Reason No. 431 you will miss Duncan
By Buck Harvey
June 15, 2016
Draymond Green is a rookie in 2012-13, and he has yet to put his footprint on either the NBA or Steven Adams.
LeBron James, too, has so far been spared Green’s impolite words.
But Green, in an interview with ESPN last month, said he was the same then as he is now. “I kind of talked junk to everybody,” he said.
So he’s playing the Spurs, and he says he starts talking trash to Tim Duncan.
“And he kind of just stared at me,” Green said.
What followed is another reason you will miss Duncan if he retires this month.
The Spurs say they don’t know what Duncan is going to do, but they are guessing he will walk away. And if they are right, they will miss him for many reasons other than his refusal to exchange insults on the basketball court.
What he did 13 years ago this week, in Game 6 against the Nets to win the 2003 championship, is a reminder. Duncan came within two blocks of a quadruple-double.
No one can perform that way without passion, and Duncan talked while he played. He just saved his words for teammates and refs.
In doing so he avoided what Steph Curry calls a part of the game.
“You have to give it,” Curry told reporters this week. “You have to be able to take it. It’s just that you don’t want to see it ever cross the line and become personal, because the game of basketball is never that serious in regards to disrespecting people. So you have to leave it on the floor.”
James famously wasn’t able to leave it on the floor in these Finals. After a confrontation with Green that ultimately helped the Cavaliers force tonight’s Game 6, James, in effect, admitted Green had gotten to him.
“I guess his feelings just got hurt,” Klay Thompson joked, and James’ feelings are often in danger. As the tattooed Chosen One, James seems to struggle when he doesn’t get the kind of respect associated with such a title.
Something similar happened earlier this season when the Warriors came to Cleveland for a regular season game. Curry, then, reminded everyone what had happened the last time they were there.
“Hopefully,” Curry said of the visitor’s locker room, “it still smells a little bit like champagne.”
James was offended, when Duncan would have rolled his eyes. This has also been the way of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and Kawhi Leonard is in line to be the same. He doesn’t talk, after all, trash or otherwise.
A moment in February summed up the franchise’s attitude. The Spurs were routing the Mavericks when a Dallas rookie, Salah Mejri, ran past the Spurs bench, looked Gregg Popovich in the eyes and yelled at him.
Popovich smiled and turned to Duncan, who was sitting out the game.
“What did I do?” Popovich said to Duncan, and both laughed.
Others see challenges to their manhood. The Spurs see silliness.
It’s a reason the Spurs and James went at each other in back-to-back Finals without the animosity the Warriors have had in their back-to-back Finals with him. But even then, two years ago, James still found a way to feel slighted.
Immediately after the Spurs eliminated the Thunder in Oklahoma City, Duncan was interviewed on the court. “We have four more to win,” Duncan said. “We’ll do it this time.”
James thought, clearly, this showed Duncan and the Spurs disliked the Heat.
Little wonder Green found it so easy to irritate James.
But Duncan? This gets back to Green’s story:
“I just kept talking junk to him, and he kept staring at me. At that point I realized during the rest of my career that I might as well not talk to him. Either, one, he is not going to talk back because he has no respect for me. Or, two, he is not going to talk back because that is who he is. Or, three, both. I figured then that was the last time I would talk junk to Tim. And that was the last time.”
For nearly two decades Duncan wasn’t just in control of himself. He was often in control of others, too.
You will miss that.
Reason No. 431 you will miss Duncan
By Buck Harvey
June 15, 2016
Draymond Green is a rookie in 2012-13, and he has yet to put his footprint on either the NBA or Steven Adams.
LeBron James, too, has so far been spared Green’s impolite words.
But Green, in an interview with ESPN last month, said he was the same then as he is now. “I kind of talked junk to everybody,” he said.
So he’s playing the Spurs, and he says he starts talking trash to Tim Duncan.
“And he kind of just stared at me,” Green said.
What followed is another reason you will miss Duncan if he retires this month.
The Spurs say they don’t know what Duncan is going to do, but they are guessing he will walk away. And if they are right, they will miss him for many reasons other than his refusal to exchange insults on the basketball court.
What he did 13 years ago this week, in Game 6 against the Nets to win the 2003 championship, is a reminder. Duncan came within two blocks of a quadruple-double.
No one can perform that way without passion, and Duncan talked while he played. He just saved his words for teammates and refs.
In doing so he avoided what Steph Curry calls a part of the game.
“You have to give it,” Curry told reporters this week. “You have to be able to take it. It’s just that you don’t want to see it ever cross the line and become personal, because the game of basketball is never that serious in regards to disrespecting people. So you have to leave it on the floor.”
James famously wasn’t able to leave it on the floor in these Finals. After a confrontation with Green that ultimately helped the Cavaliers force tonight’s Game 6, James, in effect, admitted Green had gotten to him.
“I guess his feelings just got hurt,” Klay Thompson joked, and James’ feelings are often in danger. As the tattooed Chosen One, James seems to struggle when he doesn’t get the kind of respect associated with such a title.
Something similar happened earlier this season when the Warriors came to Cleveland for a regular season game. Curry, then, reminded everyone what had happened the last time they were there.
“Hopefully,” Curry said of the visitor’s locker room, “it still smells a little bit like champagne.”
James was offended, when Duncan would have rolled his eyes. This has also been the way of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and Kawhi Leonard is in line to be the same. He doesn’t talk, after all, trash or otherwise.
A moment in February summed up the franchise’s attitude. The Spurs were routing the Mavericks when a Dallas rookie, Salah Mejri, ran past the Spurs bench, looked Gregg Popovich in the eyes and yelled at him.
Popovich smiled and turned to Duncan, who was sitting out the game.
“What did I do?” Popovich said to Duncan, and both laughed.
Others see challenges to their manhood. The Spurs see silliness.
It’s a reason the Spurs and James went at each other in back-to-back Finals without the animosity the Warriors have had in their back-to-back Finals with him. But even then, two years ago, James still found a way to feel slighted.
Immediately after the Spurs eliminated the Thunder in Oklahoma City, Duncan was interviewed on the court. “We have four more to win,” Duncan said. “We’ll do it this time.”
James thought, clearly, this showed Duncan and the Spurs disliked the Heat.
Little wonder Green found it so easy to irritate James.
But Duncan? This gets back to Green’s story:
“I just kept talking junk to him, and he kept staring at me. At that point I realized during the rest of my career that I might as well not talk to him. Either, one, he is not going to talk back because he has no respect for me. Or, two, he is not going to talk back because that is who he is. Or, three, both. I figured then that was the last time I would talk junk to Tim. And that was the last time.”
For nearly two decades Duncan wasn’t just in control of himself. He was often in control of others, too.
You will miss that.
Reason No. 431 you will miss Duncan
