Tag: Dennis Rodman

The Admiral’s big season: Recalling how versatile Robinson really was

As dominant as David Robinson was during his Hall of Fame career, there’s a tendency among some basketball observers to discount some of his most notable accomplishments.

It’s understandable because Robinson’s career is judged by many as mainly what he achieved after Tim Duncan’s arrival.

And the fact that the Spurs made only one Western Conference Final appearance before Duncan came to the franchise makes some forget how truly dominant Robinson was before his sidekick donned the Silver and Black.

One recent statistical analysis ranks Robinson as the most dominant center of the complete statistical era of the post-merger NBA.

Neil Payne of Basketball-Reference.com crunched the numbers to figure the peak seasons of every NBA player during that time. Payne’s idea is to .

Robinson’s landmark 1993-1994 season ranked second among all NBA players in history, trailing only Michael Jordan’s 1987-88 production.

That was a unique season for Robinson. Dennis Rodman was in place to take care of the majority of the team’s rebounding needs. Coach John Lucas opted to run his offense through Robinson, who in effect became a point center for the team.

In the process, Robinson played the best basketball of his career during the second half of that season. It enabled him to make history as the only Spur in franchise history to lead the team in scoring, assists, steals, blocked shots and field-goal percentage in the same season. He was second in rebounding behind Rodman.   

Here’s another example of Robinson’s versatility during that season. Since the 1985-86 season, a player has notched at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and six blocked shots in the same regular season game only 46 times. Robinson leads the list with nine times in his career, followed by Hakeem Olajuwon with eight.

No player other than Robinson accomplished the feat more than twice in the same regular season. And during his streak late in the 1993-94 season, Robinson notched a 20-10-6-6 four times in a 22-game span.

Included was of 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocked shots on Feb. 17, 1994 –  the most recent quadruple-double in NBA history.  

Robinson’s numbers were actually better  in 1993-94 than the following season, when he led the Spurs to the Midwest Division title, the best record in the league and earned the Most Valuable Player award. His 1993-94 numbers remain the most impressive all-around statistical season by any player in Spurs history.

There’s a tendency among some to remember Robinson as the supporting player who with Duncan led the Spurs to titles in 1999 and 2003.

But Robinson’s overall production before Duncan arrived actually topped anything Duncan’s or anybody else not named Jordan has achieved in any season in the NBA’s modern statistical era.  

The numbers bear him out.

Z-Bo’s monster game makes Memphis history as first 20-20 of 2011 playoffs

Memphis forward Zach Randolph overcame some early struggles Saturday to provide a huge game that boosted the Grizzlies ahead in their Western Conference semifinals playoff.

Randolph scored 21 points and grabbed a franchise playoff-record 21 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies to a 101-93 victory over Oklahoma City. It boosted their lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

“We didn’t play our best basketball, but we started fighting,” Randolph told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “It was a gutsy win. A hard-fought win.”

Randolph’s 20-20 is the first of the playoffs this season and the first of his career.

Here’s a look at the other players who have notched at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in the same game since 1991.

Shaquille O’Neal         15 

Tim Duncan                  10

Dwight Howard             5

Charles Barkley             4

Kevin Garnett                 4 

Carlos Boozer                 3

Shawn Kemp                   2

Karl Malone                    2

Dirk Nowitzki                 2

David Robinson            2

Brad Daugherty             1 

Patrick Ewing                 1

Horace Grant                 1

Shawn Marion                1

Alonzo Mourning         1

Joakim Noah                  1

Jermaine O’Neal            1

Charles Oakley               1

Hakeem Olajuwon        1

Dennis Rodman             1

Amar’e Stoudemire      1

Blair continues to toggle with Tiago in a reserve role

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

ATLANTA — One game after not playing at all in the first half, DeJuan Blair was back as the Spurs’ second-unit center in Tuesday’s 97-90 victory over Atlanta.

Rookie Tiago Splitter was back to taking a DNP-CD.

Blair responded with a performance that was solid, but not spectacular, logging seven points and five rebounds in 13:06.

“My role is just to be ready at all times,” Blair said. “Because you never know.”

Blair admits not knowing hasn’t been easy over the past month, after he went from starting the first 53 games of the season to earning sporadic minutes off the bench.

“With the change in the lineup, I go back to thinking again — what do I do?” Blair said. “I’ve got to get that out of my head, somehow.”

Blair said Spurs coaches have offered him one standard piece of advice: Be a pro.

Asked what that means to him, Blair repeated himself: “Just be ready.”

For the season, Blair is averaging 8.7 points and 7.3 rebounds as a starter, and 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in 14 games as a sub.

“Bench minutes are something you have to get used to,” guard George Hill said, “but I think he’s handling it well.”

Asked after Tuesday’s game how he thought Blair was handling his new role, coach Gregg Popovich chose his words carefully.

“DeJuan’s working at it,” he said.

POP, MEET RED: Tuesday’s victory gave Popovich 795 for his career, matching Boston’s Red Auerbach for second on the NBA’s all-time wins list with one team.

Jerry Sloan, who retired in February after racking up 1,127 wins in Utah, is first.

Even though he grew up in Argentina, Manu Ginobili is aware of the magnitude of Popovich’s feat.

“Red Auerbach is a myth in the NBA, he’s huge,” Ginobili said. “I’m glad for Pop. He’s a great coach. He deserves big honors.”

POP PRAISES WORM: The man who traded Dennis Rodman from San Antonio gives his recent election to the Hall of Fame two thumbs up.

“I think it’s great,” said Popovich, who inherited the mercurial Rodman when he took over as Spurs general manager in 1994. “He’s one of the top rebounders we ever had, and the rest of his game was probably even better than we all thought. He’s been important to teams winning championships. In that sense, he deserves it.”

Rodman, who played two productive but tumultuous seasons with the Spurs in 1993-94 and 1994-95, was announced Monday as part of the Hall’s 2011 induction class. Rodman averaged 17.3 rebounds his first season in San Antonio and 16.8 his second, and was an integral part of a team that lost to Houston in the 1995 Western Conference finals.

But Rodman’s flamboyant personality clashed with coaches, management and players. After the 1995 season, Popovich dealt him to Chicago for Will Perdue.

Rodman still holds Spurs franchise rebounding records for a game (32) and a season (1,367 in 1993-94).