ElNono
04-30-2016, 04:43 PM
"Westbrook and Durant are consistently dangerous"
By Manu Ginobili
SAN ANTONIO.- We were "lucky" to play Memphis, a very banged up opponent. They didn't have their best three players and they suffered the lack of resources and talent to score. It's normal, because a team is always built around the qualities of their players. And Memphis just didn't have the weapons to win. They were fighting for the 5th seed relatively comfortably, but with the injuries to Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Mario Chalmers they lost a lot at the tail end of the regular season, and we ended up playing them. Now the situation changes because we're going to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that's healthy, it's coming out beating Dallas 4-1 and they have two very fearsome players that score a lot of points, in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Plus they have role players that know what the team needs from them, and what they need to do out there on the court. They're athletic and physical. Perhaps in that aspect they resemble Memphis a bit, but Oklahoma simply have better offensive weapons.
We know clearly what Durant and Westbrook can do, that's why we have to make them uncomfortable and adjust defensively, since they both produce over 50 points per game. It's not a secret Durant and Westbrook are the key to this series. Perhaps somebody mentions that Durant scores more, but Westbrook drops 11 assists per game, grabs 8 rebounds, and plays with an unequaled high energy and passion. Together they're consistently dangerous, because they have an impressive array of moves near the basket, as well as from far away. Two NBA top-ten. That's why we're going to have to be sharp on our team defense to control them. You can't defend one on one against them, we all have to work as a team. On top of that, Oklahoma is very good with offensive rebounds; both Steve Adams and Serge Ibaka, and also Enes Kanter constantly attack the basket for the rebound, and they're a strong presence there. In the last game we played against them in San Antonio they complicated us with that. But they do that against most teams because they're very good at it. I think in those kind of things we have to be extremely careful.
We'll see what kind of defense they're going to use, to determine what we want to do on offense. If they defend LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard one on one, we'll have to spend our energy getting them the ball. They're our best players. The rest of us is there to help them out get the best from them. Our main focus is on those two guys and we know that's how the team operates. But if Oklahoma starts sending double-teams their way or sending help, then we're going to need them to trust us and contribute more. It will depend on the strategy they use.
In the last few days there were some important developments in the Western Conference, but on the other side of the playoffs bracket. The injuries to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry definitely have an impact. Not for us though, because we're facing a healthy Oklahoma team that's playing well. And even if you wanted to think ahead to a potential matchup against Golden State in the Conference Finals, Curry will likely be back by then, so there's nothing to gain there. But right now we have a lot of work ahead of us with Oklahoma to be thinking about anything else.
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Original in spanish here:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1894268-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili
By Manu Ginobili
SAN ANTONIO.- We were "lucky" to play Memphis, a very banged up opponent. They didn't have their best three players and they suffered the lack of resources and talent to score. It's normal, because a team is always built around the qualities of their players. And Memphis just didn't have the weapons to win. They were fighting for the 5th seed relatively comfortably, but with the injuries to Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Mario Chalmers they lost a lot at the tail end of the regular season, and we ended up playing them. Now the situation changes because we're going to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that's healthy, it's coming out beating Dallas 4-1 and they have two very fearsome players that score a lot of points, in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Plus they have role players that know what the team needs from them, and what they need to do out there on the court. They're athletic and physical. Perhaps in that aspect they resemble Memphis a bit, but Oklahoma simply have better offensive weapons.
We know clearly what Durant and Westbrook can do, that's why we have to make them uncomfortable and adjust defensively, since they both produce over 50 points per game. It's not a secret Durant and Westbrook are the key to this series. Perhaps somebody mentions that Durant scores more, but Westbrook drops 11 assists per game, grabs 8 rebounds, and plays with an unequaled high energy and passion. Together they're consistently dangerous, because they have an impressive array of moves near the basket, as well as from far away. Two NBA top-ten. That's why we're going to have to be sharp on our team defense to control them. You can't defend one on one against them, we all have to work as a team. On top of that, Oklahoma is very good with offensive rebounds; both Steve Adams and Serge Ibaka, and also Enes Kanter constantly attack the basket for the rebound, and they're a strong presence there. In the last game we played against them in San Antonio they complicated us with that. But they do that against most teams because they're very good at it. I think in those kind of things we have to be extremely careful.
We'll see what kind of defense they're going to use, to determine what we want to do on offense. If they defend LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard one on one, we'll have to spend our energy getting them the ball. They're our best players. The rest of us is there to help them out get the best from them. Our main focus is on those two guys and we know that's how the team operates. But if Oklahoma starts sending double-teams their way or sending help, then we're going to need them to trust us and contribute more. It will depend on the strategy they use.
In the last few days there were some important developments in the Western Conference, but on the other side of the playoffs bracket. The injuries to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry definitely have an impact. Not for us though, because we're facing a healthy Oklahoma team that's playing well. And even if you wanted to think ahead to a potential matchup against Golden State in the Conference Finals, Curry will likely be back by then, so there's nothing to gain there. But right now we have a lot of work ahead of us with Oklahoma to be thinking about anything else.
---
Original in spanish here:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1894268-la-columna-de-manu-ginobili