Tim Duncan introspection: ‘Game 7 is always going to haunt me’

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY. Source: http://www.sbnation.com by Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Tim Duncan is a symbol of basketball stability. He is the foundation of one of the steadiest, most consistent and disciplined teams in the NBA.

That’s why we couldn’t paint his face after Miami’s 95-88 Game 7 win yesterday. Even as he answers the media questions, Duncan, looking more like a devastated widower than a face of a franchise, found it difficult to verbalize his thoughts.

Duncan and the Spurs had to win just one of two games to claim the 2013 NBA championship. One game for title No. 5 and a place of glory only a few has ever reached.

Instead, San Antonio’ mighty cornerstone tasted defeat for the first time in the NBA finals. Something he is very unfamiliar with.

"Missing a layup to tie the game," Duncan recalled. "Making a bad decision down the stretch. Just unable to stop Dwyane [Wade] and LeBron [James]. Game 7 is always going to haunt me."

Should Have Been a Usual Day at the Office

The Spurs were down 90-88 when Miami's Mario Chalmers gave them a huge break by missing two free throws. The ball ended up in the 6-foot-11, 255-pound Duncan's hands in the post with the Heat's slender 6-8, 220-pound Shane Battier guarding him. Odds for one of the greatest post players in NBA history looked good. Real good.

It should have been a usual day at the office. It was the kind of shot Duncan has made countless times throughout his illustrious 16-year NBA career — a little four-foot hook shot and a put-back on an offensive rebound over the top of a smaller defender.

And yet, when it mattered most — with his San Antonio Spurs trailing the Miami Heat 90-88 with one minute remaining in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals — the deft right hand that's guided a Hall of Fame career pushed both attempts just a bit long, leading Duncan's quest for a fifth title to come up just a bit short.

Steady All Day

Duncan stayed steady throughout, chipping in 11 points and seven rebounds after intermission, teaming with rising sophomore star Kawhi Leonard (19 points, 16 rebounds in Game 7) and Manu Ginobili (18 points, five assists, three rebounds) to keep the Spurs afloat on another night on which Tony Parker just didn't have his game, his shot, or his legs (10 points on 3 for 12 shooting, four assists, three steals, zero points in 19 second-half minutes).

One year after Parker had vowed to get Duncan back to the Finals, it was Duncan who was dragging his exhausted and wounded point guard to the finish line by making Chris Bosh's life a living hell on both ends of the floor.

It was the 37-year-old surefire Hall of Famer who answered a huge Shane Battier corner 3-pointer with a conventional 3-point play that was about as unconventional as it gets, tossing a short jumper toward the glass from a razor-thin angle while being bodied by Bosh but still getting the friendly carom because, come on, this is Tim Duncan and a backboard we are talking about.

It was Duncan who raced down the court after Battier missed his next triple, sought position on the low block, gave Ginobili a target, felt the 6-foot-8 Battier on his back and immediately turned middle to attack the rim as quickly as possible to tie the game.

Source: http://ph.sports.yahoo.com by European Pressphoto Agency

It Was One of Those Days

Except, it didn't work out. Today wasn’t one of those days. Two tries, zero points, a defensive rebound by Bosh and a Miami timeout with 39.1 seconds left.

Duncan, so famously cool and unexpressive on the court, slapped the court in frustration before heading to the San Antonio bench, knowing he may well have cost his team the chance to win Game 7, and cost himself his last best chance at another NBA championship.

"That's [frustration] out of me just missing a bunny," Duncan said. "Got by Shane and had a layup to tie the game."

Said Battier: "That's a shot Tim Duncan usually makes eight out of ten times. For whatever reason that shot didn't drop right then. I'm very thankful. It wasn't because of my defense. Just missed it."

IT'S OUR TIME, BUDDY. Source: http://www.sbnation.com by Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Respected Underdogs

Though hardly anyone had picked the Spurs to go all the way before the start of the season, or even the start of the playoffs, the championship was close enough for Duncan to taste on Tuesday night, when San Antonio held a five-point lead with 28.2 seconds remaining in Game 6 — when the yellow tape came out to cordon off the court and the Larry O'Brien Trophy was rolled toward courtside in anticipation of the Spurs' coronation. Before all hell broke loose.

"To be at this point — with this team, in a situation where people kind of counted us out — [it] is a great accomplishment to be in a Game 7," Duncan said. "Or to be in a Game 6 up one and two chances to win an NBA championship and not do it, that's tough to swallow."

Duncan, like all the other greatest players, has everything by Finals standards. Four NBA titles and three Finals MVP awards, it’s who he is.

But after losing in the title series for the first time, he is also now dealing with a unique pain. That pain can only be soothed with another championship run.