Have the San Antonio Spurs already transitioned into the Post-Duncan Era?

Big thanks to Dale and Josh for spreading the holiday cheer. You’re a Sly One Popovich from Josh Guyer on Vimeo.

On the San Antonio Spurs’ beating at the hand of the Orlando Magic.

The wave of milestones keep rolling in, and so far as Tim Duncan is concerned, he’d rather they not be. In the San Antonio Spurs 95-78 victory over the Portland Trailblazers the Spurs longtime franchise player played his 1,000th game and took sole possession of 29th place on the NBA all-time scoring list, surpassing Walt Bellamy.
If Duncan had his way, he’d rather not have just accomplished either, let alone be reminded.

The San Antonio Spurs went small against the Hornets, and the result was a blitzkrieg of offense for which New Orleans had no answer.

In losing to the Dallas Mavericks, Tim Duncan lost more than his team’s 12-game winning streak. He also lost a bet. Last season, after a huge performance from Nowitzki, Duncan bet the Mavericks forward would not be able to replicate his 12-14 performance. Duncan was wrong.

Richard Jefferson bottled up Kevin Durant? Can it be true? The Spurs are morphing into a defensive force.

For the Spurs, it was their second ugly win in as many games. The box score would tell you it was a classic Gregg Popovich vs Larry Brown duel: the Bobcats were leading the Spurs 48-44 at half and the pace of the game was closer to calcifying than blistering.

In announcing his timetable for retirement at the start of training camp, Tim Duncan accomplished a feat so rare that few of the all-time greats have ever achieved it. In signing Tony Parker to an extension-along with Manu Ginobili last year-that keeps the Spurs All-Star backcourt intact through their primes, the San Antonio Spurs [...]

AT&T CENTER — Having whittled an 18-point lead to three, Richard Jefferson lined up a open 3-pointer from the baseline with a little over a minute left — it was his only missed shot of the fourth quarter, and one that would have completed a furious comeback. “It looked good, I was already on my [...]

Off to the left is my favorite Gregg Popovich-inspired Doc Funk moment of the preseason. It reinforces the general perception of Gregg Popovich as the NBA’s most beloved S.O.B. But anyone who regularly watches the Spurs knows this doesn’t quite square with reality. Gregg Popovich is an endearing personality, in part, because he is equals [...]

Richard Jefferson spent months preparing for this moment, working through weeks and weeks of repetition until it became second nature, muscle memory taking over. So with eyes on him, and with an assist from Manu Ginobili, the Spurs small forward locked in, squared up, and….laughed? Surrounded by a few remaining beat writers , Jefferson, standing in [...]

DeJuan Blair would appear to have a bright future in the NBA. In his first year — without, as Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich likes to remind, a single offensive move — Blair led all rookies in field goal percentage while averaging 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds in only 18 minutes per game. Given such [...]

The San Antonio Spurs kicked off training camp 2010 in the same fashion as last season-with much optimism, a typical Gregg Popovich dress-down of the media, and endless inquiries concerning the future of their All-Star backcourt. Never one to tip his hand too much, or engage in needless speculation, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg [...]

Tim Duncan averaged over 39 minutes per game in his career before the age of 26. Since then, his minutes have steadily decreased, reaching a career low of 31.3 MPG last year. Despite this decrease in minutes, his production per minute is quite comparable before and after age 26. Clearly, much of this reduction in [...]