Thunder vs. Spurs / The Legacy of Tim Duncan

By Mark Bacon

OVERTURE:

Thus far, the series baffles on close examination. Yes, the Thunder have star power, played well, games have been close, and OKC have won three out of five games. But it makes little sense.

Not that the Thunder are undeserving, slipping into Cinderella's slipper and blowing the Spurs away. It's about the Spurs. The 67-win, lost-once-at-home-in-the-regular-season-and-that-was-to-the-Warriors, annual standard-bearer-of-NBA-excellence, never-beat-themselves Spurs. But something is rotten in the home of the Alamo.

San Antonio has fallen apart in the four games since the Spurs' blowout Game 1 victory. Even though each contest has been within five points in the game’s final five minutes. The Spurs are shooting 35 percent in these situations but giving up 57 percent shooting to OKC. Weirdly (such a word?) they're still a plus-four. The Spurs are 1-3 in these close games and yet have outscored the Thunder by four in them. But they keep coming up on the wrong side.

In game 5, the San Antonio had a six-point lead with four minutes to go. Kevin Durant was struggling from the field, OKC had many turnovers, and several members of the Thunder were in foul trouble. The Spurs had a go-ahead shot from LaMarcus Aldridge on a pick/pop, wide open at the two-minute mark. Tony Parker had a chance to tie at the free throw line with 43 seconds to go, plus a go-ahead jumper with 11 seconds left. Choked. It’s weird; the Spurs are blowing chances to win in this series, via lack of offensive execution.

The Spurs have fallen into prolonged stretches of offensive stagnation, caught in between two extremes. On one hand, they have slowly been dragged down by uncharacteristic isolation basketball, dependent on Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard to create tough shots. Yet, they have been prone to bouts of overpassing. You read that right. The team whose passing has dazzled in years past are overpassing. While trying to jump-start offense with selflessness, it's really stagnating the motion. The rhythm.

They're at least familiar with this situation; they’re also showing how much longer the Duncan-Ginobli-Parker troika is long in the tooth.

Is this Parker, Manu and Duncan’s swan song? We’ll see.

GAME TIME:

From approx. 3:50 in the first quarter to 10:30 in the second, Chesapeake Arena was a abattoir not a basketball court, with the Spurs being led to slaughter. Remember, the Spurs were the second best team in the NBA all season, winning a franchise best 67 games and finishing second overall in the West with home-court advantage for the first two rounds. Yet that didn't matter against OKC.

The Thunder won two games in San Antonio, a place the Spurs lost just once all season. To the Golden State Dubs. The Thunder neutralized San Antonio's offense, which was third overall during the regular season and made mincemeat out of the Spurs' defense, which was the best in the league. Shocking on all levels.

The Thunder just simply overwhelmed the Spurs, being physical, dominating the rebounding battle and making the adjustments that actually made a difference. Enes Kanter and Steven Adams stepped up and were a huge part of the SA Stomp. Adams really stepped up, playing some of the best basketball of his career and frankly putting himself into the conversation for one of the best centers in the league.

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are the men here. Durant scored 37 points in Game 6, making Kawhi Leonard look exhausted and helpless. Westbrook (28 points and 12 assists), played like he usually does, running downhill, attacking the basket and controlling the Thunder offense while also being a pest on defense.

Will Tim Duncan, who was a hologram of himself, lacking any lift in this series, retire? Or Manu Ginobili, who came back because he believed San Antonio's championship window was still open due to the signing of Aldridge, also hang it up? And what of Parker?

One way or another, San Antonio will have to figure out how to bolster its bench, which was nonexistent this series. David West, Kyle Anderson, Kevin Martin and Boban Marjanovic left a lot to be desired, especially Boban.

THE CODA:
If Tim Duncan retires after a 19-season career, he’s one of only three players to spend at least 19 seasons with one franchise; John Stockton (19) and Kobe Bryant (20) are the others.

Duncan is one of three players to win 1,000 regular-season games, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish; his .719 winning percentage tops Kareem and Parish.

He is the second player in NBA history to win an NBA title in three different decades. He has won five titles overall (the Spurs’ five championships rank fourth all-time). The Spurs have posted a .600 winning percentage in all 19 seasons of Duncan’s career. It’s the longest such streak in NBA history.

Duncan ranks 14th all-time in points scored, sixth in rebounds and fifth in blocked shots. In postseason play, his stats improve to sixth in points, third in rebounds and first in blocked shots.

Duncan did give it his best effort going out. He scored 19 points in Game 6, two more than he totaled in the first five games of the series.

Whatever the outcome, I salute one of the best ever. Undeniably one of the classiest athletes of all time. And a player I will genuinely miss, should he retire. Few did it better.

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