Kori Ellis
06-09-2005, 02:03 AM
Manu Ginobili a handful of laughs, thrills
By HELENE ST. JAMES
Detroit Free Press
SAN ANTONIO - The Spurs never know what he's going to do when he walks by them in the locker room, much less when he has the ball. Being Manu Ginobili's teammate is exciting, exasperating and above all, exhilarating.
And this is just his local appeal. In his native Argentina, Ginobili is one step below soccer legend Diego Maradona, who has his own place of worship, the Church Maradoniana, in Buenos Aires. Construction hasn't begun on a Church Ginobiliana, or a Comedia Club Ginobiliana, but give it time, because Ginobili is only 27, and he's four victories from a second NBA championship.
Ginobili joined the Spurs in 2002-03, helping them to a title in his rookie year. And three seasons later, teammates still can't get a handle on him.
"He's very strange, honestly," Brent Barry said Wednesday. "I can't even begin to describe it. Manu is one of those guys who is always interesting to see on a daily basis."
Bruce Bowen described Ginobili as a comedian lost in translation, a guy who "tells jokes, but sometimes you can't understand them because they're in Spanish."
His defenders have trouble understanding him because Ginobili is so unpredictable when making plays, switching hands even as he's driving a lane. Ginobili even surprises himself sometimes.
"I don't know what is going to happen, either," Ginobili said. "I'm a slasher. I always try to go by the first defensive line. Once I am on the paint, we'll see, I don't know. Sometimes it's going to be an open teammate; sometimes I'm going to be trying to draw a foul or finish. You know, sometimes there's got to be something that people talk about, about the way I penetrate, but for me it's normal, the same way I've always done it, so for me it's nothing that funny about it."
There's nothing funny about it to opponents, either. Ginobili has averaged 21.8 points in 16 playoff games this spring , including eight stints coming off the bench, when coach Gregg Popovich mixed things up in the earlier rounds. Now Ginobili, 6-feet-6 and 205 pounds, is going to meet up with Tayshaun Prince, who is longer than him. But what makes Ginobili so dangerous is that he fears no one.
"He's an unbelievable, unbelievable player, just because you don't see many players in this league who just sacrifice their bodies night in and night out to attack the rim against whoever," Nazr Mohammed said. "He doesn't back down from anyone, and usually he gets either a foul or he makes the bucket."
Ginobili soared into the playoffs on the strength of a career year in which he averaged 16 points in 29.6 minutes, up from 12.8 points in the 29.4 minutes he averaged in 2003-04. His confidence exploded last summer after he was named MVP of the Argentinian team that won gold at the Athens Olympics and returned home to find Popovich ready to give him a bigger role.
"Once you feel like you are the Olympic champion and chosen MVP, you start believing even more in yourself, knowing that you've got to be doing something well," Ginobili said. "Then it really helped me that Pop told me since the beginning that he was going to try to use me more, give me the ball a little bit more."
Detroit's Carlos Delfino was an Olympic teammate, and has seen Manu-mania firsthand. What Ginobili did in Athens spiked his popularity in Argentina to the level of former Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio and tennis great Guillermo Vilas, the realm just below Maradona.
"I think for these Finals, 99% of Argentina is with San Antonio," Delfino said. "I think only I am, and my family are, for Pistons. Manu has the whole country behind him."
Ginobili thrills with his moves and delights with his manner. Seldom does he walk by a teammate without doing something funny, like with Mohammed, who only has to hear his name mispronounced "Naz-ar" to know it's Ginobili calling.
"He just constantly comes up with little jokes, little pranks," Mohammed said. "He is just a ball of fun."
By HELENE ST. JAMES
Detroit Free Press
SAN ANTONIO - The Spurs never know what he's going to do when he walks by them in the locker room, much less when he has the ball. Being Manu Ginobili's teammate is exciting, exasperating and above all, exhilarating.
And this is just his local appeal. In his native Argentina, Ginobili is one step below soccer legend Diego Maradona, who has his own place of worship, the Church Maradoniana, in Buenos Aires. Construction hasn't begun on a Church Ginobiliana, or a Comedia Club Ginobiliana, but give it time, because Ginobili is only 27, and he's four victories from a second NBA championship.
Ginobili joined the Spurs in 2002-03, helping them to a title in his rookie year. And three seasons later, teammates still can't get a handle on him.
"He's very strange, honestly," Brent Barry said Wednesday. "I can't even begin to describe it. Manu is one of those guys who is always interesting to see on a daily basis."
Bruce Bowen described Ginobili as a comedian lost in translation, a guy who "tells jokes, but sometimes you can't understand them because they're in Spanish."
His defenders have trouble understanding him because Ginobili is so unpredictable when making plays, switching hands even as he's driving a lane. Ginobili even surprises himself sometimes.
"I don't know what is going to happen, either," Ginobili said. "I'm a slasher. I always try to go by the first defensive line. Once I am on the paint, we'll see, I don't know. Sometimes it's going to be an open teammate; sometimes I'm going to be trying to draw a foul or finish. You know, sometimes there's got to be something that people talk about, about the way I penetrate, but for me it's normal, the same way I've always done it, so for me it's nothing that funny about it."
There's nothing funny about it to opponents, either. Ginobili has averaged 21.8 points in 16 playoff games this spring , including eight stints coming off the bench, when coach Gregg Popovich mixed things up in the earlier rounds. Now Ginobili, 6-feet-6 and 205 pounds, is going to meet up with Tayshaun Prince, who is longer than him. But what makes Ginobili so dangerous is that he fears no one.
"He's an unbelievable, unbelievable player, just because you don't see many players in this league who just sacrifice their bodies night in and night out to attack the rim against whoever," Nazr Mohammed said. "He doesn't back down from anyone, and usually he gets either a foul or he makes the bucket."
Ginobili soared into the playoffs on the strength of a career year in which he averaged 16 points in 29.6 minutes, up from 12.8 points in the 29.4 minutes he averaged in 2003-04. His confidence exploded last summer after he was named MVP of the Argentinian team that won gold at the Athens Olympics and returned home to find Popovich ready to give him a bigger role.
"Once you feel like you are the Olympic champion and chosen MVP, you start believing even more in yourself, knowing that you've got to be doing something well," Ginobili said. "Then it really helped me that Pop told me since the beginning that he was going to try to use me more, give me the ball a little bit more."
Detroit's Carlos Delfino was an Olympic teammate, and has seen Manu-mania firsthand. What Ginobili did in Athens spiked his popularity in Argentina to the level of former Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio and tennis great Guillermo Vilas, the realm just below Maradona.
"I think for these Finals, 99% of Argentina is with San Antonio," Delfino said. "I think only I am, and my family are, for Pistons. Manu has the whole country behind him."
Ginobili thrills with his moves and delights with his manner. Seldom does he walk by a teammate without doing something funny, like with Mohammed, who only has to hear his name mispronounced "Naz-ar" to know it's Ginobili calling.
"He just constantly comes up with little jokes, little pranks," Mohammed said. "He is just a ball of fun."