duncan228
10-04-2009, 11:38 PM
Ginobili in full frenetic mode for return to court (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Ginobili_in_full_frenetic_mode_for_return_to_court .html)
Mike Monroe
Spurs officials swear this is true: The first fans to claim their spots in line for the first-come, first-served seating at the team's free public scrimmage on Sunday afternoon arrived at roughly 4 in the morning.
It is not true that Manu Ginobili already was warming up inside the arena when the early birds staked out their places at the head of the queue.
Nobody would argue, though, that any Spur was more eager to set foot on the team's home court on Sunday than Ginobili, the former NBA All-Star and Sixth Man Award winner whose 2008-09 season was limited to 44 games by a variety of injuries.
The hero of Argentina's 2004 gold-medal Olympic team hadn't played before a crowd of any sort since April 5. Then, he flew back to San Antonio from Cleveland after experiencing pain in his right ankle during a game against the Cavaliers in which he played 22:36 and scored only four points.
What followed was a series of tests that showed a stress fracture in Ginobili's right distal fibula. The regimen of recommended rehabilitation consisted almost entirely of rest.
Worst of all, Ginobili was forbidden even to touch a basketball during his offseason at home, in Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
So if Sunday's public scrimmage, a first for the Spurs during their championship era, was intended primarily as a marketing tool for the Spurs organization, Ginobili turned it into a personal rediscovery of the joy of performance basketball.
“It was really fun,” he said. “I'm having fun every time I scrimmage, because I really missed it the last five or six months. But I'm getting to enjoy it a lot. To get to see the fans and feel the love and support was really great.
“I really can't wait until the season starts.”
By the time Sunday's game simulation concluded, Ginobili had thrilled about 7,600 basketball-starved witnesses with plays that best can be described as Argentine frenetic. He showed off the full range of athleticism, intensity and creativity that has made him one of San Antonio's favorites since he arrived as a rookie in 2002.
• He scored on 3-pointers, midrange jumpers, layins off baseline drives, even a dunk off a steal.
• On defense, he pestered Roger Mason Jr., Michael Finley and Richard Jefferson, end to end.
• And, as a playmaker, he produced the game's most creative pass, a long wraparound to George Hill, wide open in the corner, for a 3-pointer that temporarily gave Ginobili's silver team a one-point lead.
Anyone worried that Ginobili's long rehabilitation from injury may have robbed his game of its quirky unpredictability was comforted by his actions preceding the pass to Hill.
Splitting a double-team at the top of the key, Ginobili zipped between Antonio McDyess and Ian Mahinmi, drawing the defense to him as he charged down the lane. Met near the foul line by two more defenders, he went behind his back to thread a perfect pass to Hill, alone in the right corner.
It was just the sort of play that has characterized Ginobili's game and set him apart from all but a handful of premier perimeter players.
It was precisely the reassurance the fans, early and late arrivals alike, wanted to see.
“Definitely, I'm feeling like myself,” Ginobili said. “It's not that I was planning on doing that. My first idea was to get to the rim. But I had the ball out here (to his left side), so it was just as easy to throw it around the back as the front.
“George is shooting the ball really well, so it ended up being a nice play.”
Indeed, if Ginobili's play on Sunday was most encouraging to the team's supporters, Hill's play was nearly as hopeful. Running the point for the silver team nearly start to finish, he was controlled and effective.
“George Hill has been the most exciting part of training camp thus far,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich declared. “He has really welcomed the responsibility we've given him to be the backup point; to not only play defense, but to be explosive offensively and show additional leadership at the point.
“He's doing all those things. The summertime really helped him, and he has been the most impressive of anybody in camp to this point.”
*********************
Express-News Scrimmage Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/San_Antonio_Spurs_Scrimmage_100409.html?c=y&page=1
Mike Monroe
Spurs officials swear this is true: The first fans to claim their spots in line for the first-come, first-served seating at the team's free public scrimmage on Sunday afternoon arrived at roughly 4 in the morning.
It is not true that Manu Ginobili already was warming up inside the arena when the early birds staked out their places at the head of the queue.
Nobody would argue, though, that any Spur was more eager to set foot on the team's home court on Sunday than Ginobili, the former NBA All-Star and Sixth Man Award winner whose 2008-09 season was limited to 44 games by a variety of injuries.
The hero of Argentina's 2004 gold-medal Olympic team hadn't played before a crowd of any sort since April 5. Then, he flew back to San Antonio from Cleveland after experiencing pain in his right ankle during a game against the Cavaliers in which he played 22:36 and scored only four points.
What followed was a series of tests that showed a stress fracture in Ginobili's right distal fibula. The regimen of recommended rehabilitation consisted almost entirely of rest.
Worst of all, Ginobili was forbidden even to touch a basketball during his offseason at home, in Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
So if Sunday's public scrimmage, a first for the Spurs during their championship era, was intended primarily as a marketing tool for the Spurs organization, Ginobili turned it into a personal rediscovery of the joy of performance basketball.
“It was really fun,” he said. “I'm having fun every time I scrimmage, because I really missed it the last five or six months. But I'm getting to enjoy it a lot. To get to see the fans and feel the love and support was really great.
“I really can't wait until the season starts.”
By the time Sunday's game simulation concluded, Ginobili had thrilled about 7,600 basketball-starved witnesses with plays that best can be described as Argentine frenetic. He showed off the full range of athleticism, intensity and creativity that has made him one of San Antonio's favorites since he arrived as a rookie in 2002.
• He scored on 3-pointers, midrange jumpers, layins off baseline drives, even a dunk off a steal.
• On defense, he pestered Roger Mason Jr., Michael Finley and Richard Jefferson, end to end.
• And, as a playmaker, he produced the game's most creative pass, a long wraparound to George Hill, wide open in the corner, for a 3-pointer that temporarily gave Ginobili's silver team a one-point lead.
Anyone worried that Ginobili's long rehabilitation from injury may have robbed his game of its quirky unpredictability was comforted by his actions preceding the pass to Hill.
Splitting a double-team at the top of the key, Ginobili zipped between Antonio McDyess and Ian Mahinmi, drawing the defense to him as he charged down the lane. Met near the foul line by two more defenders, he went behind his back to thread a perfect pass to Hill, alone in the right corner.
It was just the sort of play that has characterized Ginobili's game and set him apart from all but a handful of premier perimeter players.
It was precisely the reassurance the fans, early and late arrivals alike, wanted to see.
“Definitely, I'm feeling like myself,” Ginobili said. “It's not that I was planning on doing that. My first idea was to get to the rim. But I had the ball out here (to his left side), so it was just as easy to throw it around the back as the front.
“George is shooting the ball really well, so it ended up being a nice play.”
Indeed, if Ginobili's play on Sunday was most encouraging to the team's supporters, Hill's play was nearly as hopeful. Running the point for the silver team nearly start to finish, he was controlled and effective.
“George Hill has been the most exciting part of training camp thus far,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich declared. “He has really welcomed the responsibility we've given him to be the backup point; to not only play defense, but to be explosive offensively and show additional leadership at the point.
“He's doing all those things. The summertime really helped him, and he has been the most impressive of anybody in camp to this point.”
*********************
Express-News Scrimmage Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/San_Antonio_Spurs_Scrimmage_100409.html?c=y&page=1