FanPost

My thoughts on Tim Duncan last night

Tim Duncan played the last 18 minutes of last nights game consecutively. No other player on either team did that, everyone else was subbed in or out, often multiple times, but Timmy was in the game for those last 18 minutes, knowing the SPURS were probably going to lose, but never giving up, fighting to the very end, giving it everything he had even if half the SPURS fans in the universe had already thrown in the towel and turned off their TVs. Tim Duncan just simply refused to quit, and at age 40 he chose not to come out of the game for those last 18 minutes. I don't know if it's possible to look up the stats, but I doubt he's played the last 18 minutes of more than a handful of games his entire career, if he even has at all. Somehow during those 18 minutes the score no longer seemed important to me, the result of the game irrelevant. I became mesmerized by the simple, yet astounding act of one man out there for his team, struggling against age, exhaustion, hopeless odds, and deciding that he was going to go down with the ship. It was beautiful, it was poetic, it was inspiring, and in many ways for me will be just as wonderful a Timmy memory as the 2014 championship. By the end of the game I was in tears, not because we lost and our season was over, but because it looked like this was Timmy's goodbye, and he was going out on his terms, going out bravely and proudly, going out a champion in the realest sense of the word. I'm not sure I have ever been so moved by an athlete as I was by Timmy last night. And if this was truly his goodbye, it was a million times better than if his last moments were sitting dejectedly on the bench at the end of a loss. Much better than if he'd finally succumbed to one last injury like so many aging players have fallen victim to. This was as noble and profound and beautiful an exit as I've ever seen a professional athlete make. If it turns out that this is not his farewell, I will of course be as excited and happy as any SPURS fan that there is another year of Timmy for us all to enjoy. But there is a big part of me now that is really hoping that he retires, because other than winning another championship, I'm not sure that it will be possible for him to give us a more perfect final memory than this one.


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