Spurs vs Mavricks

[dhsilv]

I have to say, just insane watching Duncan and Dirk off the ball. These two are becoming masters of what to do without the ball in their hands.

This was a great game but the subtly of their game was where the eyeball test just went "WOW".

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

As Pop said today before the game:

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on the key factors in the sustained excellence of Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki: I think they have really high character in a sense of being mature enough to understand the responsibility that they have with that talent. They have the mental capacity and mental toughness to understand that they need to bring it every night, and they take pride in that. That s a special competitiveness and mental acuity that a lot of players just don t have. Most players have no idea what it s like to be somebody like that who brings it night after night after night for so many years. They re definitely in a special category.

[Spurs5Rings2014]

GOAT's gonna GOAT.

:bowdown:

[dhsilv]

As Pop said today before the game:

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on the key factors in the sustained excellence of Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki: I think they have really high character in a sense of being mature enough to understand the responsibility that they have with that talent. They have the mental capacity and mental toughness to understand that they need to bring it every night, and they take pride in that. That s a special competitiveness and mental acuity that a lot of players just don t have. Most players have no idea what it s like to be somebody like that who brings it night after night after night for so many years. They re definitely in a special category.

I read that. But he misses the things they're doing because he's not one to share.

You can almost FEEL the gravity of Dirk when he just moves on an offensive play near the ball. The whole defense shifts ever so subtly. Duncan on the glass or on the defensive end or even on setting screens on offense. When he sets a screen the defenders just assume they've lost the play even if they haven't. He's just so good at keeping the defense off center and defensively he just does so many little things.

None of either of these things hit the box score and while other players do way more with the ball. These two can do it without it.

Zack Lowe had a good piece on Dirk's impact on shifting defenses in his last article. But he does so much more that's just so nuanced.