In Duncan, Knicks Have Problem, but No Solution

Until Game 1 of the NBA Finals he’d been just another one of those Western Conference stars that the Knicks never see, except on the late-night sports highlight shows.

Spurs forward Tim Duncan has been in the NBA for only two seasons and yes, the Knicks had heard from afar about how good he’d been as San Antonio smacked aside Minnesota, embarrassed the Los Angeles Lakers, then leveled Portland in the playoffs. But the Knicks also hadn’t seen Duncan in the flesh for 15 months.

And now that they have? “His progress, to me . . . is kind of overwhelming,” Knicks guard Allan Houston said Thursday, amid all the funeral dirges being composed for the shorthanded Knicks.

It wasn’t just that Duncan strafed New York for 33 points and 16 rebounds Wednesday and tilted the series sharply in San Antonio’s favor during the Spurs’ 89-77 win. It was also the knowledge that nothing is likely to change in this series.

The Knicks again will be reduced to throwing salt over their shoulders, clutching their lucky amulets, tweaking their double-team schemes and--gulp--throwing out the same procession of undersized defenders that Duncan abused. There’s sore-legged Larry Johnson, who gives away seven inches to Duncan, and Chris Dudley, who’s now nursing a hyperextended right elbow. There’s reed-thin Marcus Camby, who was reduced to a foul-troubled bit player in Game 1, and up-and-down Kurt Thomas.

“I thought Kurt Thomas did a great job defending me,” Duncan helpfully said Thursday.

And what happens if Thomas is merely good? Does Duncan go for 50?

Duncan was so dominant, so precise, so downright cool in the clutch, it’s almost impossible to exaggerate the tone it set for both the Spurs and the Knicks in this best-of-seven series.

Because it wasn’t just the numbers that Duncan hung up Wednesday, it was the way he did his damage, too. Efficiently. Calmly. With the sort of self-control you don’t expect from a second-year man playing in his first NBA Finals against a defense that’s set up to stop him.

The unmistakable message Duncan sent to the Knicks is: Maybe the miracle ride finally stops here.

In Game 1, Duncan and the other Spurs didn’t look like a bunch of guys who were awed by the moment, or likely to gag their way through a series the way the just-vanquished Indiana Pacers did against the Knicks. Already, Duncan’s on-court savvy and aplomb at passing out of double teams reminds you of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He has the best arsenal of post-up moves since the Celtics’ Kevin McHale, and the same long praying mantis arms.

Has anyone since Bill Walton had better fundamentals? Contact doesn’t seem to bother Duncan. Neither does the traffic buzzing around him in the lane. And he can finish shots with either hand.

With just one glittering 44-minute slab of work, Duncan emphatically let the Knicks know Wednesday that it doesn’t matter if they’ve already survived other top-notch big men like Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutumbo, Rik Smits and the Davis boys during their charmed playoff run. None of them is as good as Duncan. And none of them has a sidekick as good as Spurs center David Robinson. “Both those cats are 7-foot,” Johnson said with a sigh.

“Smits is 7-4,” Knicks Coach Jeff Van Gundy said, “but he’s not the athlete that Duncan is as far as catching and finishing. The difference is, with Duncan, if you play behind him he can keep post position because he’s so strong. If you double him after you play behind him, he’s a great, great passer. And if you front him, he’s got great strength and hands and Robinson makes the high-low pass as well as anyone.”

Van Gundy paused now as if struck by a thought, then he joked, “I’m just thinking, that’s pretty good.”

When Robinson was asked if giving Duncan the ball against the undersized Knicks seems like an automatic basket, he avoided a diplomatic answer and quickly said, “Yeah. Just about.”

Johnson said: “If Tim misses, it’s because Tim misses.”

It really is as simple as that.

And the irony? Duncan used to be misread because he sometimes moves as slowly as honey rolling off a spoon. He blinks laconically during even the most tense moments of games. But give Duncan the ball and suddenly he’s transformed. Or start a rally against the Spurs, as the Knicks did a couple times in the second half Wednesday, and watch Duncan go to work. “He does have an ability to want the basketball, to take over games--he relishes that,” Spurs coach Greg Popovich said. “The great ones have to have that, too.”

While everyone else was raving about his play in Game 1, Duncan sheepishly would allow only that it was a “pretty good night for me.” Then he said he thought he played even better against the Lakers.

Hearing that, all Johnson could do was shake his head and say, “Now that’s cold-blooded, man.”