Jamie Mottram's Sports Blog - www.misterirrelevant.com

The Spurs became a dynasty and Duncan cemented his legacy. That's all that happened last night after I fell asleep on my couch during the 4th quarter of Game 7.

As Wilbon wrote in the Post, "Everything about sports is today." Two days ago 70% of poll takers said Big Shot Bob Horry is a Hall of Famer. Yesterday critics questioned Duncan's greatness. And today I'm saying the Big Fundamental is one of the top-four players in the post-Dream Team era.

With his third title and Finals MVP and eighth-straight All-NBA honors, Duncan easily ranks behind Jordan and just behind Shaq and Olajuwon on the list of great ones who followed Magic and Bird. After Duncan comes a cluster -- Iverson, KG, Kobe, the Mailman, Stockton, the Glove, Sir Charles, Ewing and the Admiral -- who the guy from the V.I. has now distanced himself from.

And considering he's only 29, he'll probably leapfrog Shaq and the Dream to be the best non-MJ player the League has seen since '90 or so.

 Already Thinking Four

· ESPN Daily Quickie's Dan Shanoff says, "Not only is Tim Duncan a bona fide dynasty, but his dynasty (along with the Spurs') is the NBA's most impressive since Jordan's Bulls."

· Sportz Assassin says the Spurs aren't a dynasty and recaps the year that was.

· Bill Simmons compares the mood during last night's Game 7 to the mood in the Garden during Game 7 of the '84 Finals. Somehow I think '05 Spurs-Pistons pales in comparison to '84 Celtics-Lakers.

· Marc Stein says Duncan showed true MVP form and includes an interesting number: Detroit tied the all-time mark for playoff games in a season with 25.

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• #3 Comment from cfraz05 
  6/30/05 6:50 AM | Permalink

  Duncan is fine. He did what most great players never did....win a championship. Now if they just get rid of Tony Parker and Rasho Nesterovic and stop drafting Euro trash,the Spurs can and will win again. They need a Billups type point guard and a tougher Center. Not Nazr. Say goodbye to Big Dog and Massenburg, bring Malik back and get some young legs on the bench. Every year Spurs make the playoffs the opposing team always has some guy off the bench that kills them( Jim Jackson, McDyss, D. Wilkins).They must get tougher in those areas to repeat.
• #2 Comment from arn85578 
  6/27/05 10:24 AM | Permalink

  Forget the Posties. They get enough air time on radio and television. I don't bother reading their columns. And what about DC basketball? The Mystics are fighting hard. Their cheerleading announcers are a couple of the worst ever. If you want to talk hoops now, the WNBA and some competitive high school summer leagues are it. Leave redundant Spurs comments to the sasportsguy. Lets put the focus here where it belongs.
  Studd Muffin
  
• #1 Comment from monponsett 
  6/27/05 9:18 AM | Permalink

  With every championship the Spurs win, I celebrate General Santa Anna Day just that much harder. Damn that draft lottery....they gave some ABA team or seven foot wunderkind.