The night Tim Duncan kicked his ass
Why all of us should stay up late and watch every minute of this year’s playoff run.
It was Game Two of a first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers when he did it. With just under two minutes to play in overtime, after having already played a ridiculous 42 minutes on his nearly 39 year-old knees, Tim Duncan took a pass from Boris Diaw as he was running up and just across the free throw line. He caught the pass, dribbled once with his left hand and stepped toward the basket before shooting a soft floater while DeAndre Jordan pounded him in the ribs. Just as the shot fell, breaking a 101–101 tie, Duncan fell, too. He landed in a heap on the court between Blake Griffin and Danny Green before scurrying to his feet and running back down the court. And in that moment, on that late night in April, Tim Duncan had done it again. He had completely and utterly kicked Father Time’s ass.
Googling the phrase yields innumerable stories about athletes succumbing to the only foe that they will never defeat.
And the story lines from Game Two are as numerous as stories written about the reluctant march of sports legends toward their own demise. Blake Griffin’s triple-double overshadowed by his late turnover that seemingly cost the Clippers the game; Tony Parker’s continued struggles and nagging injuries that threaten the Spurs playoff future; Chris Paul’s overwhelming desire to finally advance; and the timely re-emergence of Patty Mills as Spurs’ spark plug and marksman are topics worthy of ample air-time and news copy.
But the play of Duncan this season, and more specifically during Wednesday night’s game, trumps them all. The laundry list of his accomplishments have become mundane, boring even. Duncan reached two more milestones during his 28 point performance in Los Angeles, but none were as important to him as the Spurs just getting the win — and they did. Dan McCarney in the San Antonio Express News wrote about Duncan’s latest achievements reached during Game Two:
Duncan scored 28 points, becoming just the fifth player in NBA history to surpass 5,000 in their postseason career. He now has 5,027, trailing just Shaquille O’Neal (5,250), Kobe Bryant (5,640), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,762) and, of course, Michael Jordan (5,987).
(With 11 rebounds, Duncan also became the third-oldest player to record a postseason double-double behind Karl Malone and Abdul-Jabbar).
Despite all of this, Duncan’s continued brilliance garners a collective yawn from a nation of fans that would seemingly rather watch LeBron James sleep in a Kia. But perhaps we can briefly turn our attention to the series just long enough to appreciate Tim Duncan and the Spurs for what could be their last run. A few days ago Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote brilliantly about the approaching, inevitable end and why we should cherish every opportunity to watch this man and this team while we still can.
But nothing tops what could be the last stand of the Spurs as we know them. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are 381 and 37, respectively, and both could retire — even though each is clearly capable of playing at a high level beyond this season. Six other rotation players are free agents, including Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, perhaps the best two-way starting wing combination in the league. The Spurs are down 1–0, with Game 2 on the road against the strongest first-round opponent they’ve faced in the Tim Duncan era.
The Spurs could easily win this series,2 repeat as champions, and re-sign their aging stars to one- or two-year contracts. This could all be much ado about nothing. The franchise hasn’t faced this level of top-to-bottom uncertainty since Duncan dined with the Magic in 2000, and it’s hard to quash the feeling of preemptive nostalgia as you watch Duncan drain bank shots and nail every rotation while Ginobili dances steps he literally invented. Appreciate it all, because this really could be the last springtime run for one of the greatest core groups in the history of team sports.
The NBA is a fun and passionate diversion for many of us. Personally speaking, any game for any team on the schedule has become much-watch TV for me, much to the chagrin of my wife and kids. But the playoffs are different. Almost without fail, each series in a playoff run is a grueling, two-week ordeal that drains teams and their fans. As Mavericks’ coach Rick Carlisle said during the playoffs last year, “after each win it feels like you’ll never lose again, and after each loss it feels like you’ll never win again.”
But maybe for a minute we can step back from our frustration and frayed nerves and just watch Tim Duncan fight off Father Time (and a cavalry of younger, more explosive power forwards) one more time. Because after all, this might be it.
Gregg Popovich often says that when Duncan retires there will be no farewell tour or final hurrahs. Duncan will leave the game quietly, but in true fashion, in better shape than he found it.
“When he doesn’t think he can, he’ll stop,” Popovich said. “It might be in the middle of a game. I can see him walking off the court saying, ‘Nah, I’m not pulling my weight anymore. I’m gone.’ And he’ll walk. And I’ll be right behind him, like this. No pride, no nothing.”
And with each series over the next several weeks, the possibility that this is the end is there. Anyone with any affinity for the Spurs is loathe to admit, scared to admit it, but it’s there.
Make no mistake: Tony Parker’s ankle/thigh/achilles injury is a terrible development that threatens the Spurs chances of repeating as champions. Add to that the struggling Danny Green, Tiago Splitter’s bad calf and the murderer’s row that the Spurs will have to navigate and Spurs’ fans would be forgiven for believing the outlook is bleak.
But then there’s that man, out there fighting. Holding onto it all for as long as he can, giving everything he has for as long as he can.
And we get to watch him fight for a little while longer.
