Spurs' Duncan rounding into form
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Web Posted: 03/13/2006 12:00 AM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
With Sunday's game against the Houston Rockets at the AT&T Center being the first of the final 20 games of the regular season for the Spurs, All-Star power forward
Tim Duncan understands what he needs to do between now and when the playoffs begin in April.
"I'm just playing," Duncan said after scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Spurs' 88-81 victory, "and trying to find my way back."
The place Duncan is trying to rediscover in a season spent battling pain in his right foot is the level that made him a first-team All-NBA selection in each of his first eight seasons. In each of those seasons, Duncan averaged no fewer than 20.3 points, but he entered Sunday's game averaging 18.8 points, second on the team to point guard
Tony Parker.
Since the All-Star break, Duncan has looked more comfortable making the variety of moves in the low post that have characterized his play in seasons past. One Duncan spin move that produced a dunk and a seven-point lead in the third quarter was so quick it left the Rockets' Juwan Howard sitting on the court, looking up in amazement.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was happy to see some assertiveness from Duncan on Sunday. He also would like to see Duncan occasionally consider being a bit selfish.
"He's still so unselfish, to a fault," Popovich said. "We've got to get him to be a little more aggressive offensively."
Duncan confesses that lingering self-doubt about the reliability of his perimeter shot occasionally leads him to stall the Spurs' offense. He's not sure he agrees with Popovich that being unselfish is a fault.
"I don't know," Duncan said of the perimeter shots that sometimes turn into passes to teammates. "If it's there, it's there. I've been passing up a lot of shots, whether it be from lack of confidence in my shot right now, or whatever. I've been passing some wide-open jumpers that are stalling out the offense. In that respect, I need to take those shots, of course.
"I'm taking them when they're there. I don't think I've been shy to shoot the ball. Things just haven't been going down for me."
Shots were going down for Duncan early in Sunday's game. He made four of eight shots in the first quarter, scoring 10 points. However, he missed all five of his shots in the second period.
Duncan got his shooting rhythm back in the fourth period when he scored on three-straight
Spurs possessions after the Rockets had trimmed a double-digit deficit to four points.
The first of the three baskets came after he rebounded Beno Udrih's missed free throw and fought through a block by Rockets' 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming, retrieving the ball and laying it in.
Duncan followed with another spin move on the low post for an easy basket, and punctuated his momentary domination with another dribble drive, hitting a 6-foot shot and drawing Yao's fourth personal foul.
The final basket put Duncan at 20 points, giving him only his second 20-point game since Jan. 28. It was, however, his second in March. He scored 22 against Portland on March 4.
"We did what we needed to do," Duncan said of the Spurs' performance on Sunday, which came after a Friday loss to the Lakers. "We had a letdown with the last game, the performances and the energy we didn't have in that game.
"We responded better in this one."