Heartbreak has become a way of life for Tim Duncan over the last several months.
After missing out on a chance to claim his fifth NBA title and having to suffer through the added indignation of watching the Miami Heat celebrate claiming their second straight championship, Duncan told the San Antonio Express News "probably, for me, Game 7 is always going to haunt me."
Some three months later with another NBA training camp upon him, the 37-year-old Duncan is still struggling with overcoming demons he surely never envisioned for himself.
Already pained by his Spurs shortcomings, Duncan suffered through a summer split from his wife and one-time college sweetheart, Amy, that became so contentious his spouse of 12 years was openly questioning his sexaulity by the time all was said and done.
Ultimately, the couple was divorced in a secretive, closed-door session agreed to by a district court judge as a means of keeping the media at bay as Amy Duncan hurled accusations she's long suspected her husband might be gay and even once had a man living under the same roof as the couple.
Duncan also admitted that he once hired a private investigator to tail her because he believed she might be cheating on him.According to The Express, Duncan also later sought the court's assistance and authority in having Gilbert R. Urbano Jr., the man reportedly romantically linked to his then-wife, banned from being around the couple's two young children.
In the face of all the trauma, one has to wonder just how much Duncan's heart will be into it once the Spurs roll out the balls later this month.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn't appear to be one of them. "He's a mentally unique individual in that he's able to sustain the year-round workout regimen, both physically and diet wise," he previously told The Express. "He has an unbelievable feeling of responsibility for his place in the program and wants to sustain that performance that he brings night after night."
Call it the Spurs way, a system that has worked to the tune of San Antonio advancing to the playoffs for 16 straight seasons, including five Finals appearance, and yet has Duncan and the 31-year-old Tony Parker appearing in the top 10 on Sports Illustrated tops NBA players for 2014 list.
But Tim Duncan has never had a season like he's endured this summer. The spurs are hoping the strain of it all won't prove too much to bear.
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