Manu Ginobilli's wack stat line

[spursfaninla]

18 minutes, 18 pts, 8 assists, 4 steals, 4 rebounds (4 to)...

WTF!! This guy is the most efficient in the league. Play him 20 minutes a game every time if he doesn't have to pace himself and hes still this good...

:elephant

[loveforthegame]

Nevermind, my mistake.

[1Parker1]

:lol I think Manu just owns the Nuggets. Simple as that...

[Spurologist]

Tp on the other hand was getting ready to party with eva

[1Parker1]

Tony sucked tonight. Oh well, I'll take one bad game from him every once in a while.

[boutons_]

There was lots to make up for Tony's off game.
Michael shot 55%, including 2 big 3Gs.
Brent was hustling, but still shooting poorly.
Robert felt like playing, had 2 3Gs on 2 possessions to give the Spurs a good lead.
Farbricio looked pretty damn good, a good head for the game.

[FreshPrince22]

Actually he played 24:39. NBA.com's minute tally is delayed. Good line for the minutes though (aside from the TOs)

[FreshPrince22]

T
Robert felt like playing, had 2 3Gs on 2 possessions to give the Spurs a good lead.


That was the ball game right there. Nugs couldn't get over the hump after those 2 dagger treys in the third.

[MI21]

Yahoo! says 24 minutes, but your point remains 100% valid.

PS - George, Manu is a great linebacker isn't he?

[ZStomp]

18 minutes, 18 pts, 8 assists, 4 steals, 4 rebounds (4 to)...

WTF!! This guy is the most efficient in the league. Play him 20 minutes a game every time if he doesn't have to pace himself and hes still this good...

:elephant


That would be sweet if he could do that every game.


He can't.

[spurs=bling]

Manu is the man!!!

denver can keep on hating on him, it ain't gonna change the way he plays

[hendrix]

8 assists in 24 minutes? Thats a playmaker, there you have it.

[kolko]

20 points

[pjjrfan]

What makes Manu great is that he will have games where he won't score that much but he will do so many other things he will still have an impact on the game. He played tough ball tonight, and gave as good as he got. I also think that Manu just has Denver's number, How I love to see them get pissed as Manu just barrels through them and makes plays.

[Solid D]

Tony didn't show a lot of energy tonight. He walked the ball up (perhaps a strategy?). However, I cut TP slack because the Nuggets played zone quite a bit, especially 1st half. They also doubled him strong or sagged tight at the FT line any time he dribbled off the screen. They tried to take that away from TP tonight.

Thus, Pop let Manu be the playmaker and it worked very well.

[TheWriter]

It's just freakin' great to have Manu back.

[ALVAREZ6]

I can't wait to watch a game where he actually plays in it....the last 3 games they put on national TV and local TV (vs. Sixers), Manu didn't play.

[td4mvp21]

I can't wait to watch a game where he actually plays in it....the last 3 games they put on national TV and local TV (vs. Sixers), Manu didn't play.

Would you ever get League Pass for the Spurs?

[Manu20]

Super sub carries Spurs: Ginobili has 20 points vs. the Nuggets
Web Posted: 01/01/2006 12:25 AM CST

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA010106.1C.BKNspurs.nuggets.gamer.31f5fc2.html

Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer

DENVER — George Karl spent a full 10 minutes of his team's Saturday morning shootaround taking his players through some defensive twists that had one goal: keeping Spurs point guard Tony Parker out of the paint that night.

arker, after all, entered the game leading the NBA in points in the paint, statistical territory ordinarily reserved for the likes of Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal. Parker came into the game shooting 53.8 percent from the field, fourth in the league, because most of his shots have come on drives to the basket. Few teams have been able to keep him from getting there this season.

"Tony's the guy I'm most concerned about," Karl said a few minutes after the walk-through. "Their offense is more tilted towards him right now. It will balance out when (Manu) Ginobili is back and in shape. But Parker has gotten better. His penetrations are a problem.

"Post-ups and penetrations. That's what we've got to worry about tonight."

Consider balance restored to the Spurs' penetrating duo.

Presume Ginobili is getting in shape, too.

It was Ginobili getting to the rim, and under Karl's skin again, rather than Parker, in a 98-88 Spurs' victory that sent them into 2006 with a 24-7 record, best in the Western Conference.

Coming off the bench for the third time after missing eight games with a sprained right foot, Ginobili played the kind of frantic basketball that made him a villain in Denver during the Spurs-Nuggets playoff series last spring.

Nuggets fans boo him whenever he touches the ball, but Ginobili blocked out the jeers and scored 20 points and handed out eight assists.

"It's kind of fun," Ginobili said of the nasty vocal response from Denver's fans, who took their cue from Karl after he complained about Ginobili's style of play during the Spurs' 4-1 first-round playoff series victory. "It doesn't happen everywhere, and the reason why they do it is a very good one. Yeah, I enjoy it."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has tried to ease Ginobili back into his typical regimen of playing time since his return from the injury. He had hoped to play him no more than 25 minutes Saturday. By game's end, Ginobili had logged 24:39.

"We really had to monitor Manu's minutes," Popovich said. "But we really needed his energy out on the court."

Ginobili said he got no more tired than he typically does in Denver's high altitude.

"Here," he said, "you always get tired at the beginning, but after that I felt pretty good. I am doing better than I thought I would after two weeks basically sitting."

The Spurs needed Ginobili's energy in the first half to offset the rare combination of sub-par play from both Parker and Duncan. Each made only one of four shots in the half.

Duncan, at least, got his game going in the second half. He made seven of 12 shots and scored 19 in the half. That included making all five of his second-half free throws, to go with his 4 for 4 foul shooting in the first half.

"Persistence, I guess," Duncan said. "I just stuck with it. I finally got a shot to go down there in the third, a post feed and quick shot, and that started it. So it was more persistence than anything."

But Ginobili was the true catalyst for Denver's victory, just as he had been the key to the Spurs' four victories over the Nuggets in last year's playoff series.

"Ginobili had the best game he's played since coming back," Karl said, "and as the game went on, it seemed like they got stronger and we got weaker."

Primarily because of Ginobili, the Spurs' bench had one of its most productive games of the season, totaling 44 points.

"We got some good minutes from our bench guys," Popovich said, "and we needed them."

Ginobili had to take several turns defending Denver's Carmelo Anthony, too, and helped limit Anthony, who entered the game averaging 29.6 points in December, to 8-for-22 shooting.

Ginobili also had one of the game's biggest defensive plays, knocking the ball out of the hands of Denver's Earl Boykins and starting a Spurs' fast break that he finished himself, turning it into a three-point play that wiped out Denver's biggest lead of the game, six points, and blunted the Nuggets' momentum after they got off to a good start in the third quarter.

Parker, on the other hand, had one of his worst shooting games of the season. He made only three of nine shots and missed both his free throws.

[boutons_]

"Parker, on the other hand, had one of his worst shooting games of the season"

Tony looked dead and non-aggressive right from the start (rather than his normal explosive 1st qtrs, which have led Pop to leave Tony in until nearly the end of 1st qtrs), which I think was a bigger factor than whatever the Nuggets did that still allowed the Spurs about 15 layups, and to win the paint 40 - 30.

[ALVAREZ6]

Would you ever get League Pass for the Spurs?
If I owned my own house, yes I would, but I don't even have digital cable.

[Sportman]

Even though all people is saying manu should come from the bench, i don´t agree with that, because spurs won the last championship with manu as an starter so pop should keep the same team........As we say in my country "equipo que gana no se toca" (team that wins mustn´t be touched)

[RogerIsEatingASandwich]

Manu seems to do very well against the Nuggets. The past few years he's owned them.

[spurschick]

Tony looked dead and non-aggressive right from the start (rather than his normal explosive 1st qtrs, which have led Pop to leave Tony in until nearly the end of 1st qtrs), which I think was a bigger factor than whatever the Nuggets did that still allowed the Spurs about 15 layups, and to win the paint 40 - 30.

I seem to remember Tony saying that his lungs really burn when they play in Denver and Utah. Maybe it affects some players more than others.