Tim Duncan played maybe his best game of the season Wednesday night, he had a little jump in his step that is not there every night like it once was. Getting old sucks.
Duncan scored 17 points, which pushed him past Larry Bird up to No. 27 on the NBA all-time scoring list. Duncan has 21,798 points. Next up on the list would be Gary Payton, a guy the blog Project Spurs thinks he can pass this season (via Eye on Basketball).
Yes Celtics fans, Bird scored his in fewer games than Duncan. Calm down. We’re not denigrating Bird, but we need to celebrate Duncan. He is one of the best power forwards ever to play the game — fundamentally smooth, he defended and rebounded at an elite level, he is a guy who could play inside but had a signature outside shot (15-foot wing bank) that accounts for a lot of those points. He’s got four rings for a reason.
There are a number of active players on the scoring list ahead of him — Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen — but how many of them were better all-around players than Duncan?
