@FlameRaptorRaven

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Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 15: Stoicism Silences Critics

Much has been said about Tim Duncan since his retirement, ironically more than the man himself has ever said about anything. I have great admiration for Timmy and one thing I can’t stand is the take that Duncan was never dominant. That is BS and you’re about to learn why. Tim Duncan was drafted first overall in 1997, 2 years later, he was named Finals MVP after the Spurs went 15-2 in the playoffs on their way to their first ever championship. While we think of that ring as the beginning of the Spurs’ empire today, at the time, it was ridiculed. If you think calling championships “fake” is a new thing, don’t be fooled. Even Phil Jackson himself was saying that the Spurs didn’t win a real championship because of the shortened season. The proceeding years after that ring didn’t helping. In 2000, Duncan got hurt and missed the playoffs, causing San Antonio to flame out to the Phoenix Suns in round 1. In 2001, the Spurs made it back to the conference finals, only to get swept by the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. Then, in 2002, Tim Duncan won MVP while leading a very weak roster (their 2nd best player was Bruce Bowen) to 58 wins, just to lose in the 2nd round, in 5 games, to the Lakers once again. As you can imagine, getting crushed by the Lakers made it easy to brush off the 1999 ring. They already didn’t benefit from media interpretation because everyone thought they were boring, especially Duncan. Jackson kept firing shots at the Spurs. Many believed Duncan shouldn’t have won the 2002 MVP. There was an easy way to prove all these critics wrong. In the 2002-03 season, Duncan won his 2nd MVP while leading the Spurs to 60 wins, the best record in the NBA, tied with the Mavericks. In round 1, the Spurs met the Phoenix Suns. Different from the 2000 squad, but still scrappy. They managed to steal game 1, only for Duncan and the Spurs to restore order and win in 6. Duncan averaged 19 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks. Good start. In round 2, they faced their most intimidating foe, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. LA literally hadn’t lost a playoff series in the 21st century up to this point. It was fitting that they stood in the Spurs’ way. San Antonio won game 1 behind Duncan’s 28, 8 rebounds and 7 assists along with 15 points off the bench from a rookie named Manu Ginobili. Duncan only had 12 points in game 2, but part of that is because Duncan didn’t play in the 4th. The Spurs won by 19. The Lakers managed to win games 3 and 4 despite Duncan’s 28 and 36 points respectively, reminding everyone why they’ve been so hard to beat. Duncan stepped up to the challenge in game 5, propelling the Spurs to a dominant first half to give them an 18-point lead, then helping them hang on for the win, barely. Don’t worry, Duncan scored 37 in game 6, helped the Spurs win by 28 and finally slay their biggest playoff demon. After getting over that mountain, the Mavericks in the conference finals seemed like just a hill. Nevertheless, the Mavericks won game 1 despite Duncan’s 40-point game. Then the Mavs lost the next 3 as Duncan averaged 29 points, 20 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks (holy shit). The Spurs eventually won in 6, sending them back to the Finals. There they faced the New Jersey Nets led by Jason Kidd. The Spurs were the clear-cut favourite and proved it by winning game 1 behind Duncan’s 32. The Nets managed to win game 2 thanks to, no joke, 5 free throws in the last 20 seconds from Jason Kidd. The Spurs got back to their winning ways in game 3, just for New Jersey to scrap out a game 4 victory. They did something that no team should do, they made Timmy mad. Duncan put up 29 in a game 5 win and put up his greatest masterpiece in game 6. 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 blocks, a near-quadruple double. Some believe the scorekeeper took 2 blocks away from TD, robbing him of an even more historic performance. Though, I doubt Duncan cared, San Antonio were back on top and proved all their doubters wrong. 2003 Tim Duncan grabbed the most rebounds in a single playoff run ever with 369. 14 more than 2000 Shaq in 2nd place and nobody has grabbed 300 since Dwight Howard in 2009. His 79 blocks are the 2nd most ever, only behind Hakeem’s insane 1994. Duncan’s 593 points ranked 11th all-time at the time and 31st today. That may not sound impressive, but that number is actually ahead of some recent all-time runs, including Jimmy Butler in 2023 and Dirk in 2011. It also remains the best ever for a Spur. Most points, most rebounds, most blocks and 4th most assists. Don’t tell me that this man wasn’t dominant. If you somehow still don’t believe me, I have a stat for you that sounds fake. From 1997 to 2007, Tim Duncan averaged more points in the playoffs than Kobe Bryant (23.8 vs. 23.3). There was a time when Duncan was called too boring to be truly dominant. That belief has survived in niche corners of the internet, don’t let them fool you. Duncan became a Larry O’Brien Legend in 1999 and solidified his legacy in marble in 2003.

Spurs

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Spurs Win NBA Finals: Today in Sports History

On June 14th, 2007, the San Antonio Spurs completed a 4-0 sweep against the Cleveland Cavaliers to win their fourth title in franchise history. Game 4 featured the closest matchup of the series, with the Spurs edging the Cavs 83-82 to secure the championship. In Cleveland’s first appearance in the NBA Finals, LeBron James was limited to 22 points per game. His herculean efforts were no match for the trio of Manu Ginóbili, Tim Duncan, and Finals MVP Tony Parker. Parker averaged 24.5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists throughout the series.

@zach

Kawhi Goes Down, Warriors Come Back: Today in Sports History

On May 14th, 2017, the Golden State Warriors rallied to a 113-111 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals after Kawhi Leonard was lost to an ankle injury in the third quarter. Leonard landed on center Zaza Pachulia’s foot after a shot attempt and re-aggravated an existing ankle injury. He exited the game, and wouldn’t return for the rest of the series. The Spurs were swept by the Warriors in four games. This injury marked the beginning of the end of Kawhi’s time in San Antonio. Leonard missed the first 27 games of the 2017-18 season with a right quadriceps injury, and then appeared in just nine games from December 12th through January 13th. On January 17th, he was ruled out indefinitely to continue rehabilitation for right quadriceps tendinopathy. The Spurs’ medical staff cleared Leonard to play, but he got a second opinion from his own doctors. In March, a players-only meeting was held, with Kawhi’s teammates asking him to return to the court, with the meeting described as “tense and emotional”. Leonard didn’t play again in the 2017-18 season, and reports surfaced in June that he had requested a trade from the Spurs. Months of tension had built over a disagreement over Leonard’s injury rehabilitation program. Kawhi specifically asked to join the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Spurs didn’t fulfill that request. In July, the Spurs traded Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Pöltl, and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick. Considering Kawhi’s health and only having a single season left on his existing contract, the move was seen as risky at the time. Nothing an NBA Championship can’t fix though, right? Kawhi’s ankle injury is a “what-if” scenario to be remembered. Do the Spurs pull off the series upset in 2017? Does Leonard’s rehabilitation go better? Does he ever end up a Raptor without this injury, or does he wind up in Los Angeles early? As for the Warriors, they rode the momentum to the NBA Finals, where they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games for the franchise’s 5th championship.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Winning is Never Boring

With all the talk about LeBron and his winning, it reminded me of basketball’s greatest modern winner. It’s not LeBron, it’s not MJ and it’s not Kobe. The best winner in modern basketball history is former swimmer Tim Duncan. To prove that, it is important to remember what the Spurs were before Duncan arrived. The San Antonio Spurs drafted Tim Duncan in 1997. Prior to Duncan’s arrival, the Spurs were a competent, but generally unsuccessful franchise. That may sound mean, but there’s honestly no better way to describe the pre-Duncan Spurs. They rank 8th in wins, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers and 1 win ahead of the Atlanta Hawks. It is important to note that multiple teams below them had less than 10 seasons to work with. If we remove the expansion teams that arrived in 1988 or later, they are just as close to the middle of the pack as they are the cream of the crop. The real dividing line is playoff success. The Spurs made 3 appearances in the conference finals, but could never win more than 2 games in any of those attempts. Meanwhile, the 76ers had won a championship and been to multiple NBA finals around their 1 banner year. They had one of the worst playoff winning percentages during that span, especially for teams that had been around since the 70s. The Dallas Mavericks and Washington Bullets had a better winning percentage. If I had to place them, they’d be above average among NBA franchises. Not the worst by any means, but a far cry from the best of the best. From Duncan’s rookie season to his last one, he led the Spurs to a 50-win season every single year, except 1. 1998-99, where teams played 50 games, the Spurs finished with 37 wins (60-win pace) and won the championship. When Duncan retired, the Spurs won 155 more games than the 2nd place Mavericks. That is a greater difference than the one between the Mavs and 12th place Detroit. In playoff wins, it was a similar story. The Spurs lead the way with 25 more than the 2nd place Lakers, coincidentally the only team to win as many championships as San Antonio during TD’s career (5). The 9 best Spurs defenses (going by relative defensive rating) belong to Tim Duncan-led Spurs teams. You get the idea, but to really drive it home, I’ll end this off with my favourite Duncan stat. Tim Duncan is 4th all-time in wins and 1 of 4 to win 1000 regular season games. The others are Robert Parish, Kareem and LeBron. Of those 4, Duncan is the only guy to rack up all 1000 wins with the same team. Next closest is John Stockton with 953 and he played over 100 more games than Duncan. You may think this is more of a team accomplishment, but you would be mistaken. The next closest Spurs teammate is Tony Parker with 892 wins. No other Spurs teammate has more than 800. Duncan is also 3rd in combined regular season and playoff wins; only behind Kareem and LeBron, whom played 154 and 271 more games respectively. From beginning to end, Tim Duncan made the Spurs a championship contender. He was the ultimate winner.