Killing Them Softly

If anything symbolized the disparity between Tim Duncan’s impact on the court and off it, it was the image of him alone on a dais after the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over the Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant had already come and gone from the interview room, and the reporters had left to meet their deadlines. So Duncan sat in a room with no one around to ask questions, then finally left.

Duncan might be the visual image of the Spurs, but their voice sounds like Popovich’s sarcastic tone or even Tony Parker’s French accent. While the national media are falling in love with Parker, it’s still Duncan who leads the Spurs in points, rebounds and blocked shots.

Duncan is the Quiet Storm, raining down without a sound. He plays so effectively, you don’t notice the difference between his dropping in 30 points, as he did in the Spurs’ Game 1 victory, or going through a scoreless fourth quarter, as he did in Game 2. It took a deeper look through the stats to realize that he had contributed two of his three assists in the decisive minutes. His game is just that sublime.

Sublime, though, doesn’t sell. Kobe Bryant still moves more jerseys coming off an arrest on a felony sexual assault charge than Duncan moves coming off a season that brought him a second championship and his second most-valuable-player award.

The reason he doesn’t stick with you is that he doesn’t talk about himself very often or very colorfully. Of the 9,968 words I wrote during last year’s NBA Finals involving the Spurs and New Jersey Nets, only 124 of them came from Duncan’s mouth.

Take this attempt to get him to describe his pregame ritual of grabbing the basketball and bringing it up to his face while he flares out his elbows:

“Long story,” Duncan said. “Can’t talk about it.”

So we’ll put together the pieces using any material we can in an attempt to see what makes him who he is and as good as he is.

By the Numbers

Just another typical season for Duncan. In 2003-04, he ranked in the top 10 in the league in four key categories. He averaged 22.3 points, eighth; 12.4 rebounds, second; 2.7 blocks, fourth, and shot 50.1%, 10th.

Signs of Consistency

Duncan’s scoring in any one season has never strayed more than 2.2 points from his career average of 22.8. He had 1,042 rebounds in 2001-02 and 1,043 rebounds in 2002-03.

En Espanol

That consistency comes through clearly in any language. Even my limited Spanish allowed me to understand this portion of an interview Manu Ginobili, the Spurs’ forward from Argentina, gave to Univision: “Duncan es Duncan. Siempre.”

Work Ethic

What makes Duncan so good?

“I think a lot of it is natural, but he just worked to get better at a lot of those things,” Spur swingman Bruce Bowen said. “Some [7-footers] can’t go left. He’s a guy that, he could go left, but he wasn’t going left a lot. And he incorporated that into his workout and now look, he can do that. Some guys can’t do certain things, maybe it’s because they don’t put the time in that he may have put in.”

The Ultimate Teammate

Bowen has shot better than 42% from the field in two of his three seasons with the Spurs. Before joining San Antonio, he shot better than 40% only once in four seasons with Boston, Philadelphia and Miami. Jaren Jackson averaged 7.3 points when he played for the Spurs from 1998 to 2000. His career scoring average was 5.5.

It’s not a coincidence. And Popovich would be the first to tell you that the coaching staff doesn’t have a magical shooting formula. He gives the credit to Duncan.

“Timmy, with all of the double-teaming he gets -- and in addition to that his unselfishness -- he knows that when he gets attention, he’s got to kick it,” Popovich said. “When he doesn’t get the attention, he does his thing. When he gets the attention, he’s willing to involve everybody else on the team. Guys like Jaren Jackson or Bruce Bowen or Hedo Turkoglu, it fits those guys. Because they’re not attackers, they’re not scorers. They’re people that in certain situations can shoot well. And Timmy helps that tremendously.”

Running the Show

Popovich was detailing the Spurs’ practice plans for the remaining days before the All-Star break when Duncan overruled him.

“See you Tuesday, Pop,” Duncan said.

And that was that. No more practice for the rest of the week, have a good break, see you next week.

Any Say at All?

“He lets me talk to him once in a while over certain periods during each week when I’m allowed to say something,” Popovich said. “He’ll get me for that. But seriously, he’s low maintenance. He just cares about winning.

“He’s there for every practice, full-bore just like everybody else. When we do film sessions at halftime or that sort of thing, I’ll get on him probably more than any other guy on the team if I see things that he’s doing.

“When your superstar can handle that and understand that it’s making him better, or sit in the film session in front of everybody and realize that he didn’t do A, B or C, then it makes everybody else fall in line and it makes it real easy for me.”

Not Easy for Everybody

Parker, the Spurs’ 21-year-old point guard, says one of the reasons he has been a more effective leader this season is that younger players have replaced veterans. He feels more comfortable yelling at Turkoglu and Rasho Nesterovic instead of, say, Steve Kerr.

So what would happen if Parker screamed at Duncan?

“I think he would not pay attention,” Parker said.

Under Duress

The first week of May in 2002 gave as stark a demonstration of Duncan’s value as ever. His father died during San Antonio’s first-round playoff series against the Seattle SuperSonics. Duncan missed Game 4 to be with his family in St. Croix. Without him, the SuperSonics outshot the Spurs, 50% to 33%, and won, 91-79. Duncan returned for the decisive Game 5, produced 23 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots, and the Spurs outshot Seattle, 46% to 34%, in a 101-78 victory.

An unbelievable performance in the most trying circumstance of his life.

No Surprise

Gary Payton got to know Duncan’s father, William, when the 2000 U.S. Olympic team trained in Puerto Rico. Payton described William Duncan as a “quiet guy.”

The Company He Keeps

By winning the NBA Finals MVP award in 1999 and 2003, Duncan joined Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan as the only players to win the MVP in their first two trips to the Finals.

He has been named to the All-NBA first team in each of his first seven seasons. The last player to start his career that way on the honor roll was Larry Bird.

Points System

For several years, Duncan has played the role of judge and jury in the Spurs’ clubhouse, running a ratings system for the new players. He awards and deducts points on his own whims. Bringing doughnuts for the veterans earns points. Talking smack about his favorite NFL team, the Chicago Bears, costs points.

The young guys need 80 points to be voted a full playoff share.

Bad Boy

Duncan received the first suspension of his career after pushing a referee during a game against Golden State on Nov. 29. Duncan and the Spurs said it was accidental and video reviews supported them. But the NBA’s need to discipline Duncan gave Popovich an idea on how to make his superstar more popular.

“That’s how you do it: You get in trouble,” Popovich said. “You get sexier, you get in more commercials. Street cred. I’m going to try to get him on MTV next. And then I think he’ll be the darling of the league.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.

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Raising His Game

San Antonio Spur forward Tim Duncan ranks fourth among active players in career playoff scoring average. The top 10 players (minimum of 25 games played):

*--* Rank Player Team PPG 1. Allen Iverson Philadelphia 30.6 2. Dirk Nowitzki Dallas 26.1 3. Paul Pierce Boston 24.9 4. Tim Duncan San Antonio 24.7 5. Shaquille O’Neal Lakers 23.5 6. Kobe Bryant Lakers 23.1 7. Reggie Miller Indiana 22.2 8. Karl Malone Lakers 21.2 9. Chris Webber Sacramento 20.2 10. Allan Houston New York 19.3

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