"I told them the other day, I said, 'We're starting the season. So it knocked the hell out of us, to where we're now just starting. "We had an amazing schedule, a very tough November and December and we were very injured. "This year has been a tough one," said Popovich, whose team lost eight of 11 games at one point and was 19-14 entering New Year's Eve. Not only is he averaging more rebounds per game (10.0) than he has since the 2009-10 season, but he also has anchored a defense that - despite significant injuries to point guard Tony Parker, small forward Kawhi Leonard and others - is the fifth-best in the league (99.9 points allowed per 100 possessions). Not only has the 15-time All-Star averaged 14.5 points, but he also has done so with invaluable efficiency (as the fifth-best scorer among players taking fewer than 12 shots a game). In the here and now, Popovich knows this much: Duncan still playing like Duncan is an absolute game-changer.ĭespite the debate about whether Duncan deserved to be selected by the coaches as a Western Conference All-Star reserve, it's indisputable that he has had yet another All-Star caliber season. The truth for Duncan and Popovich both, it seems, is that the annual soul-search during the summer will determine their respective basketball fates like it always has. (He'll have the second-best winning percentage of that group once he's there, bested only by Phil Jackson.) Not only has he won five championships during nearly two decades of success while championing a selfless style of basketball that is widely revered, but he also is three victories away from becoming the ninth member of the NBA's 1,000-win club. No matter when Popovich walks away, his legacy is secure. "It's a five-year contract, but the chances of staying for five years I don't think are very good," Popovich said. Popovich signed a five-year contract extension last summer, but admitted that the length was a product of owner Peter Holt's desires more than it was his own. If anything, Popovich said, he could wind up walking away before Duncan. So the way he's playing now, he's going to look in the mirror and say, 'Hey, I'm doing all right.' " "He's not going to hang on to finish a contract or make the money or have the notoriety that you know he doesn't give a (expletive) about. It might be during the third quarter of a game. Because of that, I think in his mind that if it continues through the rest of the year, I think he'll say, 'I'm going to go another year and see what happens.' Because what he has told me is that the minute he feels like he's a hindrance to his team or he's not on the positive end or helping him, he's going to walk right off the court. "It's just consistent stuff: another double-double, over and over and over again. "And if you ask me, my guess is that he'll go for another one because he has been so consistent this season. "No matter how (the season) ends, I think Timmy is going to look at (retirement) again," Popovich said on Tuesday. Still the man: San Antonio Spurs great Tim Duncan.
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