Ric Bucher has had some other interesting articles like last year when he said the Pistons would beat the Lakers.
Tough Tim spurs on teammatesBy Ric Bucher, ESPN The Magazine
AP
SAN ANTONIO -- Manu Ginobili had the most points and Nazr Mohammed had the most rebounds, but it would be comical to call anyone other than Tim Duncan the offensive and defensive leader of the Spurs Tuesday night.
When the Sonics futilely tried to avoid a second decisive loss by rattling the Spurs' collective cages, Duncan did more than refuse to back down. He took the fight -- in pure basketball terms -- to the Sonics, putting Jerome James, Reggie Evans and Nick Collison all in foul trouble while letting it be known he wouldn't tolerate any of the other Spurs being manhandled, either.
"The most laidback superstar I've ever seen or played with," as veteran teammate Tony Massenburg describes him, made his presence felt when Rashard Lewis swiped at Ginobili after a whistle already had been blown for a tripping foul on Jerome James in the final minute of the second quarter. Duncan stepped up to Lewis and said, "You don't need to be doing that." When James knocked down Ginobili on a second-half drive, Duncan stepped up to him, too, wordlessly letting him know his foul wasn't OK, either.
The air was so thick with off-the-ball acrimony that as the teams left the floor for halftime, referee Bob Delaney stood at midcourt and watched the players leave, looking for potential trouble spots to be dealt with in the second half.
Duncan nearly became one of those spots by the end of the third quarter. After Tony Parker picked himself up after a thwarted drive holding his eye, Duncan scored on a driving floater while being sandwiched by James and Evans. He then ran back on defense and yelled at coach Gregg Popovich, "Hey, I'm getting one!" Meaning either a hard foul or a technical, or both. He never got the chance, in part because Evans flopped to draw a foul on Glenn Robinson. Which only steamed Duncan more.
Popovich, understanding his star needed to vent, called for Five-Down, a basic post-up for Duncan. Evans knocked the first entry pass out of bounds. Duncan glared at Popovich and whirled his finger in the air, demanding the play again. This time he got the ball, backed Evans down and wheeled into the paint, scoring on another floater while drawing a foul on Evans that sent him to the bench. Sonics coach Nate McMillan apparently sensed Evans was a marked man and didn't play him the entire fourth quarter, even though he had only four fouls.
James was next on Duncan's to-do list. This time he posted up on the right block, worked his way to the paint and faked the floater. James bit hard and Duncan spun the other way for an uncontested four-footer off the glass.
For what it's worth, Ray Allen tried to lead the Sonics in similar fashion, ignoring the taunts of Spurs' fans who took exception to Allen's publicized complaints about Bruce Bowen's defensive tactics. One woman in a courtside seat held up a sign that read, "REF! REF! BRUCE IS LOOKING AT ME!" with an infant wearing Allen's 34 jersey. The officials, though, had their eyes on Bowen, who was limited to 17 minutes, picking up his second foul on Allen less than five minutes into the game. He logged barely more than a minute in the third quarter before picking up Foul No. 4.
Allen's shooting form is so pristine that he generally only misses long or short, but the ankle he sprained in Game 1 clearly affected him in the first quarter when he repeatedly hit side iron on his jumper and even let Bowen drive by him for a layup.
Allen hung in there, finishing with 25 points, but his cool demeanor in response to the wisecracks from the stands -- "Put on a dress!" -- and his smooth, lightning-quick points couldn't inspire Seattle the way Duncan's glares and bump-and-grind buckets did San Antonio.
"It makes you really glad when an All-Star steps up and defends you," Ginobili said.
Leading in ways that don't show up in the box score is what the Spurs hoped for from Duncan once David Robinson and Avery Johnson left, but a player either has those ingredients or he doesn't. There were doubters for a while, but game by game, season by season, he has let a little more of his fiery side show.
That's why, even though his offensive numbers were at career lows this season across the board, he was more of an MVP in my mind than when he won the award over Jason Kidd three years ago. Great players do what they do best. MVPs do what best meets their team's needs.
For Duncan, on this San Antonio team, it means taking names as much as dishing out numbers.
When asked if he went out of his way to challenge the Sonics for manhandling Ginobili, Duncan said, "Nope. Just being me."
It certainly looked like it.
*Randy-WE-westkoast you can are certainly free to continue to think that Nazr is the driving force behind this and all Spurs playoff wins.
