What a great day to be Tim Duncan. Firs he signed the three-year, $40M contract extension with the San Antonio basketball powerhouse, then he received his much-deserved champion ring along with the other team mates and then went on to score 24 points and get 13 rebounds in the Spurs’ opening game of the regular season.

The San Antonio started their title defense with a 106-97 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and before the first whistle, the fans present at the AT&T Centre in San Antonio also witnessed the ceremony during which the Spurs received their champion’s rings.

Tony Parker was the other one with hunger for scoring and he finished with 19 points. Closely behind him was Manu Ginobili with 16 points and eight assists.

On the other side, LaMarcus Aldridge led the Trail Blazers with 27 points, while Martell Webster had 21 and Joel Przybilla added 13 points and 10 rebounds

What a game would have been if Portland’s rookie Greg Oden wouldn’t had broken his right knee during the summer. So, instead of a Duncan – Oden match up in the paint, the fans had to settle for either Joel Przybilla and/or LaMarcus Aldridge.

Unsurprisingly, Duncan had his way in the low-post. The 6'11" (2.11 m), 260-pound (118 kg) power forward was 10-of-15 from the floor. And with no double teaming to worry about, TD also delivered three assists and didn’t turned the ball over once.