One Final Game: The last great performance for NBA legends

One Final Game: David Robinson

Date: June 15, 2003

The Admiral got a late start to his NBA career, serving two years with the U.S. Navy before debuting as a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs at the age of 24. That meant his 14 years ended with him a lot older than most other players who lasted that long. Even as a 37-year-old Robinson has plenty left in the tank, starting on a team that won the NBA Finals (albeit in a reduced role alongside Tim Duncan).

His scoring output was up-and-down throughout that final season, but he was right there at the end, playing 31 minutes (a playoff high that year) in the closeout game of the NBA Finals. Robinson scored 13 points on an efficient 6-of-8 from the field.

Robinson led the league in rebounding once, and for his career he ranks 36th in total rebounds. He chipped in 17 more in this final playoff game, which was ultra-important against a New Jersey Nets team that missed 47 shots. Robinson and Duncan formed an impenetrable defensive wall, holding the Nets to just 34.5 percent from the field. The Nets had just 35 rebounds to the Spurs’ 55, and Robinson’s 17 were the most he collected in a game in seven months.

There was a time when Robinson paired dominant scoring with elite defense. By the end he was no longer a high-volume player, but he still had enough to exert his will in the paint and on the glass in the last game of his career, one that ended with him and his teammates hoisting a trophy.