Tim Duncan is mad savvy, B.

I’ve been in the Tim Duncan is the best power forward ever camp for a while; and last night, about halfway through the fourth quarter there was a play that proved it on national television.

Back in the ’98 Finals, there was that sequence where Karl Malone got the ball in the post and Jordan came from the baseline side to swipe it and take the ball down and score to set the Bulls up to win their 6th championship (DYNASTY). Last night, a nearly identical set of events happened. I say nearly because Tim Duncan is better than Karl Malone.

The ball got dumped in to Duncan down low. He was guarded by Varejao and LeBron came baseline to try to swipe the ball, but Duncan moved the ball just enough to not only avoid LeBron’s swipe but to also send him scurrying to recover while Duncan went towards the hoop. Surprisingly, this is something Bill Simmons touched on in his last chat, when a brief discussion of the GPFOAT came up. Simmons even said, “Please like Duncan would have gotten stripped like that on the biggest play in Game 6.” And he’s totally right.

Sure, this wasn’t the deciding game and LeBron James is no Michael Jordan. But this was the most winnable game for the Cavs thus far, and Le-Bro did have the same chance that MJ did. Not only do the rings show that Timmy D is a bigger winner than the Mailman, but little plays like that show how much steadier he is than Malone in crunch time. And when you’re trying to determine the best everness of a player that has to be included.