The continued underappreciation of Tim Duncan.

At the time of this post, 1,168 regular season games played.

The soon to be 37-year-old Tim Duncan continues to perform at a level, in his 16th season, that most players can only imagine.

After Tim Duncan was diagnosed with degenerative knee tendinosis in 2009, the end felt near. Duncan hobbling up and down the floor with a bulky left knee brace. Struggling to back down players, barely getting off the ground to shoot or rebound.

Everyone knew he would slow down, but not so dramatically. So painful to the point where Spurs fans, (probably just me), were hoping he would retire. No reason to prolong the rebuilding process or take up salary cap space, for a guy who was barely the 3rd most productive player on the team.

Tim Duncan didn't have anyone to pass the torch to and had no chance of retiring on top, like David Robinson did.  The Spurs were just going to suffer in mediocrity with an oft-injured Manu Ginobili and an aging Tony Parker.

Only none of that happened.

He changed his off-season training regiment. Losing weight to make himself lighter and taking pressure off his knee. He improved his jumpshot, becoming more of a stretch-4, instead of the center he had morphed into after the days of Rasho, Nazr and Fabricio.

It's not only what Timmy did, it's what the Spurs built around him as well. The Kawhi Leonard trade, bringing over Tiago Splitter, signing fringe NBA players like Danny Green or Gary Neal and turning them into vital pieces in the rotation.

The old and boring Spurs had done the inconceivable...they built nearly an entire new roster, without ever having to go through a rebuilding period.

And a new Tim Duncan was at the forefront.

Tim Duncan 2.0 circa 2012-2013.

I can't tell you how many Spurs games I've purposely missed or skipped throughout the years.  Taking the regular season for granted, because it was a foregone conclusion that they would make the playoffs.  No one paid attention until after the Rodeo Road Trip.

Out of Tim Duncan's 1,168 games, I've probably seen a little more than half. Sadly, a good portion of those have been games I've watched the last three seasons.

In an effort to be a more knowledgeable and appreciative Spurs fan, I watch as many games as possible now. Whether it's a Thursday night nationally televised game against the Thunder, or a Monday night laugher versus the Hornets.

So of course when I see Tim Duncan already with a double-double, 33 seconds into the 3rd quarter versus the Mavericks, I'm taken by surprise.

Did young Tim ever do that?

Did Tim secretly go to Germany with Kobe and get the Regenokine procedure done too?

Those are questions I ask myself now, because of how lackadaisical I used to treat Spurs games.  No shame in admitting, I used to be one of those fans.

Now here we are a month away from playoff contention, and Tim Duncan is 0.1 rebounds away from averaging a double-double. Something he hasn't done since 2010, where he averaged 31 minutes a game. This season? 29 minutes.

Per 36 minutes, Tim's averages this season are 20 points and 12 rebounds. Numbers not seen since 2008.

Two of the most mind-blowing statistics in regards to "Tim Duncan Version 2.0" are blocks and free throw percentage. The notoriously poor free throw shooting Duncan, is averaging 81% from the line this season. He's never eclipsed 80% in his career, and hasn't come close since 2002 (79.9%).  Then there's blocks. Averaging 2.7 blocks a game, which hasn't been done since 2004. Duncan is third (!!!!!) in the NBA in blocked shots.

So what's the secret behind the rejuvenated Tim? Only he knows.

And honestly, who cares? I implore you to enjoy it while it lasts. As someone who didn't regrets not enjoying vintage Tim Duncan as much as possible during the championship years, I get nothing but joy watching him takeover games nowadays. Sure, he's not trying to cross anyone over, like how he abused Hot Rod Williams in his first ever playoff game. And, yeah, he's not putting guys on posters as often. But he is still getting the job done, night in and night out.

What Duncan is doing this late in his career is remarkable.  No longer will I regret not properly cherishing vintage Tim Duncan.  Because he's still playing at "vintage" Tim Duncan level.

After Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Finals, Tim Duncan told LeBron James, "This is going to be your league in a little while...but I appreciate you giving us this year."

Seven years later, Tim Duncan has arguably the best shot at stopping LeBron James.

210, 8, 7.

Ed. note: First post in 10 months. Not bad, right? This post was written after the Spurs were eliminated by the Thunder in the 2012 Western Conference Finals. It was never published, because I never felt fully comfortable with it, and let me be honest...it was an emotional bitch to write. Also, this isn't the first time I've written a Spurs obituary, only to be proven wrong. So as the Spurs sit with the best record in the NBA, at 47-14, let us have a laugh at my expense. Killing off the Spurs too soon.

I sat back and soaked everything in.

The entire atmosphere like nothing I've experienced before. Staring aimlessly at the scoreboard, picking out all the random fiesta colored chairs in the arena, judging all the fans who didn't participate in the t-shirt whiteout. Even admiring the countless award banners won by the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.

In 10 years of attending events at the AT&T Center, I've never felt such helplessness or heard the arena so silent.

It's as if everyone knew this was the end. The Thunder had come from down 0-2, to being one game away from a trip to the NBA Finals.

The cries of, "I want some nasty!" and bragging about a 20-game win streak, had faded.

Everyone held a glimmer of hope that the Spurs could steal one in Oklahoma City and force a potential game 7, but reality was that OKC already had a nail in the coffin. Oklahoma City was Daft Punk: Harder, better, faster and stronger than the Spurs in every aspect. And in some cases smarter, with Scott Brooks shifting Thabo Sefolosha onto Tony Parker, neutralizing the Spurs offense.

James Harden, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will be remembered as the three names that ended the Spurs reign as championship contenders. Solidifying them as the "old" team that analysts had labeled San Antonio as for the past five years.

So there I sat in Section 210, Row 8, Seat 7, on June 4th. Reminiscing and reminding myself of the last 15 years of excellence. Every James Harden jumper was a stab in the chest. Every point Kevin Durant scored, felt like it took a year off my life.

Ginobili's age, Duncan, Green and Diaw's impending free agency...all key pieces to what seems to be the Spurs last hurrah, could all be gone in the blink of an eye.

Nothing will ever be the same again. The golden age of Spurs basketball is no more. There's nothing more to be done, except to enjoy the Heat and Thunder usher in a new era of competition to the NBA.

The scariest part is knowing the San Antonio Spurs may never make it this far again. Fans have taken 50-win seasons and playoff appearances for granted.

Nothing can take away the accomplishments of this organization and the ability to argue the Spurs as one of the greatest franchises in sports history, as long as it's cherished correctly. And it can't be cherished until reality is accepted.

Reality is, Father Time is undefeated. The Spurs dynasty is his newest casualty.

Album of the Week

Even though we're a week late with this release, we still have to acknowledge the greatness that is Ab-Soul's new album, Control System.

This is part of the album review off of HipHopDX.com:

Ab-Soul's talent is to be cherished as that of a quintessential emcee, his particular skill set running in sharp contrast to that of his thriving LA based peers whose raps are largely devoid of lyricism and introspection. With #controlsystem he shows great promise having gone from his crew's underdog to a present spotlight where he is equally confident and conflicted, sharing his pain and conviction through versatile and dexterous flows.

 Hit the jump for Tracklist and download link.

Album of the Week

Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2

It's been a good week for music, as Meek Mill started it off on Monday with his highly anticipated mixtape Dreamchasers 2. We still have another big release coming on Friday, but this should help jumpstart you out of your mid-week funk.

The Maybach Music Group artist did a hell of a job getting Rick Ross, Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Wale, 2 Chainz and more, as great features to help his buzz out. The mixtape crashed DatPiff and trended worldwide on Twitter as the download has racked up 2 MILLION DOWNLOADS in less than 3 days.

The tracklist and download link are below:

Download Dreamchasers 2

Quick Hits: Rob Parker's suits must be stopped.

Apparently the couch from "That 70's Show" was saved by Rob Parker's wardrobe.

Try not to stare at the picture too long, you might become disoriented and have a seizure. Our favorite ESPN 2 minion, Rob Parker, decided that it would be a good idea to follow up his shiny suit man appearance, with this lovely plaid ensemble. But I won't make anymore jokes. I'm going to let the wonderful people of Twitter pick apart his wardrobe choice.

And my personal favorite...

In other words, this guy...

Welp.

Album of the Week

The return of T3L means the return of our Album of the Week feature. This week, we bring you a new artist out of Los Angeles by the name of Iman Omari, and his debut 8-track project, "Energy."


There's really not much background information on Iman Omari, even after searching his YouTube channel, Tumblr, Twitter and Soundcloud page, I still came up blank. But if you want to download the album, head straight over to his website to download it for free off of Mediafire.


TRACKLIST:

Quick Hits: Rob Parker's wardrobe malfunctioned today.

Rob Parker celebrates Earth Day with a suit made out of 100% recycled Twix wrappers.

Man. Michael Jordan has made plenty of questionable wardrobe choices throughout his life, but nothing quite as terrible as this. T3L's favorite ESPN talking head, Rob Parker, decided it would be a good idea to wear a suit that appears to be made out of the same material Nike creates Foamposites out of. And the jokes were outstanding.

Here's the Behind the Scenes video of the First Take crew clowning on Pimp of the Year, Rob Parker.

A Nation of Fanalysts

Apparently the answer was, "Because I wear his shoes and you don't motherf^%&er!"

I try not to watch First Take. I hate contributing to that shows ratings, because it gives Skip Bayless a bigger audience to troll. Actually, with the exception of a few programs, I hate watching ESPN period. The entire network has become focused more on the Entertainment aspect than Sports.

I saw the perfect analogy on Twitter today: "Skip Bayless is like a bad car accident you don't want to watch, but you always turn you head to look."

But ESPN has managed to take it to another level of stupidity today. Instead of using their own "analysts" who sometimes know what the fuck they're talking about, First Take has gone the way of SportsNation and continues to use pop culture icons (like Wale, pictured above) to generate more ratings, without actually talking sports.

A sports show, on a sports network, not talking about sports? That's Un-American!

The motivation for this post were the comments Wale made regarding the San Antonio Spurs. When posed with the question "Who wins the Western Conference?" Wale dismissed the idea saying the Spurs were "old and boring." TYPICAL NO NOTHING JACKASS ANALYSIS.

And even after Skip Bayless flooded him with facts and stats, Wale, again went full-retard and said "That's cute. What they're doing is really cute."

Cute.

I try so hard to not overreact and go on profanity laced tirades when writing. And I also try not being biased. I'm about to fail at both of those. As a fan, I have to defend my team. So hit the jump for what is about to be the most vicious, caps-locked abused, Drew Magary inspired rant Blogger has ever seen.

It's time to let the NBA die

Figured this would be a good topic to welcome everyone back to the blog. I can't guarantee we'll be around for good and continue blogging, and I can't speak for the others, but I will definitely make an effort to contribute and write for as long as I can keep the desire. Maybe be a week, a month or a year...only time will tell. But with that, welcome back to Truth to the Light. #T3L

What the hell else should I talk about? The Yankees getting eliminated? The craptacular Cardinals/Rangers World Series that starts on Wednesday? I'm not gonna talk about football while the Packers sit at 6-0, I'm just gonna let them do their thing. (Although I'm still disappointed in how terrible the defense is compared to last year.) Let's talk lockout. I want to start ranting and swearing, so hit the jump ASAP.

Grey Area.

A long time ago, an album was created out of pure brilliance and dedication.

A project that reflected the universal theme that is music, while celebrating the diversity of it.

An album that mashed together two of the biggest icons in music.

...A project you probably have never heard.