Four-Down and 20,000 Points Later
It is widely acknowledged that Gregg Popovich and the Spurs run one of the more extensive and complicated systems in the NBA. While over the summer the coaching staff made a decision to cut the playbook in half to speed up the learning curve of it’s overhauled roster, it’s safe to say at least one play was always going to make the cut.
Four-down. If Spurs fans are familiar with any of the team’s complex offense terminology, it would be with this two-word play. In terms of basketball signature bread and butter plays, it somehow lacks even the charisma of the Stockton-to-Malone pick and roll. It’s simple and understated. Which makes it the perfect calling card of the man who used it to score most of his now 20,000-plus points.
Fittingly Duncan reached the milestone Friday night with little hoopla. Unlike another Texas franchise 7-foot forward, there were no video tributes or feature story on Yahoo Sports. Coincidentally, Duncan scored his 20,000th and 20,001st point in the first quarter of a Friday night loss, promising the story would be buried over the weekend and at least held off until Monday morning, if it garnered significant attention at all.
But we, and the rest of the basketball world, would be remiss if we didn’t take an opportunity to acknowledge Duncan and his accomplishment. As Duncan stated himself in a recent Express-News article, we may be running out of opportunities to do so.
“It means I’ve been playing a long time. It means I’m old. It means I’m closer to the end than to the beginning,†Duncan said with a chuckle. “It means a lot of things that are negative more than positive.â€
In some ways, Nowitzki’s 20,000 points is a bigger deal than Duncan’s. For someone whose game is based almost solely on his ability to put the ball in the basket, 20,000 both validates and defines a career. For Duncan 20,000 points is merely a footnote (and an impressive one at that) in a long and continuing Hall of Fame resume.
As Jeff McDonald pointed out in the previously mentioned article, Duncan is one of only seven NBA players to record more than 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 2,000 blocks. Of the group, which includes former teammate David Robinson, only Patrick Ewing lacks a championship ring.
Ultimately, none of those numbers matter because Duncan, unlike Nowitzki, has never been defined solely as a scorer, or a defensive player. Duncan has simply been defined as a winner.
One could argue that had he had such an inclination, Duncan could be much higher on the scoring list. But Duncan simply scored enough to win ball games, no more and-judging by the Spurs track record over the past decade-generally no less.
