Timmy D Comin Atcha

Even though everyone realized that talk of Duncan's demise had been greatly exaggerated, once the rumor had spread that he had the flu during his game 1 and 2 stinkers (a 23-11 for the two games combined), the Spurs' storylines for the next 5 games were still primarily Parker and Ginobli. Meanwhile Duncan averaged 17 and 16 over those last 5. And that was against Chandler who's no slouch on the defensive end.

Now he'll be going against Gasol, he of the European "inattention to defense," and a relatively paltry 9 RPG. Sure, Gasol might be able to trade buckets with him back on his end of the floor, but then again, only one of these guys is an NBA first team defender.

Expect Duncan's scoring and rebounding to go up, or for Lamar Odom to spend much of his time on defense helping on double teams, or maybe both. Timmy will set the tone tonight, like he can do when healthy.