Solid D
10-24-2007, 06:12 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA102407.01C.spurs.en.37569b8.html
Web Posted: 10/24/2007 12:05 AM CDT
Jeff McDonald
San Antonio Express-News
MIAMI — The sunbathers were out in full force on Miami Beach. Joggers, plugged obliviously into their iPods, streamed in sweaty procession under the palm trees of Biscayne Boulevard. There was nary a long pant to be found anywhere around town.
October in Miami would pass for June in, say, Cleveland.
Which explains the confusion of Manu Ginobili.
Flashing a form he usually reserves for the NBA playoffs — and not for some meaningless game in the preseason — Ginobili came off the bench to score 22 points in the Spurs' 104-87 victory over Miami at AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday night.
It was Ginobili's latest masterpiece during a preseason in which he has been the Spurs' best player.
"Shots are falling," Ginobili said. "You never know what's going to happen next game, next week, next month. When shots are falling, you just enjoy it."
Even if the game didn't count, the Spurs enjoyed the dickens out of Ginobili. He put the "exhibition" in exhibition season. Ginobili scored 15 points in the first half without missing a shot, then added seven over the final 2:51 of the third quarter.
He played only the first two minutes of the fourth before calling it a night. He is the only Spurs player this year to score in double figures in every preseason game in which he has appeared.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich attributes Ginobili's hyperactive exhibition season to a summer spent idle. He did not pick up a ball from July to September in hopes of keeping his legs fresh for the season.
"He didn't play anything, and it really shows," Popovich said. "He's our best player right now."
Ginobili's final line wasn't all that provided a playoff flashback for the Spurs.
For the first time this preseason, they trotted out the same lineup used throughout last year's postseason — Tony Parker and Michael Finley at guard, Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen at forward and Fabricio Oberto at center.
Finley scored 14 points, including seven in the third quarter, while Duncan added seven points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes as the Spurs improved to 4-1 this preseason with two games left.
With the loss, the Heat accomplished something they haven't been able to do in 20 years as a franchise. They managed to get through an entire preseason without a victory.
Tuesday's loss dropped Miami to 0-7, a mark for futility coach Pat Riley refused to discount as meaningless.
"It means something," said Riley, whose team opens the regular season Nov. 1 against Detroit. "Nobody wants to go (winless), because you don't think anything you're doing really works."
For Miami, the biggest development to come out of Tuesday's game was the return of a healthy Shaquille O'Neal.
After skipping the Heat's previous two games with a strained calf, O'Neal was dominant against the Spurs. He obliterated their frontcourt for 17 points — 14 in the first quarter — before sitting out the second half.
The Spurs led by nine at that point and by seven heading into the third quarter, before blowing the game open with a 15-2 spurt to open the fourth. Ime Udoka, Brent Barry and Matt Bonner all buried 3-pointers during that run.
"It's a machine, actually," Riley said, marveling at the Spurs' offense. "Their abundance of shooters is what gets them over the top."
As he has been most often this preseason, Ginobili was the motor that made that machine go.
Afterward, Ginobili was asked if he already was in midseason form. He laughed.
His body didn't yet have any bruises, he said. That's how he knows it's only October.
"But they will come for sure," Ginobili said.
And soon enough.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Web Posted: 10/24/2007 12:05 AM CDT
Jeff McDonald
San Antonio Express-News
MIAMI — The sunbathers were out in full force on Miami Beach. Joggers, plugged obliviously into their iPods, streamed in sweaty procession under the palm trees of Biscayne Boulevard. There was nary a long pant to be found anywhere around town.
October in Miami would pass for June in, say, Cleveland.
Which explains the confusion of Manu Ginobili.
Flashing a form he usually reserves for the NBA playoffs — and not for some meaningless game in the preseason — Ginobili came off the bench to score 22 points in the Spurs' 104-87 victory over Miami at AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday night.
It was Ginobili's latest masterpiece during a preseason in which he has been the Spurs' best player.
"Shots are falling," Ginobili said. "You never know what's going to happen next game, next week, next month. When shots are falling, you just enjoy it."
Even if the game didn't count, the Spurs enjoyed the dickens out of Ginobili. He put the "exhibition" in exhibition season. Ginobili scored 15 points in the first half without missing a shot, then added seven over the final 2:51 of the third quarter.
He played only the first two minutes of the fourth before calling it a night. He is the only Spurs player this year to score in double figures in every preseason game in which he has appeared.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich attributes Ginobili's hyperactive exhibition season to a summer spent idle. He did not pick up a ball from July to September in hopes of keeping his legs fresh for the season.
"He didn't play anything, and it really shows," Popovich said. "He's our best player right now."
Ginobili's final line wasn't all that provided a playoff flashback for the Spurs.
For the first time this preseason, they trotted out the same lineup used throughout last year's postseason — Tony Parker and Michael Finley at guard, Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen at forward and Fabricio Oberto at center.
Finley scored 14 points, including seven in the third quarter, while Duncan added seven points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes as the Spurs improved to 4-1 this preseason with two games left.
With the loss, the Heat accomplished something they haven't been able to do in 20 years as a franchise. They managed to get through an entire preseason without a victory.
Tuesday's loss dropped Miami to 0-7, a mark for futility coach Pat Riley refused to discount as meaningless.
"It means something," said Riley, whose team opens the regular season Nov. 1 against Detroit. "Nobody wants to go (winless), because you don't think anything you're doing really works."
For Miami, the biggest development to come out of Tuesday's game was the return of a healthy Shaquille O'Neal.
After skipping the Heat's previous two games with a strained calf, O'Neal was dominant against the Spurs. He obliterated their frontcourt for 17 points — 14 in the first quarter — before sitting out the second half.
The Spurs led by nine at that point and by seven heading into the third quarter, before blowing the game open with a 15-2 spurt to open the fourth. Ime Udoka, Brent Barry and Matt Bonner all buried 3-pointers during that run.
"It's a machine, actually," Riley said, marveling at the Spurs' offense. "Their abundance of shooters is what gets them over the top."
As he has been most often this preseason, Ginobili was the motor that made that machine go.
Afterward, Ginobili was asked if he already was in midseason form. He laughed.
His body didn't yet have any bruises, he said. That's how he knows it's only October.
"But they will come for sure," Ginobili said.
And soon enough.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]