ElNono
06-02-2014, 02:18 AM
As usual, excuse any typos and enjoy.
Link to the original article in spanish:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1696586-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili-gana-el-mas-duro-y-el-mas-inteligente
The toughest and smarter team wins
Manu Ginobili
SAN ANTONIO.- Now that we’re far from the next game, I don’t doubt if I have to get up early. I went to sleep at 3 and got up at 8, but being around the kids help a lot to disengage from all the heavy load from the games. Later on I’ll take a nap in the afternoon otherwise I’ll be dead, but it’s great. I have them around me here, and we’ll go take a walk around town later on.
Against Oklahoma we had a very atypical series. I’m not saying it’s unexpected that in the first few games we both took 20 pt leads on each other, but sooner or later things get adjusted. Up to the end of the 5th game we had huge blowout wins for each team. It never happened to me before. But we’re happy, we achieved what we wanted, which was to win all our home games, and have a shot in Game 6, which we ended up winning and closing the series.
The last game was very tough. Having Tony at 50% is very complicated for us because we don’t have any extra gear. We saw him limping, being careful, and at halftime Pop told him he couldn’t play like that anymore. The outlook wasn’t good. We were 7 points down, without Tony and on the road against an extremely talented team… we thought the game could get away from us. But at the same time, we realized that we’ve played poorly and we were not that far off. If we could play how we played at home throughout the series, we could have a shot. And it was impressive. The third quarter we played amazing basketball, we were impeccable moving the ball and once we were up 9, we felt we could win it.
The 3 pointer play at the end of the game was drawn exactly like everyone saw it. Pop told me: “Go out there, take a 3 and win the game”, so that’s what I did. I received an instruction, and I executed. It worked. I’m not quite sure how it went in, because it’s not one of the kinds of shots I normally take, the catch and shoot. It’s more of a shot that Patty Mills, Belinelli or Danny Green normally take. The idea was to catch and shoot, I didn’t even saw Fisher on the floor after the screen.
In general lines on this series, without Ibaka, we didn’t have a very detailed plan of what we wanted to do on offense. We had to run our thing, with more indications on defense than anything else. We had to play the way we always play, pass the ball, look for the open guy for an uncontested shot.
In the first two games the paint opened up more than what we’re used to. Because Ibaka is always roaming, blocking penetration lines. So to start the series we had a bit of everything, with some inside game and hitting 3 pointers too.
Ibaka coming back was huge for them, because he came back with a vengeance, blocking shots, and you couldn’t tell at any time he had any physical problems. People went crazy with his return and that put a lot of pressure on us.
When he returned, some other things changed. We were playing with Tiago and Tim starting, and everything was clogged. Ibaka is always there and he had help from Perkins or Adams. We started to depend more on the outside shot.
In the 5th Game, Pop decided to take Ibaka out to the perimeter, so we didn’t play with Tim and Tiago at the same time. Bonner started to make Ibaka run more to cover him or take the risk of leaving him open. Our big man pairs always had one player more open.
Nevertheless, I don’t think there was something specific that changed the series. We simply played better, we defended different in Games 5 and 6. When all is said and done, the tougher and smarter team wins. Obviously, when it’s such a tight game, it ends up depending on a key shot going in or not, but I think being tough and smart is what took us to overtime.
Playing against Kevin Durant is very, very tough. You try to bother him a bit, try to deny him the ball a few times every quarter, but after that, you have to trust a lot on you team’s defense.
I had to guard him for strategic reasons, it was either him or Westbrook. Pop wants the point guards to be away from other players, because they run a lot of screens. When switching, it was a bigger disadvantage if Tony had to take him. But you play with such a disadvantage when you have to guard him, it’s hard to explain.
But I repeat, the most important part is the team’s defense. If this was tennis, I would’ve lost 6-2, 6-2 against Durant. He’s the best in the world! If I had an inspired set, maybe I could’ve made it 6-4. He’s 3 inches taller, runs faster, and jumps higher than me. You could get scared, but that’s the good part of having a team. You have to pay attention and trust in everyone’s defense.
After all that we’re now in another Finals. My fifth. I’m very proud to be part of a team like San Antonio that has been there so many times.
I imagine that the series against Miami, game-wise, it’s going to be similar to last season. Neither team changed a lot of players or style of play.
We will have to make the necessary defensive adjustments, because LeBron doesn’t play like Durant, and Bosh doesn’t have Ibaka’s characteristics. But offensively our game is the same as always. We’ll try to do what we do in every series: move the ball a lot, attack the rim, and try to take the open shots.
It’s the same thing that brought us here and it’s what we have to continue to do well, because we want to win four more games.
Link to the original article in spanish:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1696586-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili-gana-el-mas-duro-y-el-mas-inteligente
The toughest and smarter team wins
Manu Ginobili
SAN ANTONIO.- Now that we’re far from the next game, I don’t doubt if I have to get up early. I went to sleep at 3 and got up at 8, but being around the kids help a lot to disengage from all the heavy load from the games. Later on I’ll take a nap in the afternoon otherwise I’ll be dead, but it’s great. I have them around me here, and we’ll go take a walk around town later on.
Against Oklahoma we had a very atypical series. I’m not saying it’s unexpected that in the first few games we both took 20 pt leads on each other, but sooner or later things get adjusted. Up to the end of the 5th game we had huge blowout wins for each team. It never happened to me before. But we’re happy, we achieved what we wanted, which was to win all our home games, and have a shot in Game 6, which we ended up winning and closing the series.
The last game was very tough. Having Tony at 50% is very complicated for us because we don’t have any extra gear. We saw him limping, being careful, and at halftime Pop told him he couldn’t play like that anymore. The outlook wasn’t good. We were 7 points down, without Tony and on the road against an extremely talented team… we thought the game could get away from us. But at the same time, we realized that we’ve played poorly and we were not that far off. If we could play how we played at home throughout the series, we could have a shot. And it was impressive. The third quarter we played amazing basketball, we were impeccable moving the ball and once we were up 9, we felt we could win it.
The 3 pointer play at the end of the game was drawn exactly like everyone saw it. Pop told me: “Go out there, take a 3 and win the game”, so that’s what I did. I received an instruction, and I executed. It worked. I’m not quite sure how it went in, because it’s not one of the kinds of shots I normally take, the catch and shoot. It’s more of a shot that Patty Mills, Belinelli or Danny Green normally take. The idea was to catch and shoot, I didn’t even saw Fisher on the floor after the screen.
In general lines on this series, without Ibaka, we didn’t have a very detailed plan of what we wanted to do on offense. We had to run our thing, with more indications on defense than anything else. We had to play the way we always play, pass the ball, look for the open guy for an uncontested shot.
In the first two games the paint opened up more than what we’re used to. Because Ibaka is always roaming, blocking penetration lines. So to start the series we had a bit of everything, with some inside game and hitting 3 pointers too.
Ibaka coming back was huge for them, because he came back with a vengeance, blocking shots, and you couldn’t tell at any time he had any physical problems. People went crazy with his return and that put a lot of pressure on us.
When he returned, some other things changed. We were playing with Tiago and Tim starting, and everything was clogged. Ibaka is always there and he had help from Perkins or Adams. We started to depend more on the outside shot.
In the 5th Game, Pop decided to take Ibaka out to the perimeter, so we didn’t play with Tim and Tiago at the same time. Bonner started to make Ibaka run more to cover him or take the risk of leaving him open. Our big man pairs always had one player more open.
Nevertheless, I don’t think there was something specific that changed the series. We simply played better, we defended different in Games 5 and 6. When all is said and done, the tougher and smarter team wins. Obviously, when it’s such a tight game, it ends up depending on a key shot going in or not, but I think being tough and smart is what took us to overtime.
Playing against Kevin Durant is very, very tough. You try to bother him a bit, try to deny him the ball a few times every quarter, but after that, you have to trust a lot on you team’s defense.
I had to guard him for strategic reasons, it was either him or Westbrook. Pop wants the point guards to be away from other players, because they run a lot of screens. When switching, it was a bigger disadvantage if Tony had to take him. But you play with such a disadvantage when you have to guard him, it’s hard to explain.
But I repeat, the most important part is the team’s defense. If this was tennis, I would’ve lost 6-2, 6-2 against Durant. He’s the best in the world! If I had an inspired set, maybe I could’ve made it 6-4. He’s 3 inches taller, runs faster, and jumps higher than me. You could get scared, but that’s the good part of having a team. You have to pay attention and trust in everyone’s defense.
After all that we’re now in another Finals. My fifth. I’m very proud to be part of a team like San Antonio that has been there so many times.
I imagine that the series against Miami, game-wise, it’s going to be similar to last season. Neither team changed a lot of players or style of play.
We will have to make the necessary defensive adjustments, because LeBron doesn’t play like Durant, and Bosh doesn’t have Ibaka’s characteristics. But offensively our game is the same as always. We’ll try to do what we do in every series: move the ball a lot, attack the rim, and try to take the open shots.
It’s the same thing that brought us here and it’s what we have to continue to do well, because we want to win four more games.