on tim's personality and simmons criticizes manu's bald spot (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...8&sportCat=nba)
what's next?
I thought this was funny.Ask Duncan to show them his Olympic bronze medal.
And here I thought that the Denver columnists would improve after Woody Paige bolted for ESPN...
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