A legend will live on in the rafters of the AT&T Center. The San Antonio Spurs have announced that they will retire the No. 21 jersey in honor of Tim Duncan.
The gentle giant finished his 19-year career with the Spurs following the 2015-2016 season. Duncan's No. 21 will be the eighth Spurs jersey to hang above the court, alongside Bruce Bowen (No. 12), Sean Elliott (No. 32), George Gervin (No. 44), Avery Johnson (No. 6), Johnny Moore (No. 00), David Robinson (No. 50), and James Silas (No. 13).
The Spurs will retire the jersey on Sunday, December 18, during a special ceremony following a game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The ceremony will be broadcast live via Fox Sports.
With Wednesday's announcement, the NBA shared some staggering statistics about Duncan's storied career. Here are five of our favorite facts:
Duncan is the third player in NBA history to have 1,000 career wins and the only to claim 1,000 with a single team.
Duncan and Gregg Popovich boast the highest number of wins (1,001) from a player-coach duo.
Duncan is one of two NBA stars to log 26,000 points, 15,000 rebounds, and 3,000 blocks (the other is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
Duncan took the Spurs to the playoffs each of his 19 years with the franchise and led the team to five championship wins.
Duncan is the only player to clock in 9,000 minutes in the playoffs.
Young Ochi and Helena Zengel in The Legend of Ochi.
Most movies aimed at children tend to be relatively low-brow, with easy-to-understand stories and humor that doesn’t make anyone think too hard. The movie studio A24 is best known for its edgy films, with their only real attempt at making a “kids movie” in their 13-year history being the off-kilter Marcel the Shell with Shoes On in 2022.
True to form, though, the new The Legend of Ochi is far from your typical kids movie despite its PG rating. Yuri (Helena Zengel) lives on the remote fictional island of Carpathia with her father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe) and her adopted brother, Petro (Finn Wolfhard). The kids have been taught from a young age to fear the creature known as the Ochi, and accompany their dad and other children on nighttime hunts to protect their livestock from the bloodthirsty animals.
When Yuri comes across a young Ochi stuck in a trap, though, she finds she is able to communicate with it in the Ochis’ chirping language. Finding herself bonded with the creature in an unexpected way, Yuri sets out to return the young animal back to its home, with Maxim, Petro, and others hot on her tail.
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Isaiah Saxon, the film often comes across like a light version of Wes Anderson. Saxon includes all kinds of quirky elements like Maxim dressing up like a knight during the Ochi hunts, unusual geography on the island, and - randomly - a candy-colored grocery store. Of course, Dafoe himself has appeared in five Anderson films, underscoring Saxon’s inspiration.
But whereas Anderson generally uses the peculiarities in his films for deeper purposes, Saxon has difficulty finding much meaning in his storytelling. What seems to be at play in the film is a culture of misplaced fear, epitomized by the banishment of Yuri’s mom, Dasha (Emily Watson) after she was bitten by an Ochi. But Saxon can never properly explain why she now lives on her own, or capitalize on any emotions from when she and Yuri are reunited.
The lack of adequate answers to questions that arise is what plagues the film for most of its running time. Consequently, the film is a non-starter in most ways; there is almost no excitement or suspense to be had as Yuri tries to achieve her quest. Saxon even fails at what should have been the easiest part of the film, making audiences fall in love with the cute-yet-ferocious young Ochi.
Zengel, whose only previous notable role was in the 2020 Tom Hanks film News of the World, does her level best to make Yuri interesting, but she can’t rise above the film’s other faults. Dafoe knows how to play oddball roles, but this one never makes any sense. Wolfhard and Watson don’t get enough screentime for them to make a big impression either way.
While A24 can usually be counted on to deliver memorable films that skew outside of the normal output of Hollywood, The Legend of Ochi never finds its footing. If it’s supposed to be a kids movie, it misses the mark by a long shot, with little that could be considered attractive for the younger set.