Before Sunday, Tim Duncan’s 17-year NBA career had consisted of 1,310 regular-season games and 234 playoff games. On Sunday, in a 116-105 win over the Bulls, something happened that has never happened once in any of those 1,544 previous games: Duncan did not make a shot.
He scored three points, all from the free-throw line, but shot 0-for-8 from the field. His previous worst shooting performance ever was 1-for-12, in November 2013 in a win over the Wizards.
Of course, the Spurs still won handily (mostly thanks to Tony Parker’s 32-point explosion), and Duncan grabbed eight rebounds. But it says a lot about Duncan’s consistency over his career that he has never once, in as many games and minutes as he played, not even once has he gone 0-fer from the field. In fact, he isn’t just still productive this season—he’s a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
