San Antonio Spurs: Series Now Tied As Tim Duncan Leaves His Mark

He fell slowly to the court, with his hands sticking up in the air, and eyes glaring right at referee Ron Garretson.  The final two minutes of overtime were calling, and Tim Duncan never fails to answer the phone.  After all, we’re already aware that it rings at least five times for him.

As the clocked continued to tick, Duncan had just connected on the toughest shot of overtime. Catching the ball at the free throw line, taking one dribble, and launching his signature one-hander, Duncan was picture-perfect from 15 feet. He was bumped off balance by DeAndre Jordan, but the damage had been done.

The incredible bucket — one that he tricks us to believe is easy, but is actually tough in these circumstances — put all the pressure on the Clippers. They had just been demoralized, after using all their energy to stay alive on offense. Duncan’s soft floater forced Los Angeles to march down the court and try to tie the game (again) with just a minute left. Once the Spurs’ defense held up, forcing a Matt Barnes‘ 3-point miss, it was all she wrote.

Duncan had capped off his most unbelievable playoff game of the last three years with a gorgeous touch, which silenced thousands of anxious fans in Staples Center. While the playoff foe (Clippers) is relatively new to him, the venue is not. He’s had countless postseason moments in Staples, trying to storm past the many Lakers rosters he’s faced along the way.

This moment, however, could be the defining moment in his late-career revival. Duncan annihilated the post for majority of the night, going back and forth with DeAndre Jordan with highlight reel offense vs. sensational defense.

Jordan was mingy in the paint, rejecting Duncan on a few vintage moves that got the crowd hysterical to new levels.  However, you can’t be too rude to someone when their birthday is approaching. It’s just a rule of common courtesy.

Duncan turns 39 years old on Saturday, with Game 2’s performance being the only gift he really wanted. Los Angeles didn’t hand it to the Big Fundamental and walk away, though. It required an hellacious effort from someone who hasn’t stepped out of his humble world since 1997. It required a high level of usage from someone who rarely hits 40 minutes on a court.

Most of all, it required a performance that only the league’s historical legends could provide.

With Wednesday’s rampage, Duncan became the first 39-year-old in history to play 44+ minutes in a playoff game, while making at least 14 field goals. He managed to score 28 points, grab 11 boards, and make 61% of his shots against Doc Rivers‘ defense in Game 2.

If we excluded the playoffs and just evaluated the regular season, Duncan still joins historic company. He became the second 39-year-old to hit 14 field goals in 44 minutes, with the other being Michael Jordan (four times).

Since his birthday is two days away, we’re giving Duncan the label of being 39 years old. It would make zero sense not to round, because he’s lived 39 years of his life.

It’s wondrous that Duncan even had a chance to add this feat to his stacked résumé, considering Gregg Popovich’s philosophy of not trying to run his players in the dirt.  See, Game 2 was only the fourth time this season that Duncan played 40+ minutes. The three in the regular season were all because of overtime minutes, as Popovich understands the margin for error is so small in a five-minute stretch.

When the game extended to overtime on Wednesday, Duncan knew he was going to have to stay energetic for another long battle. In actuality, Duncan finished this regular season with more total minutes played than last year, because the Spurs were in a home-court dilemma down the stretch. They needed to win games for a chance at a top three seed, or else Duncan likely rests the final few games.

While his body is durable and completely re-invented compared to 2010, there’s no questioning the science of it — he’s feeling banged up every night that he goes against a physical frontcourt, or every time he’s asked to go full-speed for over 35 minutes. It all adds up, and eventually it turns into too much for an aging player to handle.

Duncan hasn’t reached that level yet. There is no surrender in his body. He’s feeling the effects, but there’s a difference between he and Kobe Bryant.  Duncan hasn’t had the hundreds of injuries Bryant picked up through the years, which have hindered Bryant’s skill-level since he turned 34.  Instead, Duncan’s level of production has remained exactly what people have expected of him since 2010.  That’s a lot tougher for Bryant to achieve, since people still expect 25 points a night, through 42-45 minutes of play.

The difference of style, expectations, and coaching strategies have made it possible for Duncan to out-live almost all Hall-of-Famers on the court.

It’s funny, since the “Hack-a-Jordan” employed by Popovich gives a few twists to this concept. While the argument against it has been that Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are getting “rest opportunities” while Jordan is shooting the intentional foul shots … the same can be said for Duncan.  Timmy is old as dirt for an athlete, but he’s not stupid — it’s understood that by slowing the game down significantly (taking breaks for Jordan to shoot free throws), Duncan is also a beneficiary of re-gaining some breath. That’s a huge factor in allowing him to play over 40 minutes in such a must-win, season-on-the-line type of game.

Along the way, Duncan also had to bank on his teammates to carry the baton. He and Kawhi Leonard couldn’t do it alone, accounting for 51 of the starting lineup’s 63 points. In a game where Tony Parker was a complete no-show due to Paul’s defense and Achilles pain, the bench had to pull through.

Parker blew a tire to start these playoffs, now spinning out of control and crashing into a ditch. He’s not beyond repair, since we’ve watched him do this in the past. He’ll start a series extremely slow, and then re-appear once the series-clinching moments are presented.

Wednesday was just the first time since 2004 that Parker played at least 30 minutes of action and scored less than two points. It’s only happened twice in his entire career, and he was still in his third season as a pro when it happened last. Now, at almost 33 years old, Parker doesn’t seem to have any juice to give Chris Paul trouble.

Parker used to be able to maneuver his way through any defensive point guard, racking up more paint points than any guard in the league. Now, he’s letting Paul get the best of him. Through the first two games of the series, Parker is only 4-of-17 from the field (23.5%) and has only been to the free throw line four times. San Antonio misses the Parker from the 2012-13 days, where he would get to the line fives times per game. He’s slowed down (mainly nursing injuries) and it’s hurt the Spurs’ crunch-time options.

Duncan got the absolute best out of San Antonio’s bench for Game 2’s win, which was needed because of Parker’s disappearance.

Popovich’s bench scored 48 points in the win, which made up for 43.2% of the Spurs’ scoring.  Doc Rivers, on the other hand, had to live with just 17 bench points. It made up 15.9% of the Clippers’ point production — far under where you need to be as a title contender.

During the regular season, the league-average bench contribution was approximately 33.4 points per game. Thus, the league-average bench accounted for 33.9% of its team’s scoring. For Los Angeles to be 13.3% under that average mark in Game 1 (only 22 bench points), and 18% under the average in Game 2, Rivers has a serious issue on hand.

In most cases, a coach should have a few solutions on the table for immediate problems. Examples would be how to defend the pick-and-roll, who matches up with who, or which offensive plays to run.  But in this situation, there is no solution.  There is no fix for the Clippers’ appalling bench.

With the rest of the series advancing every other day now, Rivers needs to ensure that his starters are getting enough sleep. He’s going to have to feed them to the wolves for 40+ minutes a game, in what looks to be a long, seven-game series. Paul shouldn’t have to go through this, but he’s the prime example of a warrior that doesn’t care if he plays 60 minutes every night of the week.

CP3 will collapse with the ball in his hands, or just turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger before our very eyes.

With the series tied as both teams head to Texas, the greatest first round matchup in history is about to get more intense. Fouls are coming harder, screams are getting louder, and 3-pointers will sting even sharper.

Meanwhile, the most unbelievable basketball player of our generation will stay calm.

Tim Duncan just keeps getting better, and he doesn’t care if we recognize it or not.