coastalmarker99
08-12-2021, 10:20 PM
Duncan's 2003 Playoff run is one of the most Goat playoff runs of all time and overlooked by the general public for some reason.
People assume that because Parker, Ginobili, and Robinson were on the team, that Duncan had a lot of help in this run when that is not the case.
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th scoring options on the Spurs all shot under 42% FG for the entirety of the 2003 Playoffs, the only time that this has happened on a championship team since 1964.
2003 Spurs scoring options 2 through 5 in the playoffs
Parker - 14.7 ppg on 40%
Jackson - 12.8 ppg on 41%
Ginobili - 9.4 ppg on 39%
Rose - 9.3 ppg on 41.9%
David Robinson was the 6th scoring option at 7.8 ppg on 54%. As you can see, the name value of Duncan's teammates didn't nearly match their production.
Duncan led the team in points, rebounds, blocks, and even assists for the entire playoff run, with incredible averages of 24.7 ppg, 15.4 rpg, 5.3 apg, 0.6 spg, 3.3 bpg on 53%.
Duncan is the only PF to lead a title team in scoring and assists at the same time for the playoffs. And of course, you have to remember that Tim Duncan is a top 10 defender of all-time due to his rim protection and ability to anchor the Spurs defence.
Duncan is the only player to average 24-15-5 with 3 blocks per game in any playoff run in general, regardless of the number of games played. Only two other people have averaged 24-15-5 in a playoff run past the first round, Kareem in 1972 and Barkley in 1986.
However, neither Kareem nor Barkley made it to the Finals in either of those seasons, only winning one playoff series apiece, and neither had to carry an offensive load nearly as big as Duncan's. And on the other end, neither of them were as dominant defensively as Duncan.
It's true that blocks weren't recorded and that Kareem probably did average 3+ bpg in the 1972 Playoffs, but again he only won one playoff series and wasn't carrying nearly as big a load as Duncan.
In fact, it was Oscar's running of the offence that led the Bucks to their first-round playoff win in 1972, as Kareem was shut down and outscored by Thurmond.
This forced Oscar to redirect the offence to Dandridge, who outscored Kareem in that series, after Kareem had his best scoring season, to take them to the 2nd round.
Now, let's get back to the 2003 Playoffs. In the first round, the Spurs played a 44-win Suns team with Marbury, Marion, and a rookie Amare Stoudemire.
For an 8-seed, this was a pretty solid team, and they took the Spurs to 6 games thanks in part to Stephon Marbury's buzzer-beater in Game 1. The Spurs bounced back, however, as Duncan carried them past the Suns with a great series of 19-16-5 and 3.5 blocks per game.
In the 2003 WCSF, the Spurs faced their familiar rivals, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers who were the defending 3peat champions. The Lakers underachieved in the regular season getting only a 50-32 record - partly due to missing Shaq for 15 games but obviously were a huge threat once the playoffs came around.
Kobe averaged 30-7-6-2-1 on 45% that year, which was probably his best all-around season. Shaq was also still a monster, putting up 28-11-3 with 2.4 bpg on 57% in the season.
The crazy part is that Duncan outplayed both Kobe and Shaq at the same time in the WCSF, and while having less help than either of them.
Duncan - 28-12-5 on 53% with 1.3 bpg
Kobe - 32-5-4 on 43% with 1 spg
Shaq - 25-14-4 on 56% with 2.8 bpg
Remember, both Kobe and Shaq had each other to draw the defence away from them, whereas Duncan had minimal offensive help - which meant the Lakers defence could focus much more on him. In spite of that Duncan's numbers are still better than Shaq and Kobe's.
Kobe scored more but shot noticeably less efficiently, and Duncan had much more rebounds and even more assists than Kobe. Duncan also beat Shaq in scoring and assists, but Shaq had an edge in rebounds and blocks. And it goes without saying that Duncan was always the much better defender compared to Shaq.
Let's put Duncan's lack of help compared to Kobe and Shaq in perspective. Kobe by himself averaged 32.3 ppg, compared to the combined averages of Parker, Ginobili, and Bowen of 37.7 ppg - the top 3 Spurs scorers after Duncan in that series. S
Shaq had 14.3 rpg, compared to the combined 14.2 rpg from Robinson, Malik Rose, and Stephen Jackson - the top 3 Spurs in rebounding after Duncan.
Kobe and Shaq by themselves nearly equalled the scoring and rebounding production of Duncan's 3 best teammates in both categories, yet he still carried his team to the win.
Next came the 60-win Mavericks in the 2003 WCF, tied for the best record in the league with Duncan's Spurs. Dirk did suffer a knee injury near the end of Game 3 that put him out of commission for the rest of the series.
However, the Spurs were already winning by 14 with 7:45 to go in the 4th quarter when Dirk was injured, and Dirk only had 15-9-2 on 7/20 FG (35%), so it's unlikely that the Mavericks would have came back with Dirk in that game.
The Spurs were still up 2-1 through 3 games before Dirk sat out the rest of the series, and Duncan outplayed him in each of the first 2 games as well as Game 3 before Dirk went down.
Now the Nets were not that great a team, only having a 49-33 record and with Jason Kidd being the only reason that team was relevant.
However, Duncan's teammates failed to have a great performance in spite of the fact that they were playing what should have been an easy opponent. Duncan's best teammates in the 2003 Finals were
Parker 14-3-4 on 39%
Robinson 11-7-1 on 61% with 2 bpg
Jackson 10-4-3 on 38%
Ginobili 9-5-2 on 35%
It says a lot that Duncan carried a team that struggled so badly against the 49-win Nets past the 3peat Lakers while outplaying Shaq and Kobe at the same time. For comparison, none of Duncan's teammates in the 2003 Finals had more than 14 ppg, but LeBron had 15 and 14 ppg from Wade and Bosh in the 2014 Finals.
Duncan had an incredible 24-17-5-1-5 on 50% for the 2003 Finals, easily one of the best Finals performances of all-time, with a Finals record 5.3 bpg, and a near-quadruple double in Game 6 to clinch the title with 21-20-10 and 8 blocks.
For the overall playoff run, Duncan had good defensive help from Bowen and David Robinson, but he was still by far the best defensive player on the team and had to carry an insane offensive load. And even Robinson played a limited 23 mpg, so Duncan couldn't rely on his defence nearly as much as past years.
People assume that because Parker, Ginobili, and Robinson were on the team, that Duncan had a lot of help in this run when that is not the case.
The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th scoring options on the Spurs all shot under 42% FG for the entirety of the 2003 Playoffs, the only time that this has happened on a championship team since 1964.
2003 Spurs scoring options 2 through 5 in the playoffs
Parker - 14.7 ppg on 40%
Jackson - 12.8 ppg on 41%
Ginobili - 9.4 ppg on 39%
Rose - 9.3 ppg on 41.9%
David Robinson was the 6th scoring option at 7.8 ppg on 54%. As you can see, the name value of Duncan's teammates didn't nearly match their production.
Duncan led the team in points, rebounds, blocks, and even assists for the entire playoff run, with incredible averages of 24.7 ppg, 15.4 rpg, 5.3 apg, 0.6 spg, 3.3 bpg on 53%.
Duncan is the only PF to lead a title team in scoring and assists at the same time for the playoffs. And of course, you have to remember that Tim Duncan is a top 10 defender of all-time due to his rim protection and ability to anchor the Spurs defence.
Duncan is the only player to average 24-15-5 with 3 blocks per game in any playoff run in general, regardless of the number of games played. Only two other people have averaged 24-15-5 in a playoff run past the first round, Kareem in 1972 and Barkley in 1986.
However, neither Kareem nor Barkley made it to the Finals in either of those seasons, only winning one playoff series apiece, and neither had to carry an offensive load nearly as big as Duncan's. And on the other end, neither of them were as dominant defensively as Duncan.
It's true that blocks weren't recorded and that Kareem probably did average 3+ bpg in the 1972 Playoffs, but again he only won one playoff series and wasn't carrying nearly as big a load as Duncan.
In fact, it was Oscar's running of the offence that led the Bucks to their first-round playoff win in 1972, as Kareem was shut down and outscored by Thurmond.
This forced Oscar to redirect the offence to Dandridge, who outscored Kareem in that series, after Kareem had his best scoring season, to take them to the 2nd round.
Now, let's get back to the 2003 Playoffs. In the first round, the Spurs played a 44-win Suns team with Marbury, Marion, and a rookie Amare Stoudemire.
For an 8-seed, this was a pretty solid team, and they took the Spurs to 6 games thanks in part to Stephon Marbury's buzzer-beater in Game 1. The Spurs bounced back, however, as Duncan carried them past the Suns with a great series of 19-16-5 and 3.5 blocks per game.
In the 2003 WCSF, the Spurs faced their familiar rivals, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers who were the defending 3peat champions. The Lakers underachieved in the regular season getting only a 50-32 record - partly due to missing Shaq for 15 games but obviously were a huge threat once the playoffs came around.
Kobe averaged 30-7-6-2-1 on 45% that year, which was probably his best all-around season. Shaq was also still a monster, putting up 28-11-3 with 2.4 bpg on 57% in the season.
The crazy part is that Duncan outplayed both Kobe and Shaq at the same time in the WCSF, and while having less help than either of them.
Duncan - 28-12-5 on 53% with 1.3 bpg
Kobe - 32-5-4 on 43% with 1 spg
Shaq - 25-14-4 on 56% with 2.8 bpg
Remember, both Kobe and Shaq had each other to draw the defence away from them, whereas Duncan had minimal offensive help - which meant the Lakers defence could focus much more on him. In spite of that Duncan's numbers are still better than Shaq and Kobe's.
Kobe scored more but shot noticeably less efficiently, and Duncan had much more rebounds and even more assists than Kobe. Duncan also beat Shaq in scoring and assists, but Shaq had an edge in rebounds and blocks. And it goes without saying that Duncan was always the much better defender compared to Shaq.
Let's put Duncan's lack of help compared to Kobe and Shaq in perspective. Kobe by himself averaged 32.3 ppg, compared to the combined averages of Parker, Ginobili, and Bowen of 37.7 ppg - the top 3 Spurs scorers after Duncan in that series. S
Shaq had 14.3 rpg, compared to the combined 14.2 rpg from Robinson, Malik Rose, and Stephen Jackson - the top 3 Spurs in rebounding after Duncan.
Kobe and Shaq by themselves nearly equalled the scoring and rebounding production of Duncan's 3 best teammates in both categories, yet he still carried his team to the win.
Next came the 60-win Mavericks in the 2003 WCF, tied for the best record in the league with Duncan's Spurs. Dirk did suffer a knee injury near the end of Game 3 that put him out of commission for the rest of the series.
However, the Spurs were already winning by 14 with 7:45 to go in the 4th quarter when Dirk was injured, and Dirk only had 15-9-2 on 7/20 FG (35%), so it's unlikely that the Mavericks would have came back with Dirk in that game.
The Spurs were still up 2-1 through 3 games before Dirk sat out the rest of the series, and Duncan outplayed him in each of the first 2 games as well as Game 3 before Dirk went down.
Now the Nets were not that great a team, only having a 49-33 record and with Jason Kidd being the only reason that team was relevant.
However, Duncan's teammates failed to have a great performance in spite of the fact that they were playing what should have been an easy opponent. Duncan's best teammates in the 2003 Finals were
Parker 14-3-4 on 39%
Robinson 11-7-1 on 61% with 2 bpg
Jackson 10-4-3 on 38%
Ginobili 9-5-2 on 35%
It says a lot that Duncan carried a team that struggled so badly against the 49-win Nets past the 3peat Lakers while outplaying Shaq and Kobe at the same time. For comparison, none of Duncan's teammates in the 2003 Finals had more than 14 ppg, but LeBron had 15 and 14 ppg from Wade and Bosh in the 2014 Finals.
Duncan had an incredible 24-17-5-1-5 on 50% for the 2003 Finals, easily one of the best Finals performances of all-time, with a Finals record 5.3 bpg, and a near-quadruple double in Game 6 to clinch the title with 21-20-10 and 8 blocks.
For the overall playoff run, Duncan had good defensive help from Bowen and David Robinson, but he was still by far the best defensive player on the team and had to carry an insane offensive load. And even Robinson played a limited 23 mpg, so Duncan couldn't rely on his defence nearly as much as past years.