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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 5, 2013Tim DuncanMIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q.  Tim, when Pop was asked about whether or not you ever think about your legacy in terms of history and all that, that it never crosses your mind, that it's just not part of what you do. Does it matter to you at all how you're ultimately regarded and where you are ranked and all that kind of stuff? TIM DUNCAN: It will be something great to look back on and to look at when I'm done. But in the heat of things, as I go through my career and through these games, that's just not anything I ever look up or think about or anything else. Will it matter at some point? Maybe it will, but I have nothing to do with how people see me at that point. I'm just here to enjoy it and do the best I can. Q. Tim, you guys played a big muscle team in Memphis. The Heat played a big muscle team in Indiana. I don't want to say you're going to be able to relax in this series, but will it be nice to go back to maybe a different style of game, maybe a little more open court, transition, and sort of get away from that big muscle game after you guys battled the Grizzlies and they had to battle the Pacers? TIM DUNCAN: It will be a different‑type series. It definitely will. As you said, it will be a little more open. I think it will still be very physical. This time of the season, The Finals will bring it out in everybody. I don't know if there will be much to relax about. I think it will definitely be a different type, and it will be more up‑tempo, more wide open. But the physicality will definitely be there. Q. What judgments and changes have you had to make in the way you prepare and the way you play games as all the toll the NBA season has taken on you? TIM DUNCAN: I'm sorry? Q. What concessions have you had to make to your age and the way you play and prepare now? TIM DUNCAN: I think the adjustments come in the summer more than anything else. Doing things a little more differently. Obviously, trying to get my weight down was a big one for me. Playing a little less in the summertime, so I have a little more‑‑ a little less stress on my knees come season time. And then Pop has made all the other adjustments for me basically, whether I like it or not. My minutes are down. Every once in a while, whether healthy or not, I have a couple of games off. Don't play in many back‑to‑backs. Things like that. Things that were really wearing my body all season. Q. Nothing you used to be able to do that you can't do anymore? TIM DUNCAN: Dunk a lot more. That's about it. Q. Could you compare the Tony Parker who was the 2007 Finals MVP to the Tony Parker we're seeing today? TIM DUNCAN: I think he's a lot better. I think he's a lot better player. He is asked to do a lot more. I think he has a lot more responsibility for making our team go than he did then. And I think he's a lot more prepared to do that. So as good as he was then, I think he's even better now. Q. Tim, throughout your career in San Antonio you guys have always had this under‑the‑radar, overlooked‑type monitor. Has that ever bothered you over the 14 or 15 years? TIM DUNCAN: It has never bothered me. It doesn't matter. We play the same way. We do the same things. We've been blessed to have won four championships. And we're blessed to be back and have a chance to win the fifth one. So it doesn't matter what people say or what people think or how they take us, as long as we're in the mix when we have to. And we're back here right now to make another push at it. So that's all that matters to us. Q. Do you ever look at the scrutiny the Heat go through with LeBron and say, I'm glad you don't have to‑‑ TIM DUNCAN: I'm definitely glad I don't have that kind of pressure on me. Absolutely. Q. Tim, one of the four championships was against LeBron. Do you believe he has revenge on his mind? And if you believe that, how does that make you feel? TIM DUNCAN: You know, I've never actually thought about it that way. I have to imagine he does, yeah. Absolutely. In some respect. It's a different team. It was a long time ago. Obviously he's already put a championship‑‑ he's already got a championship. If there is something there, then ‑‑ he's a competitor, I can't imagine he's forgotten that. Q. Tim, I guess just to jump on that question as well, in terms of LeBron, how much more difficult‑‑ you spoke about how much better a player Parker is, how much better is LeBron most likely from six years ago? TIM DUNCAN: He's definitely evolved. He's a much better shooter than he was back then. I think his confidence level is obviously definitely much higher. And he's got a different cast around him, with Wade and Bosh and Haslem and the rest of those guys. I think he's got a bit of a better cast around him. So that in itself makes guarding him not only the main point, but harder to just focus on just on him. Q. Tim, you're First Team All‑NBA this season for the first time since 2007. As you just said, you're making another push. You're here in The Finals. What does all this mean for you personally to be back here trying for the fifth ring and doing it at such a high level this season? TIM DUNCAN: It means a tremendous amount. I've worked hard over the last couple of years to get myself back to where I feel that I could be relevant and be a very good player and help my team get to this point. And to have done all that and to be back here now and to be playing well and with a chance to win another championship, all that stuff together, it means a tremendous amount to me. Q. Hey, Tim. Pop was saying earlier when he put in the boxscore last year "Did Not Play‑Old," you got a kick out of it. Can you talk about that. Some of your teammates say they joke about you being old but you take it very well. What are some of the other things they do? TIM DUNCAN: I remember making fun of guys and making fun of David and Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter and those guys, how old they were at whatever point before they retired and how well they took it. I'm just the same. I think it's funny. As I said, I'm here and I'm still playing well. So I'll take it as it comes. Q. Tim, it's been replayed over and over again the last couple of days, your interaction with LeBron outside of the interview room in '07, saying the ring will be his one day and thanks for giving it to him now. Did you expect to face him again in The Finals? And are you surprised it took six years for this to come together? TIM DUNCAN: I hoped to back here. Whether he would be here or not, I couldn't predict that. Knowing the player that he was then and the trajectory he was on, I had no doubt he would be back here. I had no doubt he would be tops in this league at some point. And I'm glad and honored to be back here playing against him. Q. Tim, Jeff Van Gundy was talking about you and Pop the other day, saying sustained greatness is the hardest greatness to achieve in sports. I asked Pop this, but I wonder from your perspective how a team like yours and yourself are able to remain contemporary at a time the league has gotten younger and your best three players are 30 and you're closer to 40 than 30. I don't want to make you feel old. TIM DUNCAN: Too late. A lot of credit to Pop and to R.C. and the rest of the front office, continue to change our team, to Pop changing the team with the times as the team has become more of scorers and whatever else. They make those adjustments, and we're comfortable playing with each other. Tony and Manu and myself, we've been on that court for a long time. We push each other. And we're excited to be back on this stage right now. I don't know how else to explain it. Q. Have you booked any Southwest flights between now and Game 1 and 2? I'm curious. TIM DUNCAN: To go home? Q. Yes. TIM DUNCAN: They don't go that way. Q. How did you get home last time? You were supposed to go to Miami and you took off. TIM DUNCAN: That's a shot at the thing earlier. That one slipped right by me. Good try, though. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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