The San Antonio Spurs have built an amazing legacy around the storied career of Tim Duncan. They’ve surrounded their crown jewel in Duncan with a rotating cast of characters throughout the course of 18 seasons and five NBA championships.

These supporting players were big, small, short and tall, but none were as fiery as surprise contributor Stephen Jackson. The Houston-born Jackson spent San Antonio’s entire 2002 playoff run on the bench in street clothes and was a non-factor throughout the course of that season. Jackson was thrust into the starting lineup midway through the 2002–03 season and became a central figure in San Antonio’s lineup. The postseason would be where he became a central figure in the Spurs’ second championship as an NBA franchise.

In Game Six of San Antonio’s Western Conference Finals matchup with Dallas, Jackson had a game-high 24 points and hit several key threes during a 42–15 run that brought the Spurs back from a 63–48 deficit late in the third quarter. Jackson’s play along with the contributions of Steve Kerr and Manu Ginobili helped the Spurs survive an 8-for-20 showing from Duncan. “I just remember Pop leaving me and [Manu] Ginobili out there because we were two guys that were young and had no fear,” he said. “We were just guys out there down by 15 and Pop knew that if he had a chance to get in the game, then my young guys can go out and make a play and make it happen. Tim wasn’t playing too well but after we hit those threes and got in the game he went to him to close the game. Pop just left us out there and it showed and worked since we were able to pull that game out.”

Despite participating in postseason play for the first time in his career, Jackson was game from the beginning. “I was fine. I’m not scared of anything but god,” said Jackson. “That’s the only thing I’m scared of. I think the only thing is that I wasn’t afraid to fail. My mom taught me as a youngster that nothing beats a trial but a failure so me failing was never on my mind. I went out there and played as hard as I could and had fun. When you give it your all, good things happen and that’s what happened.”

Jackson came through again in another closeout game but on a bigger stage. The Spurs were facing Jackson’s former team the New Jersey Nets in the 2003 NBA Finals. He enjoyed the added motivation to pay back his former team. “The reason I went to the Spurs was because [Nets coach] Byron Scott said that I couldn’t start or play on that team,” he said. “So for me to be playing against him in the Finals and making big shots, it was extra sweet. I wasn’t trying to prove him wrong but there was a little ‘yeah I can play, now look at me, I’m hitting the shots to win it.’”

Jackson struggled mightily in the first five games with a shaky 9 points per game average on 33 percent from the field and 20 turnovers in the first five games. Despite his subpar play, San Antonio was still able to take a 3–2 lead and had a golden opportunity to end the series in Game Six on their home floor. The Nets were thinking differently as they jumped out to a double digit lead early on in the final game.

An unfazed Spurs squad was ready to make a run. Jackson and the Spurs embraced the challenge. “Knowing that we are a team that stays focused and doesn’t lose composure. We knew we had a chance to win the game,” said Jackson. “Always in Game Sixes, you always know that you have a chance to win when you know you have time left on the clock. That was always what I do. If there’s two minutes on the clock or any time left on the clock, we always have a chance to come back.

“That was always our attitude and we didn’t want to extend the series to a seventh game. We made sure we finished them off.” Jackson ended his NBA Finals experience on a high note. He scored 9 of his 17 points in Game Six by knocking down all three of his three-pointers in a three-minute span.

The Nets held a 72–67 advantage before Jackson’s three-point barrage powered a 13–0 run and opened up an eight-point lead for the Spurs and sealed the series. “I remember me having not too good of a game but I remember I was playing hard,” he said. “I remember a lot of the guys on my team were looking me off and I felt that the shots that I made, I couldn’t get them during the course of the game. During the timeout, Pop was saying ‘find the open guy! find the open guy! Try to make the perfect play.’ And I knew he was trying to tell those guys to get me the ball because I was open.

“Soon as we come out of the timeout, Manu hits me with a pass, and I knew that if I hit the first one I’ll start feeling good. But I knew and had a feeling that I was going to make some big shots somewhere during that series to beat my old team based off of how it ended before I went to San Antonio.”

Jackson looks back on the championship run with positivity and a sense of gratitude for the experience. “I feel blessed that I was able to win a championship and be a part of it,” he said. “A lot of guys go through their whole career and don’t get a chance to experience it.”