danyel
06-11-2005, 02:19 PM
'Gamesmanship' doesn't faze him - just ask Karl
By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
June 11, 2005
George Karl tried to tear into Manu Ginobili's game. Ginobili simply continued to tear Karl's team up.
Now, it's Larry Brown's turn. The Detroit Pistons coach is preferring to lavish praise on the San Antonio Spurs guard.
"Anybody that's watched the playoffs would look at Ginobili and say, 'You know they should be talking about Ginobili like everybody who is talking about Dwyane Wade, I think, in our series,' '' Brown said Friday, referring to the Miami guard who shined in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons.
Ginobili had a second half for the ages Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In San Antonio's 84-69 win against Detroit at the SBC Center, Ginobili shot 9-for-10 for 22 of his game-most 26 points.
And nobody claimed Ginobili was bad for the game afterward.
On April 30, after Ginobili scored 32 points against Denver in a Game 3 win in a first-round series, Karl ripped Ginobili's game. The Nuggets coach said it wasn't "very pretty for basketball'' because Ginobili's style is to "put your head down and run into people.''
In hindsight, Karl admits he really didn't mean what he said.
"It was all gamesmanship,'' Karl said. "It was trying to get the referees to maybe give us a call, get him to think a little bit. Didn't work.''
It sure didn't. Ginobili averaged 21 points, as the Spurs won the next two games to close out the series.
Opposing coaches can do all the talking and tinkering they want, but nothing seems to work these days in slowing down Ginobili. At least, not for an entire game.
Ginobili shot only 1-for-6 for four points in the first half Thursday. But he took over in the second half, after the Spurs had trailed 17-4 in the first period and 37-35 at halftime.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was quite content to turn Ginobili loose. It's become apparent that's when Ginobili, an Argentinian who became an All-Star in his third season, is at his best.
"It's not once in a while, but that hell-bent-for-leather sort of attitude - the willingness to take big shots, the willingness to do what it takes to win and to do it at the highest possible level of intensity - is there every single minute he steps on the court for 82 regular-season games,'' said Popovich, whose team will look to take a 2-0 series lead in Game 2 on Sunday.
"It's just the way he's built. I never talk to him. I never try to motivate him. I never say a word. I just watch.''
Ginobili's second half included all sorts of acrobatic jumpers and drives. Once, he went in for a finger roll, changed his mind, turned over his hand and threw down a dunk.
And, in reference to what Karl said, he did run into somebody. He plowed into burly Detroit center Ben Wallace in the fourth quarter, and it was Wallace who got called for a block.
"Sometimes, you don't think you're going to make some shots, but you just keep trying,'' said Ginobili, who also grabbed nine rebounds in Game 1. "You feel so excited at that moment, so confident in some parts of the game, that you start believing that you can do more things than you really can or thought you can.''
There was a time Popovich frowned on Ginobili's herky-jerky style. Eventually, though, he took the reins off him.
"I basically have decided that he has all the room that he wants,'' Popovich said.
"(That was decided) probably at the beginning of the season. It took me a couple of years. You know, we had a lot of talks - knocked heads. The more I watched him play, the more film I watched, the more I realized there was going to be a hell of a lot more good doing it his way than my way.''
Doing it his way, Ginobili averaged 16 points during the regular season after putting up 7.6 and 12.8 in his first two seasons. He's averaging 21.8 points in the playoffs.
"It's not exactly, 'Do whatever you want,' '' Ginobili said of what Popovich lets him do. "But he started to allow me to do more things. You think that usually, as I heard, he didn't let other players do before, so I'm very glad. I knew that I could help the team more if I followed my instincts a little bit more.''
So far, most of the Pistons have been impressed. But there is one Detroit player who merely shrugged Friday when asked about Ginobili.
"He's all right,'' forward Rasheed Wallace said.
"In my opinion, he's a good ballplayer. Ain't nothing too special about the kid. You know, he's a good penetrator, but he's cool.''
If Rasheed Wallace is engaging in gamesmanship, perhaps Karl, a fellow former University of North Carolina player, should let him know it doesn't work.
[email protected] or 303-892-512
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_3847883,00.html
By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
June 11, 2005
George Karl tried to tear into Manu Ginobili's game. Ginobili simply continued to tear Karl's team up.
Now, it's Larry Brown's turn. The Detroit Pistons coach is preferring to lavish praise on the San Antonio Spurs guard.
"Anybody that's watched the playoffs would look at Ginobili and say, 'You know they should be talking about Ginobili like everybody who is talking about Dwyane Wade, I think, in our series,' '' Brown said Friday, referring to the Miami guard who shined in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons.
Ginobili had a second half for the ages Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In San Antonio's 84-69 win against Detroit at the SBC Center, Ginobili shot 9-for-10 for 22 of his game-most 26 points.
And nobody claimed Ginobili was bad for the game afterward.
On April 30, after Ginobili scored 32 points against Denver in a Game 3 win in a first-round series, Karl ripped Ginobili's game. The Nuggets coach said it wasn't "very pretty for basketball'' because Ginobili's style is to "put your head down and run into people.''
In hindsight, Karl admits he really didn't mean what he said.
"It was all gamesmanship,'' Karl said. "It was trying to get the referees to maybe give us a call, get him to think a little bit. Didn't work.''
It sure didn't. Ginobili averaged 21 points, as the Spurs won the next two games to close out the series.
Opposing coaches can do all the talking and tinkering they want, but nothing seems to work these days in slowing down Ginobili. At least, not for an entire game.
Ginobili shot only 1-for-6 for four points in the first half Thursday. But he took over in the second half, after the Spurs had trailed 17-4 in the first period and 37-35 at halftime.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was quite content to turn Ginobili loose. It's become apparent that's when Ginobili, an Argentinian who became an All-Star in his third season, is at his best.
"It's not once in a while, but that hell-bent-for-leather sort of attitude - the willingness to take big shots, the willingness to do what it takes to win and to do it at the highest possible level of intensity - is there every single minute he steps on the court for 82 regular-season games,'' said Popovich, whose team will look to take a 2-0 series lead in Game 2 on Sunday.
"It's just the way he's built. I never talk to him. I never try to motivate him. I never say a word. I just watch.''
Ginobili's second half included all sorts of acrobatic jumpers and drives. Once, he went in for a finger roll, changed his mind, turned over his hand and threw down a dunk.
And, in reference to what Karl said, he did run into somebody. He plowed into burly Detroit center Ben Wallace in the fourth quarter, and it was Wallace who got called for a block.
"Sometimes, you don't think you're going to make some shots, but you just keep trying,'' said Ginobili, who also grabbed nine rebounds in Game 1. "You feel so excited at that moment, so confident in some parts of the game, that you start believing that you can do more things than you really can or thought you can.''
There was a time Popovich frowned on Ginobili's herky-jerky style. Eventually, though, he took the reins off him.
"I basically have decided that he has all the room that he wants,'' Popovich said.
"(That was decided) probably at the beginning of the season. It took me a couple of years. You know, we had a lot of talks - knocked heads. The more I watched him play, the more film I watched, the more I realized there was going to be a hell of a lot more good doing it his way than my way.''
Doing it his way, Ginobili averaged 16 points during the regular season after putting up 7.6 and 12.8 in his first two seasons. He's averaging 21.8 points in the playoffs.
"It's not exactly, 'Do whatever you want,' '' Ginobili said of what Popovich lets him do. "But he started to allow me to do more things. You think that usually, as I heard, he didn't let other players do before, so I'm very glad. I knew that I could help the team more if I followed my instincts a little bit more.''
So far, most of the Pistons have been impressed. But there is one Detroit player who merely shrugged Friday when asked about Ginobili.
"He's all right,'' forward Rasheed Wallace said.
"In my opinion, he's a good ballplayer. Ain't nothing too special about the kid. You know, he's a good penetrator, but he's cool.''
If Rasheed Wallace is engaging in gamesmanship, perhaps Karl, a fellow former University of North Carolina player, should let him know it doesn't work.
[email protected] or 303-892-512
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_3847883,00.html