Duncan Impressed by Lee as Spurs Top Knicks
David Lee has been playing so well recently that even one of the best frontline players in the league is starting to hop on his bandwagon. After the Knicks fell 95-88 at home to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night, All-Star forward and Olympic gold-medalist Tim Duncan praised the Knicks’ double-double machine.
“He was great tonight,” Duncan said of Lee. “Really great tonight. He shot the ball really well and I think he’s improved that tremendously. Every year I see him he gets better. He’s a really good kid, he works really hard and he plays really hard. And you have to love that about a guy.”
And Knicks fans have to love the new-and-improved midrange game Lee has shown this season as well. Playing against Duncan, one of the best low-post defender in the game, Lee was forced to take a few steps further back than usual and still managed to finish with a game-high 28 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field to go along with 10 rebounds. It was just the latest example of how much his game has evolved.
“That is not by design,” said Lee of his longer-than-usual perimeter shooting. “I just got a couple of looks tonight. I am just trying to continue to stay confident with my shot and take shots that are given to me throughout the course of the game.”
Duncan and the Spurs face the Knicks twice a year and that might be big enough gap for them to really see how much Lee’s game has improved. Since the last time they met in February, Lee has transformed from just being a hardworking rebounder to becoming one of the league’s best offensive big men, averaging a career-best 18.4 points while shooting nearly 58 percent this season.
Lee’s defensive game has also improved as the Knicks have slowed things down and become much better on that end of the floor than a year ago. Lee limited Duncan – who entered the night averaging 20.2 points and 10.4 rebounds – to 13 and seven. The Knicks limited their opponent to less than 100 points for the 10th consecutive game for the first time since 2001.
“Defensively they were good,” Duncan said. “David had an excellent game and my shot wasn’t falling.”
Lee’s overall play helped the Knicks keep things close against perhaps the best NBA team of the decade. After climbing back from 10 down in the third quarter, Lee followed up a Duncan hook shot with a layup off a feed from Chris Duhon to tie the game at 84-84 with 3:45 remaining. That would, however, be the closest the Knicks would get for the rest of the game.
“I thought our pick-and-roll at the side was working pretty well at the end of the game,” Lee said. “I didn’t think it was a problem about scoring. We just didn’t get enough stops and they executed well.”
Lee’s clutch scoring down the stretch is nothing new over the past two weeks. During the Knicks’ five-game homestand, Lee has scored the late go-ahead bucket in two games of the stretch that ended with the Knicks going 3-2 to move within striking distance of the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference.
If Lee continues playing the way he has been on both ends of the floor, he could end up facing Duncan two more times this season, with the All-Star Game in February being the second matchup between two of the elite big men.
Game Notes: Lee has recorded 12 20-point games this season after posting 14 all of last season. … Duhon dished out a season-high and team individual-high 13 assists. … Danilo Gallinari and Al Harrington scored 19 apiece. … Tony Parker scored a team-high 22 for the Spurs.
