(CRAFT)[TIM DUNCAN WAS A SMART DEFENDER.]

He was angular, and used it to his advantage. He also embodied the way San Antonio played defense. The Spurs fool you into believing that there is going to be contact when you drive to the basket, then—poof—there isn’t. They contest shots by jumping straight up, all the time. They move away from contact, because they know that in air contact gives the offensive player balance, but when you move away, the offender ends up off-balance. They did that as much as possible.

I realized that around 2001. They would jump with high hands, and that was now just a runway for me. I was just going to go over or through them, forget trying to draw a foul, and dunk in their faces.