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Dancing Duncan wasn't dancing. Was he?

Just what was Tim Duncan doing when he sat down next to Tiago Splitter late in the fourth quarter of the Spurs' win over the Hawks on Sunday afternoon?

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

With the game in hand, Gregg Popovich emptied the bench and the starters enjoyed some well-deserved rest after dominating the Atlanta Hawks in a Sunday matinee. The cameras caught the Spurs' frontcourt in a relaxed moment and this happened.


h/t to SanAntonioGiant for the GIF

The idea that he was dancing took off on the internet and with the talking heads. Even Michelle Beadle, who started her career as an intern for the team and makes no effort to hide her love of the Spurs, thought that he was dancing.

My initial thought when I saw the GIF was that he must have been explaining a move or play that Boris Diaw, who had a phenomenal fourth quarter performance, had just made.

J.R. Wilco asked me to find what part of the game it was from and said he, "thought it looked more like he was mocking someone than dancing." That sent me scrolling through the fourth quarter trying to find when it happened so we could see the play that preceded it. I never did find the camera angle that the vines and GIF show, but I found another angle.

Here's video of the three plays that came before and the full San Antonio broadcast leading up to whatever it is that Tim is doing. [Editor's Note: In order to figure out what Duncan was doing, this video provides full context. Tim's "dance" is at the very end of the 95 second clip.]

First, we have Boris Diaw faking DeMarre Carroll into a passing lane, driving into the paint, sucking in Paul Milsap and then hitting Kawhi Leonard with a nice no-look pass.

Second, we see Carroll miss a three that was contested by Boris, who continues on his way down the floor behind the Hawks defense, and Duncan grabs the rebound. Tim sees Boris and launches one of his long-range outlet passes, Boris makes the reception and takes a couple of steps before putting the ball through the hoop. This is followed by a commercial break.

When the broadcast returns we see Duncan hanging out in the deep-bench unit huddle. That's followed by a shot of a very relaxed bench and Boris Diaw is doing some gesticulating of his own as he explains something to his longtime buddy, Tony Parker. Then we see Duncan walk by and slap fives down the line.

Finally, we see the Hawks inbound the ball and that's when Timmy does his thing and Splitter finds it hilarious.

So, what do you guys think Tim was doing? Share your thoughts, theories and jokes in the comments.