ALLAN THE MAN

Rappler ranks the best NBA players aged 35 and above --- whose playing years in the NBA have spanned a decade-and-a-half and at least 1000 games but still bring out their A-game night in, night out.

Unlike most senior citizens in this list, Tim Duncan showed no regression in his game this season. As a matter of fact, The Big Fundamental is playing his best basketball in four years as he has led the Spurs to the best record in the West.

Duncan has remained one of the NBA’s elite big men, combining grace and power in averaging the 14th double-double of his 16-year career. He still hasn't lost his killer instinct, either, with his latest masterpiece being the and-one dagger he struck in the hearts of the LA Clippers in a win last Saturday. And as usual, he capped it off with an almost emotionless reaction. Business-like. Classic Tim Duncan.

Paul Pierce was doing his thing over at Boston, leading the Boston Celtics to a victory over the Atlanta Hawks with his third triple-double of the season. With his team suffering from a rash of injuries, The Captain has risen to the challenge and has taken his team all the way to seventh in the East.

With Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett getting sidelined, Pierce has been averaging 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 51.4% from the field over the last 30 days, as Boston built a three-game lead over Milwaukee for their playoff seeding while inching closer to a possible home court advantage in the first round by being just 3.5 games behind Brooklyn for the fourth spot in the East.

Vince Carter is definitely not the high-flying, death-defying and awe-inspiring dunk artist we came to admire in the early 2000s. As his otherworldly athleticism seemingly gone, VC has transformed into a deadeye three-point shooter for the Mavericks.

Andre Miller has been pretty durable for much of his career, only missing six regular season games since he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1999. He has never been the flashy type, as Miller plays games with an assassin’s demeanor, dishing out stats across the board and helping his team in any way he’s asked to.

Steve Nash, The two-time MVP arrived in Tinseltown on a mission: to bring the crown back to Los Angeles by playing the role of veteran leader and playmaker in a star-studded Lakers crew. Alas, the Hollywood ending we all waited for looks quite bleak right now as his team is in a dogfight for the last playoff berth in the West.

From one of the game’s most reliable scorers, Ray Allen was able to parlay his shooting prowess into a three-point specialist’s role in Miami.

Allen is playing the least minutes and is scoring the least points of his 18-year career, but the Heat do not need him to score in bunches like he did for Milwaukee, Seattle and Boston. What Miami needs from Allen is to deliver in the clutch. And guess what? Jesus Shuttleworth has done it for them time and again this season. - Graphics by Chay Lazaro, Rappler.com

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