duncan228
02-26-2010, 01:00 AM
Ginobili: ‘I feel great, and I bet you can tell' (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Ginobili_I_feel_great_and_I_bet_you_can_tell.html)
Mike Monroe
HOUSTON — Still seeking every shred of credible evidence that a season that began with great promise might yet produce something special, the Spurs headed to Houston on Thursday afternoon with their most tangible bit of encouragement in weeks.
Manu Ginobili, the beating heart of a four-time NBA champion, has declared he feels like, well, Manu Ginobili.
The importance of such self-actualization can't be overstated for a team that will play the Rockets at the Toyota Center still seventh in the Western Conference.
“I feel great, and I bet you can tell,” Ginobili said after submitting Exhibits A through Z in a Wednesday night victory against the Thunder. The performance gave every Spur aboard the short flight to Houston reason to believe a late-season surge is possible.
The 32-year-old guard scored 26 points Wednesday, his second-highest output of the season and his sixth game with at least 20 in the past nine outings.
Ginobili's season has been a four-month search for the lift in his legs that made him a 6-foot-6 highlight reel for most of his eight seasons as a Spur. A spectacular fourth-quarter run-down block against the NBA's leading scorer, 6-9 Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant, was the affirmation for which the Argentine dynamo has waited.
“Going to dunk, or going for a block like that, a month ago that couldn't have happened,” he said. “I'm feeling great, and I'm very happy about it.”
So are his teammates, old and new. Shaking his head after missing all six of his shots, power forward Antonio McDyess nodded in Ginobili's direction in the postgame euphoria Wednesday.
“Thank goodness for that guy,” he said. “I've never played with anybody who wanted to win more than he does.”
Coming off a stress fracture in his right ankle — an injury that ended his 2008-09 season before the playoffs and mandated a summer of inactivity — Ginobili has bided his time waiting for his physical abilities to match his limitless competitive nature.
Finally, he has resumed attacking the rim without fear of failure.
“Before, I was feeling every time I was penetrating I was going to get blocked,” he said. “Now I feel I can go over somebody or around somebody.”
Then, pointing to his head, Ginobili revealed the psychological carryover that derives from knowing the spring in his legs is all the way back.
“That changed a lot in here,” he said. “I'm attacking the rim way better the last five games and I'm building confidence, something that I needed. Not that I was feeling bad before, but I didn't have the last oomph to go to the rim.”
What hasn't changed for the Spurs is the reality of the Western Conference standings. Wednesday's victory kept them from sliding into eighth place, but they understand that home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is the same distance above them as a spot in the draft lottery is behind them.
They also know they have had other victories this season they believed would serve as springboards to a jump up the standings, only to follow with disappointing losses.
Their best road victory of the season, a 19-point win at Denver right before the All-Star break, just magnified the disappointment of losing the final two games of the rodeo road trip to lottery-bound Eastern Conference teams.
“We have had some (wins) like this before — the Atlanta game here; Denver on the road — where it looked like we were going to start being where we were supposed to be, and then it didn't happen,” said Ginobili. “We've got to stay humble and keep working hard. We know the next games against Houston and Phoenix are going to be huge.
“After those two, I'll be able to tell you better if we've turned a corner.”
Mike Monroe
HOUSTON — Still seeking every shred of credible evidence that a season that began with great promise might yet produce something special, the Spurs headed to Houston on Thursday afternoon with their most tangible bit of encouragement in weeks.
Manu Ginobili, the beating heart of a four-time NBA champion, has declared he feels like, well, Manu Ginobili.
The importance of such self-actualization can't be overstated for a team that will play the Rockets at the Toyota Center still seventh in the Western Conference.
“I feel great, and I bet you can tell,” Ginobili said after submitting Exhibits A through Z in a Wednesday night victory against the Thunder. The performance gave every Spur aboard the short flight to Houston reason to believe a late-season surge is possible.
The 32-year-old guard scored 26 points Wednesday, his second-highest output of the season and his sixth game with at least 20 in the past nine outings.
Ginobili's season has been a four-month search for the lift in his legs that made him a 6-foot-6 highlight reel for most of his eight seasons as a Spur. A spectacular fourth-quarter run-down block against the NBA's leading scorer, 6-9 Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant, was the affirmation for which the Argentine dynamo has waited.
“Going to dunk, or going for a block like that, a month ago that couldn't have happened,” he said. “I'm feeling great, and I'm very happy about it.”
So are his teammates, old and new. Shaking his head after missing all six of his shots, power forward Antonio McDyess nodded in Ginobili's direction in the postgame euphoria Wednesday.
“Thank goodness for that guy,” he said. “I've never played with anybody who wanted to win more than he does.”
Coming off a stress fracture in his right ankle — an injury that ended his 2008-09 season before the playoffs and mandated a summer of inactivity — Ginobili has bided his time waiting for his physical abilities to match his limitless competitive nature.
Finally, he has resumed attacking the rim without fear of failure.
“Before, I was feeling every time I was penetrating I was going to get blocked,” he said. “Now I feel I can go over somebody or around somebody.”
Then, pointing to his head, Ginobili revealed the psychological carryover that derives from knowing the spring in his legs is all the way back.
“That changed a lot in here,” he said. “I'm attacking the rim way better the last five games and I'm building confidence, something that I needed. Not that I was feeling bad before, but I didn't have the last oomph to go to the rim.”
What hasn't changed for the Spurs is the reality of the Western Conference standings. Wednesday's victory kept them from sliding into eighth place, but they understand that home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is the same distance above them as a spot in the draft lottery is behind them.
They also know they have had other victories this season they believed would serve as springboards to a jump up the standings, only to follow with disappointing losses.
Their best road victory of the season, a 19-point win at Denver right before the All-Star break, just magnified the disappointment of losing the final two games of the rodeo road trip to lottery-bound Eastern Conference teams.
“We have had some (wins) like this before — the Atlanta game here; Denver on the road — where it looked like we were going to start being where we were supposed to be, and then it didn't happen,” said Ginobili. “We've got to stay humble and keep working hard. We know the next games against Houston and Phoenix are going to be huge.
“After those two, I'll be able to tell you better if we've turned a corner.”