Tim Duncan is Still Looking for Help
Back on November 30, I wrote the following:
So far as winning streaks go, the current run is nothing to brag about. The Spurs have played 4 of 5 at home, beating Washington, Milwaukee, Golden State, Houston and Philadelphia. Prior to those five victories, San Antonio lost three in a row, and against playoff caliber competition. One could argue that that streak was more telling, that losses to Oklahoma, Dallas and Utah were more indicative of where the Spurs currently stand in Western conference pecking order.
The Spurs just capped another three game losing streak, and, again, losing all three games against playoff caliber competition. Peter Holt broke the Spurs’ bank this summer, and the early returns are mired in mediocrity. By my count, the Spurs have turned the ball over an astoundingly sloppy 53 times in three games. They’re the basketball equivalent of living paycheck to paycheck, with big bills on the horizon.
There is a deep irony in their daily living, one that is too delicious to ignore.
When the Spurs inaugurated their summer of spending, a popular justification was the need to provide Tim Duncan with more help. His window–which is the Spurs’ window– of opportunity to win another championship was closing. The team needed fresh horses.
But through 18 games, those horses have come up lame. Rather than getting a lift from the supporting cast, Tim Duncan is playing with MVP-efficiency and barely keeping the Spurs at a half-respectable .500. If the Spurs recover from their start of sputter and stall, Tim Duncan ought to be placed at the center of the MVP conversation. He’s threatening a career season, at least in terms of efficiency. And it’s all lost on a 9-9 start.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that no one else is playing well. Matt Bonner is a having a career year; DeJuan Blair is occasionally sensational. Tony Parker is not dominating, but playing competent basketball. I get all that, and I could further qualify. It’s just that the supporting cast taken as a whole is providing more drag than momentum-gathering boost. Tim Duncan is all dragster, and the team is mostly parachute.
It’s a difficult thing to put one’s finger on. Why are the Spurs playing such uninspiring basketball?
In Kobe Doin’ Work, there is a scene where Bryant talks about the Spurs’ sometimes unstoppable predictability. Everyone knows what they’re going to do, he says. But San Antonio’s textbook predictability is of little detriment because, well, they execute so well.
A player is at the height of his offensive powers when he can get any shot he wants, at any moment. And he’s even higher when he has the gall to tell his opponent what he’s going to shoot, before casually dribbling to his spot and sticking the shot. This is Larry Bird. This is Michael Jordan. This was the San Antonio Spurs.
Tim Duncan is the lone Spur calling his shots. And he continues to call glass.
Pingback: The 10-man rotation, starring Chris Kaman’s medicine cabinet | Hot NBA Videos.com
Pingback: The 10-man rotation, starring Chris Kaman’s medicine cabinet | Hot NBA Videos.com
Pingback: The Spurs Might Be Broke | 48 Minutes of Hell