Season 49, Game 55
San Antonio 119, Los Angeles Lakers 113
46-9, 2nd in the West
Kobe vs. Duncan. Duncan vs. Kobe. Their last game as opponents. It’s easy; it writes itself.
I’m not very interested in that narrative. They are two undeniably great talents. Kobe is probably the most influential player of his generation, and perhaps its greatest individual talent. But there’s no contest: Duncan is the greatest basketball player of his generation. Of course, I am a die hard Spurs fan, so my opinion should be taken about as seriously as a Laker fan’s opinion.
Show me a franchise player who guaranteed you two decades of championship contention, and I’ll show you a picture of Tim Duncan. And we’ll be showing each other the same thing. It’s that simple.
Kobe had perhaps the greatest team of the decade, and didn’t have the personality or character to hold it together. His individual talents could never transcend or lift up the greater needs of the team. Duncan, on the other hand, never had the gaudy numbers or the flashy play, but his teams were always in the title hunt.
Looking at the two figures late in their respective careers only drives this point home further: Duncan has reworked his body, tweaked his role, and has remained a key part of a great team. While he is no longer the best player, he may still very well be the most important. Kobe, on the other hand, stubbornly clung to his role as the gunslinger, while his team slowly slipped from the perch of greatness into irrelevance. He is content to shoot his way into retirement as the losses pile up. (Of course, the Lakers franchise is happy to accommodate him, so it’s hard to completely fault Kobe. And it’s a smart long-term play for L.A., but I don’t think they are that deft to fully understand that.)
Friday’s game was a perfect microcosm: Kobe put up 25 points in a losing effort, but took 25 shots to get it. He played well at times, but probably cost the team a real chance at winning the game by jacking up really bad looks late in the game. Duncan had a ho-hum 12 points and 13 rebounds, and only took 9 shots. He played good but not great, but his team captured their 46th win in 55 attempts, sweeping the season series against Kobe’s Lakers 4-0.
Kobe is the ultimate individual player. Duncan is the ultimate team player.
And I actually don’t sports-hate Kobe like most Spurs fans do. I respect his game, his work ethic, and, in the later parts of his career, his candid honesty with the fans and the media. Of any team, the Lakers were the Spurs truest rival through the first decade of this century. Kobe deserves our respect.
But Duncan is way better.
Damn. I tricked myself into writing about it anyway. Oh well, that was my last chance to do it, so it’s probably for the best.
As for the game, it went mostly how I expected: the Lakers played the Spurs tough despite their down season, but the Spurs talent and execution won out in the end.
It was a game the Spurs needed to win, and they did. They still don’t look very sharp, but they looked much better on their second night in Los Angeles.
Kawhi is the focal point of the starters (and the anchor of the defense) and Manu is the lynchpin of the second unit, so it stands to reason that the team will struggle throughout the entirety of games without either of them.
(Photo: Sean M. Haffey, Getty Images)
Once again, the defense looked really bad, and the offense got stuck at times. But players stepped up admirably to fill the missing roles. Kyle Anderson had a really solid night. He guarded Kobe tough (and seeing him probably propelled Kobe into an even greater state of hero ball), and played really controlled and solid on offense. I’m starting to see the ways in which his game can grow and fit into the Spurs’ system long-term. Mills hit clutch shots down the stretch and did his damnedest to play his role and Manu’s role on the second unit. He obviously isn’t Manu, and he plays better alongside Manu, but he still adds a lot on his own.
Probably the best news of the night: the MRI came back negative on Kawhi’s calf. That’s better than any individual regular season game result.
In broader NBA news, the Warriors lost badly to the Blazers, and the Thunder dropped a game to the Pacers. Both results help the Spurs. As there are three really great teams in the West, the #1 seed is very important to avoid having to play each of the other two teams. Meanwhile, the #2 and #3 seeds stand to have an epic battle in the second round of the playoffs.
The Warriors have a vice-grip on that one seed, but with last night’s loss (and the Spurs’ victory, of course), the margin between the two teams slipped to 3.0 games. That’s tough, but the Spurs are still in striking distance, particularly with three more head-to-head match-ups left between the teams, two in San Antonio.
Meanwhile, San Antonio put another game difference between themselves and the Thunder, further ensuring they hold on to the 2-seed at the very least. They are now 6.0 games up on OKC, a very difficult margin to make up in less than 30 games.
The Spurs continue the Rodeo Road Trip Sunday afternoon in Phoenix. I expect Kawhi to sit again as the Spurs don’t next play until Wednesday after that, giving him a lot more rest. Kawhi or not, the Spurs should beat the Suns.
Go Spurs Go.
