5 Worst Losses of Tim Duncan's Career
Tim Duncan was the epitome of consistency during his 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs. He never won fewer than 50 games in any season except the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Despite that of course, he's had his fair share of thumping defeats along the way.
The Spurs normally don't get blown out, especially if Duncan is on the court, but there have been a few rare occasions over the years when it's happened. Here's the top 5:
#5 Blazers 136-106 Spurs, 8th March 2013
More than the Spurs being terrible, this was a precursor of what we all were going to witness a few years down the line - Dame Time. The Spurs and the Blazers went back and forth until the 3rd quarter after which Damian Lillard took over. Dame scored 16 of his 35 points in the 4th as the Blazers crushed the Spurs 46-24 in the final quarter to hand Duncan the worst defeat of his career at home. The 136 points scored was also the most by an opposing team at the AT&T Center.
As usual, the balanced Spurs attack delivered with 5 players scoring in double digits and Duncan led the way with 18. They even shot 52% from the field which is pretty impressive. So how do you lose by 30 despite that? Well, by allowing the Blazers, on the whole, to shoot over 60% and even Eric Maynor of all people dropped 20. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 and JJ Hickson chipped in with 23.
It was a very surprising result as the Spurs had the best record in the league at the time and the Blazers were 28-32. The season, of course, ended with the Blazers missing the Playoffs and the Spurs losing in the NBA Finals