San Antonio Spurs icon Tim Duncan was as famous for his quiet demeanor as he was for dominating the basketball court. Former NBA star DeMarcus Cousins witnessed both traits firsthand when he played against the Hall of Famer. On the latest episode of Podcast P, Cousins recalled playing against Duncan and his dynastic Spurs team, which didn’t end very well for the center. He tried to talk trash to the Spurs forward, who responded in his typical fashion to humble Cousins.
Advertisement
During the podcast, Cousins revealed that Duncan was using an ingenious tactic on defense. He would tug on an opponent’s shoulder with one hand to prevent them from elevating off the floor and block their shot with his other hand. A frustrated Cousins complained to the referees to no avail before deciding to use his physical strength against the quiet assassin.
“I muscled up, I started bodying Tim, and it started working, but it was excessive as f**k… So, I got me a couple of baskets, now I’m trying to gas myself like, ‘Old ass n***a! Yeah! Young n***a coming!'” Cousins said. However, all that trash-talking only made things worse for the four-time NBA All-Star.
“Tim just looked at me. Didn’t respond. Just looked at me and shook his head… I’m in my head like, ‘What the f**k that mean? This dude ain’t going to say nothing back, like, nothing?’ Man, Tim ran off 18 straight. Quiet didn’t say a word,” Cousins then added.
Paul George and Co. couldn’t contain their laughter after hearing the story. PG even joked that the 18 straight points Duncan scored must have been fundamentally strong. Moments like these prove just how legendary the Spurs’ quiet assassin was. He didn’t need to talk smack to get under his opponents’ skin. Duncan just played ice-cold ball to edge out his rivals on the court.
Cousins’ attempt at bullying Duncan backfired spectacularly. The Spurs icon stood his ground and played defense without complaining despite the Kings star’s excessive physicality. He led the Spurs to another routine win and told a frustrated Cousins, “Good game,” to further fuel his rage. Duncan’s disinterested approach in indulging in trash-talking while running the score up was the best and most sinister form of retaliation.
Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O’Neal’s failed attempts at irking Tim Duncan
DeMarcus Cousins wasn’t the first player to try and get under Tim Duncan’s skin and fail spectacularly. Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, known as one of the best trash-talkers in the league ever, once explained why he stopped indulging with the Spurs icon on the court. On an episode of the All The Smoke podcast, he said,
“Timmy would hit you in phrases (like) ‘got you’, ‘ooh’, ‘almost’. (And) this the worst right here, ‘nice try’! Like subtle s**t, no gangster s**t, no real hardcore s**t… What really, really, really pissed me off, was when the trash talk wasn’t affecting him. So now, you’re spending all this energy trying to rile this up, you now forgot about your own game… And that’s when I quit talking trash to Timmy.”
Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal was also a firsthand witness to Duncan’s utter disregard for trash talk. In his memoir titled ‘Shaq Uncut,’ he wrote,
“The Spurs won because of Tim Duncan, a guy I could never break. I could talk trash to Patrick Ewing, get in David Robinson’s face, get a rise out of Alonzo Mourning, but when I went at Tim he’d look at me like he was bored and then say, ‘Hey, Shaq, watch this shot right here off the glass.’”
Garnett and O’Neal rank amongst the greatest instigators in NBA history. However, neither could crack Duncan and instead had to endure his dominance, making it twice as frustrating. The Spurs icon has almost every accolade basketball can offer in his trophy cabinet. He did not concern himself with petty mind games and focused solely on playing well. That explains his enviable success and status as one of the best players ever.
