5 Worst Losses of Tim Duncan's Career

Tim Duncan was the epitome of consistency during his 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs. He never won fewer than 50 games in any season except the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Despite that of course, he's had his fair share of thumping defeats along the way.

The Spurs normally don't get blown out, especially if Duncan is on the court, but there have been a few rare occasions over the years when it's happened. Here's the top 5:

#5 Blazers 136-106 Spurs, 8th March 2013

More than the Spurs being terrible, this was a precursor of what we all were going to witness a few years down the line - Dame Time. The Spurs and the Blazers went back and forth until the 3rd quarter after which Damian Lillard took over. Dame scored 16 of his 35 points in the 4th as the Blazers crushed the Spurs 46-24 in the final quarter to hand Duncan the worst defeat of his career at home. The 136 points scored was also the most by an opposing team at the AT&T Center.

As usual, the balanced Spurs attack delivered with 5 players scoring in double digits and Duncan led the way with 18. They even shot 52% from the field which is pretty impressive. So how do you lose by 30 despite that? Well, by allowing the Blazers, on the whole, to shoot over 60% and even Eric Maynor of all people dropped 20. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 and JJ Hickson chipped in with 23.

It was a very surprising result as the Spurs had the best record in the league at the time and the Blazers were 28-32. The season, of course, ended with the Blazers missing the Playoffs and the Spurs losing in the NBA Finals

#4 Heat 110-80 Spurs, 14th March 2011

After losing 125-95 in San Antonio earlier in the season, the Miami Heat wanted revenge and boy did they get it. They handed the Spurs their worst loss in nearly 6 years and returned the favor with an identical margin of victory.

The Miami defense was all over the Spurs and held them to 38% shooting. While Duncan shot well, he only scored 14 and had just 6 Rebounds. Gary Neal and George Hill combined for 3/19 shooting and Tony Parker led the team with just 18 points.

The Miami offense, on the other hand, was cooking, especially the big 3. Bosh led the way with 30 Points, Dwyane Wade had 29 and LeBron James added 21. After a competitive 1st quarter, Miami started pulling away and eventually crushed them in the 4th quarter. The season would ultimately end in failure for both, as the Number 1 seed Spurs lost in the 1st round and the Heat were stunningly upset in the NBA Finals by the Dallas Mavericks.

#3 Lakers 101-71 Spurs, 23rd May 2008

If there's one team which can boast about getting the better of the Spurs more often than not, it's the Los Angeles Lakers of the 2000s. The two best teams in the West over the decade faced off in the Conference Finals and just like last time, it wasn't particularly close, especially Game 2.

The Lakers never trailed during the game and were led by Kobe Bryant who had 22 points and Lamar Odom chipped in with 20 and 12 rebounds. A balanced Lakers' attack had 5 players score in double digits, whereas the Spurs offense labored. Duncan and Parker were the only ones to score in double figures and only had 12 and 13 respectively. Scoring had been the problem for San Antonio all season and it reared it's ugly head once again. The Spurs shot a lousy 34% from the field and 26% from 3.

A blowout win for San Antonio in Game 3 looked to have switched the momentum, but the Lakers won the next two games and advanced to the NBA Finals, only to lose to the Boston Celtics.

#2 Pistons 102-71 Spurs, 17th June 2005

The 2005 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Pistons ended up being a proper slugfest between two of the best defensive teams in the 2000s but it sure didn't start off that way. After 3 blowouts to start the Finals, Game 4 delivered the most lopsided result of them all.

The suffocating Detroit Pistons' defense shut down Duncan, who shot 5-17 but still managed 16 points and 16 rebounds. Ginobili and Parker managed to get to double digits but that was it and even they only managed 12 apiece. The Spurs shot just 37% from the field and committed 17 turnovers. Detroit's offense meanwhile was rolling. Seven players scored in double figures with Chauncey Billups leading the way with 17 and the Pistons committed just 3 turnovers.

It's the worst defeat in any Finals game in the history of the Spurs franchise, but the pain of this thumping wouldn't last for long. While the first 4 games were lopsided, the following 3 produced some epic encounters and the Spurs ended up winning it in 7 games to deny Detroit back-to-back titles.

#1 Lakers 111-72 Spurs, 25th May 2001

It's only fitting that the worst loss in Duncan's career came against the one team he never consistently got the better off. In one of the least competitive Conference Finals of all time, the Spurs got dismantled by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. In fact, Game 4 of this series just missed out on making the list, a 111-82 thumping by the Lakers. Game 3, however, was the Spurs hitting rock bottom.

In one of his worst playoff performances, Duncan shot 3/14 and finished with 9 points. David Robinson was the only Spur who showed up and he finished with 24 points. They shot a pathetic 32% from the field as a team and went 1/12 from 3. The defense didn't fare much better either. Bryant finished with 36 points and Shaq had 35 as the duo continued their beat down on the Spurs in this series.

The loss ended any slim hopes the Spurs had of winning the series after losing the first 2 games at home. The Lakers won Game 4 comfortably and advanced to the NBA Finals where they beat the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games.