Duncan's greatness definitely wasn't handed to him

SAN ANTONIO -- I came not to praise Tim Duncan, but to bury him.

Hey, just being honest.

It must be frustrating sometimes for Duncan, but he gets his points out there anyway. (AP)

I came to San Antonio to write about Game 6 of these Western Conference semifinals, but I had ulterior motives. A second story was planned, and that story -- this story -- was going to be written after I had gawked at the gawky Duncan, seen his erosion for myself and pronounced him on the down side of his career.

A funny thing happened on the way to that opinion.

It's wrong.

And even if it's not wrong, even if Duncan is on the down side of his career, he'll get nothing from me but a salute. After watching Game 6 through the Duncan prism, and then thinking long and hard and studying the numbers and the history, I've come to this conclusion about one of the best power forwards in NBA history:

Duncan has done it the hard way.

Since coming into the league a decade ago, Duncan has averaged more than 21 points and shot better than 50 percent and led his team to four NBA titles, with a fifth ring in reach if the Spurs get past New Orleans on Monday to advance to the conference finals.

And he has done all of that without the kind of help that has buoyed the best big men of his era, the likes of Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal and Dirk Nowitzki. Duncan, 32, is one good season, maybe a little bit more, from reaching 20,000 career points. If he plays three or four years after that, he'll be ranked among the top 10 scorers in NBA history.

And he has done it without John Stockton. He had no Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade or even Penny Hardaway. He had no Steve Nash.

Duncan has had no point guard, is what I'm saying.

Tony Parker "plays" point guard, but he doesn't play point guard. Parker is a wonderful player, but the only time he resembles a point guard is when he dribbles the ball across the midcourt stripe. The rest of the time, Parker is a 6-foot slashing shooting guard. He's a scorer. He creates, but only for himself. Parker has been San Antonio's "point guard" from his arrival in 2001, but despite the presence of Duncan's low-post brilliance, he has averaged just 5.5 assists for his career.

Five or six assists? That's a decent half for Stockton or Nash.