Tout est expliqué ici mais c´est en anglais
No longer bothered by the foot problem that limited him in recent years, and a bit refreshed by San Antonio´s early exit last postseason, Duncan is having one of his best playoff runs.
While he´s right around his career playoff averages in points and rebounds, the spectacular part is his consistency: at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in 11 straight games. It´s the longest streak since Shaquille O´Neal had 13 in a row in 2004, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"It´s nothing you pay attention to," Duncan said. "You´re playing and the opportunities are there. As I said, I feel good right now, I feel healthy right now. On top of putting those kinds of numbers up, we´re winning games and winning series and that´s all that matters."
San Antonio is 9-2 during Duncan´s streak and holds a 2-0 lead over the Utah Jazz in the conference finals, with Game 3 in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. If the Spurs advance, they´ll be on the brink of their fourth title in Duncan´s 10 years.
Already considered among the best big men ever, Duncan still stands out among the handful of others in that group. He´s as good a defender as he is a scorer, and he´s an even better teammate, always preferring to be one of the guys rather than the main man.
Make no mistake: He´s still clearly the team´s leader and he knows it. But everything he does is with the team concept in mind, never the promotion of Tim Duncan.
"He´s the kind of guy that you would really want a lot of players to be like," Spurs forward Bruce Bowen said. "He´s strictly business about getting the job done. And that´s the focus he has. It´s not about ´Oh, yeah, you see that? You see what I did? Look at this, I´m getting ready to do this commercial.´ ... He´s about the game and getting better during the offseason and that´s something that I think young guys can learn from."
Examples are easy to find. Consider these moments from the first two games of the Jazz series. None are significant, but each is revealing:
-- In the opener, Duncan was ahead of everyone on a fast break, but was waiting for the ball. He never got it, though, because the pass was nowhere near him. He simply gestured that it was his fault for being in the wrong place, even