Kori Ellis
06-17-2005, 01:38 AM
Ginobili: Pistons' aggressiveness was the difference
Web Posted: 06/17/2005 12:46 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA061705.4S.BKNspurs.ginobili.18b55c77.html
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — A player Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has called the most competitive he ever has been around put the Spurs' humiliating loss to the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the NBA Finals in the most basic of athletic terms.
The Pistons, Manu Ginobili said, simply wanted the game more than any of the Spurs.
"The determination they showed, the aggressiveness, is the reason why they won," said Ginobili, whose 19 points combined in both Games 3 and 4 failed to match his total in either Game 1 (26) or Game 2 (27). "It's important for us to push the ball more to get a couple of easy baskets, but today we were not there in any part of the game. Rebounds, turnovers, passing the ball ... in every part of the game they just killed us.
"You have to wish to win that game more than them."
That Ginobili has been unable to get to the basket in the two games played at the Palace of Auburn Hills the way he did at the SBC Center has affected every aspect of the Spurs' ability to score.
It is not because he hasn't tried.
The difference, Ginobili said, has been the Spurs' unwillingness to move the ball the way they did in Games 1 and 2.
"Offensively, I'm just not finding the way to the basket," Ginobili said. "They are really collapsing in the paint a lot and our moving of the ball is just not there. We're not finding the open shots that were there in Games 1 and 2.
"In the first half of Game 1, and a big part of Game 2, I just couldn't get there anyway, but we still moved the ball. We pushed it and played faster and we found solutions.
"I don't think it's just a matter of just me attacking the basket. It's a matter of how the team is playing as a team."
And that thigh bruise he suffered in Game 3?
No excuse offered.
"Manu," Popovich said, "is not injured. He's fine."
Popovich did allow that the Pistons' defense has had a major impact on Ginobili's ability to dominate the way he did in the first two games. Detroit has packed its defense into the lane and challenged Ginobili and Tony Parker to beat the Spurs from the perimeter, rather than in the paint.
"He's just going to have to let the game come to him and not worry too much about making something happen every time he touches the ball," Popovich said.
Popovich knows how vital it is for Ginobili to get his game going again, though. To that end he called a few plays for Ginobili at the outset of the second half, hoping for the best. And Ginobili did manage to get to the rim on the Spurs' first possession of the half.
But he didn't score again for more than nine minutes.
So much for giving the Spurs a spark.
"Yeah, I was (trying to get myself going)," Ginobili said. "Pop tried to run a couple of plays for me. But at the same time, it's not one player that is going to revert a 15 or 17-point lead. It's a matter of us playing with more determination, wanting the game more."
Web Posted: 06/17/2005 12:46 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA061705.4S.BKNspurs.ginobili.18b55c77.html
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — A player Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has called the most competitive he ever has been around put the Spurs' humiliating loss to the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the NBA Finals in the most basic of athletic terms.
The Pistons, Manu Ginobili said, simply wanted the game more than any of the Spurs.
"The determination they showed, the aggressiveness, is the reason why they won," said Ginobili, whose 19 points combined in both Games 3 and 4 failed to match his total in either Game 1 (26) or Game 2 (27). "It's important for us to push the ball more to get a couple of easy baskets, but today we were not there in any part of the game. Rebounds, turnovers, passing the ball ... in every part of the game they just killed us.
"You have to wish to win that game more than them."
That Ginobili has been unable to get to the basket in the two games played at the Palace of Auburn Hills the way he did at the SBC Center has affected every aspect of the Spurs' ability to score.
It is not because he hasn't tried.
The difference, Ginobili said, has been the Spurs' unwillingness to move the ball the way they did in Games 1 and 2.
"Offensively, I'm just not finding the way to the basket," Ginobili said. "They are really collapsing in the paint a lot and our moving of the ball is just not there. We're not finding the open shots that were there in Games 1 and 2.
"In the first half of Game 1, and a big part of Game 2, I just couldn't get there anyway, but we still moved the ball. We pushed it and played faster and we found solutions.
"I don't think it's just a matter of just me attacking the basket. It's a matter of how the team is playing as a team."
And that thigh bruise he suffered in Game 3?
No excuse offered.
"Manu," Popovich said, "is not injured. He's fine."
Popovich did allow that the Pistons' defense has had a major impact on Ginobili's ability to dominate the way he did in the first two games. Detroit has packed its defense into the lane and challenged Ginobili and Tony Parker to beat the Spurs from the perimeter, rather than in the paint.
"He's just going to have to let the game come to him and not worry too much about making something happen every time he touches the ball," Popovich said.
Popovich knows how vital it is for Ginobili to get his game going again, though. To that end he called a few plays for Ginobili at the outset of the second half, hoping for the best. And Ginobili did manage to get to the rim on the Spurs' first possession of the half.
But he didn't score again for more than nine minutes.
So much for giving the Spurs a spark.
"Yeah, I was (trying to get myself going)," Ginobili said. "Pop tried to run a couple of plays for me. But at the same time, it's not one player that is going to revert a 15 or 17-point lead. It's a matter of us playing with more determination, wanting the game more."