Tim Duncan didn’t have to say a word — and he didn’t.

After watching his team humiliated on the boards in a convincing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, Duncan guaranteed the Spurs would play with more effort against Memphis the following night.

Duncan has been around the team long enough to know what he needed to say. But the Spurs’ captain didn’t need to mention anything to his teammates.

And with a gritty second-half comeback, they fulfilled Duncan’s promise as they claimed a 107-97 victory over Memphis.

“I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t need to tell them anything about it,” Duncan said. “We can get playing ourselves, we refocus and come back and play better. We always do. It’s just the kind of guys we have.”

via Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Expresss-News