Tim Duncan Calls It Quits On Hall of Fame Career

Tim Duncan exited the league just as many would have expected -- quietly and with little bravado. There was no season-long farewell with tributes at every arena and no article in the Players' Tribune to say goodbye. It was a quiet announcement with a big impact for the league. The greatest power forward in the history of the game is calling it quits, and it ends one of the greatest eras for a franchise the NBA has ever known.

Duncan has a laundry list of accolades, but perhaps none is more impressive than this: his Spurs' teams won five NBA titles in his 19 seasons and NEVER missed the playoffs. Duncan never knew what it was like to have an offseason start early and his first championship (1999) and last (2014) came 15 years apart.

His 15 All-NBA honors are tied for the most all-time and the 40-year-old became the first player in league history to start and win a title in three different decades. Duncan is one of two players in NBA history, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to record at least 26,000 points, 15,000 rebounds and 3,000 blocks in his career and holds the record for All-Defensive Team selections with 15. The Big Fundamental is a two-time MVP, three-time Finals MVP and was named the 1998 Rookie of the Year. From start to finish, his career was something special.

And still, while his numbers are impressive and his awards list is long, there have been many others who have achieved those kinds of things. What made Duncan special is the way he went about it. Known for being quiet on the court, Duncan was purely business and earned the respect of many of his peers. Twitter was full of congratulatory tweets from fellow players today and many players in the league today cannot remember the NBA without Tim Duncan.

Duncan's career is great in its own right, but his legend only grew when paired with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Gregg Popovich. The three players and coach won four titles together and the players own the NBA record for most wins by a trio in both the regular season (575) and postseason (126). Duncan and Popovich have the most wins by a player-coach duo in NBA history with 1,001. The quartet has provided a blueprint for success, but it's difficult to duplicate what they have achieved. The wins and titles are one thing, but the unity they have had is something truly special.

The NBA will go on without Duncan, but it certainly won't be the same. The big man was a winner from start to finish and led the Spurs to one of the most dominant runs in professional sports history. The Spurs can still be great next season and further into the future, and if they are it will still be because of the example Duncan has set for younger players for years.

19 years, five titles, two MVPs and 26,496 points later, Duncan's time has come. For a guy who has always let his play do the talking, perhaps I've said too much. He's earned the respect of everyone and there may never be another like him. So all that is left to say is t
hank you, Tim Duncan. Thank you for the memories.

Opposites Battle in 2013 Finals

They say that opposites attract and the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs are exact opposites. With the Heat's dismantling of the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals Monday night, they set up a date with the decade's best team. The Heat are everything the Spurs are not. Miami's Big Three paraded around on stage declaring how many championships they would win before they every set foot on the court. Can you imagine Tim Duncan doing such a thing? The Heat play fast-paced, lobbing alley-oops to the rafters and let their freak athletes go chase them down. San Antonio methodically tears apart defenses with ball movement and precise screening. Miami is surrounded by drama throughout the year by the media. San Antonio is forgotten all year long until the playoffs. They certainly are opposites in many regards, but they do have one thing in common: winning.

Because they are both winners, they now meet in the Finals. We've seen LeBron James go toe-to-toe with the Spurs in the Finals before and it wasn't pretty. In 2007 the Spurs mopped the floor with James' Cavaliers team, sweeping them for their fourth franchise title. Much has changed since that series and there will be no such sweep this season. LeBron is older, better and surrounded by far greater players. The Spurs are still the Spurs. They have maintained a consistency that is rarely seen in professional sports.

Some things get better with age and the Spurs belong in that category. Tony Parker is having arguably the best year of his career at the age of 30 and Manu Ginobili has struggled with his health yet the crafty veteran is still a force when on the court. And then there is Duncan. The 37-year-old recently said he's not worried about how old he is and you can tell because his play does not reflect that of an "old man." Duncan still puts up double-double numbers and this may be his swan song. Players can fight off age for a while, but eventually the body can't do it anymore. This may the Spurs swan song with Ginobili and Duncan.

It would be some swan song if they could defeat the Miami Heat, but the task will be difficult. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh disappeared in the back half of the ECF, but in Game 7 they proved that Miami is far too good when all three are clicking. Can San Antonio guard Miami? Kawhi Leonard is going to be a focal point in this series because his defense will have to be extraordinary against James and Wade. No one can stop both James and Wade, but the key is to limit one of them. Indiana held Bosh to almost nothing and Wade to a few bad games and they nearly stole the series.

To the general public this is a series of good vs. evil. The Spurs are the classy, take care of business franchise to most NBA fans while the Heat represent all that is wrong with professional sports. They flop, they whine, they loaded up their roster. Say what you want, but you can't ignore the results and Miami may be hoisting the trophy for the second time in as many years. That's how good they are despite all the negative opinions about them.

Still, going back to 2003 the Spurs have been the most successful franchise in the NBA. Why not close out the decade with another title? San Antonio wins it in six games.