Tim Duncan’s Retirement Serves As Sad Reminder

 

 

I’ll be the first to admit: I hate Tim Duncan.

 

That was until I began to truly appreciate him. Despite causing me years of frustration while watching Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks fall short to Duncan and his San Antonio Spurs, he will go down in history as one of the all time greats, and rightfully so.

 

In case you haven’t rolled out of bed just yet, or if this so happens to be the first thing you’ve seen on the net today, Duncan announced his retirement from the NBA today, after playing 19 seasons and collecting FIVE NBA titles.

 

Albeit a quiet individual, his lack of presence on the floor will be felt moving forward. Sure, the San Antonio Spurs will march on, and with their elite front office, and two young talents in Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, but this is an icon leaving a team that he has played for his entire career. He was the leader and driving force behind the 19 straight seasons making the playoffs.

 

Alright, enough of the Tim Duncan love fest, Ryan.

 

While Mavericks fans everywhere may rejoice in the fact that they no longer have to worry about this guy ripping their hearts out, it also serves as a very painful reminder: The career of Dirk Nowitzki is also coming to a close.

 

Nowitzki was drafted a year after Duncan, and the numbers they have put up together are incredible:

 

• 59 – Regular season games played between the two. Duncan and the Spurs won that series 37-22.
• 33 – Playoff games played. Spurs won 18-15 and had a 4-2 series advantage.
• Nowitzki outscored Duncan by 7 points in their regular season matchups – 1163- 1156.
• Duncan outscored Nowitzki by 23 points, 95-772, in the post season.
• They combined for 6 NBA Titles (Duncan had 5 of them), 3 regular season MVP’s, 4 NBA Final’s MVP’s, and 28 All-Star appearances.

 

From our friends over at Mavs Moneyball (By Jason Gallagher, Andrew Tobolowsky and Kirk Henderson):

 

 

Today figures to be a tough day for San Antonio Spurs fans and the rest of the NBA as well.

 

For Mavericks fans, it serves as a reminder that the end is near for their franchise icon. May we all start to prepare, whether we are ready or not.