Today will be different. I assure you. My initial idea for this post spawned after the Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets, 103-89, on Feb. 11 (with Manu!). Other than the vintage Dallas Chaparrals jerseys, the success of the Deron Williams-Kris Humphries pick-and-roll and another underrated Gary Neal performance (18 points on 8-10 shooting), nothing came to my immediate attention.

Until I gave a cursory look at Tim Duncan’s box score, I felt compelled to close shop and hopefully come to an insightful conclusion in the morning. Here’s Timmy’s line in all it’s glory: 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, one steal, 6-11 shooting (eight of which were outside 16 feet) in 24 minutes of action.

Seems like a standard double-double from a surefire Hall of Famer reduced to a shadow of his former self. No longer is he consistently dominating the low block with his assortment of unstoppable post moves and smooth footwork, subjecting his foes to unimaginable bouts of frustration in the process.

He’s no longer considered one of the premier players in the NBA and rightfully so. He shouldn’t be expected to play more than 30 minutes a night in his current state much less carry the weight of an entire team and a cities collective pysche on his broad shoulders.

But Duncan isn’t a detriment to this current Spurs team. Actually, in his 14th season, he’s proven to be an invaluable component to a Spurs team in the midst of a 10 game winning streak.

Without his savvy defensive game and his consistently elite basketball acumen, the Spurs would not be average in defensive efficiency this year (15th).

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Look no further than around 3:38 in the 1st quarter during yesterday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Matt Bonner, who has been positively awful defensively, was matched up with the athletic specimen that is Blake Griffin. Obviously someone has the advantage in the scenario. Without any semblance of effort, Griffin found an angle to the basket and seemed prime to add another highlight reel dunk to his impressive resume.

Duncan, who left his man to help, rotated quickly and precisely and, most importantly, maintained his ground. Instead of a ferocious dunk, Timmy recorded a low-key block without the seemingly requisite finger-wagging or chest bumping. That was his job on that play. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now going back to my original idea before I continue to ramble on incoherently. Timmy does have a legitimate All-Star bid this year. While he does only average 27.4 minutes a night and he is becoming increasingly reliant on the 16-23 foot jumper (six attempts per 40 minutes, third behind Andrea Bargnani and Byron Mullens at center), his per-minute numbers fare remarkably well given the circumstances.

Efficiency does tend to improve when given less minutes so that has to be accounted for but, even so, it’s pretty apparent that Timmy is still playing at an above-average level at the age of 35. He’s had to completely retool his basketball game, swallow his pride and build his game around the perimeter rather than the low block. Without a conscious effort to do so, he wouldn’t be enjoying the success he has today.

For your sake, I’ll simply leave you with this striking statistical comparison (adjusted for 40 minutes)

Player A- 18.8 PTS, 14.5 TRB, 1.5 AST, 2.3 BLK, 0.5 STL, .547 FG%, 21.7 PER
Player B- 20.2 PTS, 12.2 TRB, 2.4 AST, 2.0 BLK, 1.1 STL, .472 FG%, 21.4 PER

Player A is Andrew Bynum, widely considered as the second best center in basketball. Player B is Duncan.

Now tell me, does Timmy have a legitimate complaint?

February 18, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) is defended by San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 29, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Rodrigue Beaubois (3) guards San Antonio Spurs guard Daniel Green (4) during overtime at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Spurs 101-100. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

So we learned that Gary Neal has marbles and Danny Green is a hustler. I’ll leave the interpretation of that up to you, dear reader.

Whether or not that Dallas game (the almost Comeback) means anything to the season narrative remains to be seen. For you post-1999-ers I will offer up the comeback against the Rockets in which that flawed but resilient Spurs team battled back (and won) against a team that seemed to be our betters. It seemed just as improbable. Mario Elie had to instill toughness in us then. This year? Well we didn’t need toughness so much as youth, athleticism, and enthusiasm.

Now we have Danny Green doing Manu-type stuff. That is great when we don’t have him in the lineup and intriguing when we do. Kawhi Leonard has been everything we thought he would and could be.

Whereas we finished the playoffs against Memphis being out hustled, the window all but closed and nay-sayers pulling up their circa-November tweets screaming “Toldja so!”, we find ourselves looking something like a team of troublemakers. We can shoot the three  like MW3 marksmen. We have long arms and get in passing lanes like George Hill and Manu except we added one more dude.

I’m tentatively excited. When Manu went down and we were dropping roadies every third night I was skeptical. Now that we can scratch out comebacks and damn-near wins with our bench guys? Now that we can whoop a more athletic, younger team that kicked our ass in the playoffs? I’m in, ya’ll.

***

About last night

It was a ballsy, gangster move from Pop that I am totally on board with. There is scarce practice time, if any. When some guys are hot, you run with them until they aren’t. The turnovers Gary Neal made were because of tired legs. Danny Green made the shot just hundredths of a second too late and had a decent enough look that could have won it.

Pop has been the coach here forever. We know the drill. We know he doesn’t value regular season wins over health. Put another way, he values more wins over THIS win. We need a healthy Timmy, Tony, and yes– RJ to compete for championships, ya’ll. Risking a torn hammy because we wanted to spell Neal in OT? Nah.

It worked out beautifully. We gave the Mavericks a game, we got a win in Memphis and Timmy played a handful of minutes.

I can dig it, yo.