TMTTRIO
10-30-2007, 06:36 AM
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/EdicionImpresa/deportiva/nota.asp?nota_id=957684&pid=3424958&toi=5321
It will be an emotive night, watching the video with last season best parts, raising the banner, receiving the rings, , showing again the cup and seeing the crowd is a very strong feeling.
This celebration (tonight before Portland, always affect your concentration. we know how it is but it is impossible to avoid it. May be IŽll avoid it and can enter into the rhythm of the game from the bench . I guess that weŽll repeat last year rotation and Michael Finley will start and I will go to the bench. It does not bother me at all, the important thing is to play the decisive moments. I would love to play 32 minutes per game, but the Spurs have many people to rotate and Popovich philosophy is avoid riding any one player and get to the playoffs with the players intact and without injuries. It has worked before, so I don't think it will change. I know that coming from the bench I can be equally important. It does not affect my ego at all. Besides, at the time of recognition by the people and the press we are always together up there with Tim and Tony.
May be I will play this next few weeks a little bit more as point due to the injuries of Beno and Jacque, but it will not be anything new or complicated, I have done it several times, even during the preseason. I guess that in three weeks the two points will be back [ guess again ]. It is possible that in this games weŽll use Darius Washington, a point that has just joined us. (I guess Manu never saw this coming :) )
The team is almost the same and we have done a stronger preparation than other times, so we are very well. Tim is training since August and i notice him in excellent shape . Tony is back from his ankle injury and I started training here in San Antonio in September, taking advantage that I have not played with the National team. The years that i play with the NT I take some days off, so this has helped me this year. I feel very well, but since I have not played many minutes (we tested the new guys), fine tuning will be done during the season.
We have an experienced team, were we know each other and this can be more important than having more legs. May be we lack someone young that can change the shape of a game, but I value a lot knowledge and experience. If needed, I take the place of the young and act as a game changer....
I think the conditions are set to repeat. We have the tools to accomplish this, not lets see what happens. It is not easy, there are six or seven teams with similar possibilities. In the West I think that Phoenix and Dallas will be back in the first places. WeŽll see if we add Houston if their stars (Mcgrady and Ming) can stay healthy, besides Luisito Scola will give them more depth. I donŽt see what will happen with Utah.
In the East we have to respect Detroit, as always, and Cleveland, although it lost two important players it is the last finalist and it has Lebron. Boston is a question mark. No other team has so much talent in three players (Pierce, Allen and Garnett) , but we have to see how they complement each other. And Chicago is another complicated team, with a very strong and fast game, no one wants to play them. I imagine a season as even as the last one.
It will be an emotive night, watching the video with last season best parts, raising the banner, receiving the rings, , showing again the cup and seeing the crowd is a very strong feeling.
This celebration (tonight before Portland, always affect your concentration. we know how it is but it is impossible to avoid it. May be IŽll avoid it and can enter into the rhythm of the game from the bench . I guess that weŽll repeat last year rotation and Michael Finley will start and I will go to the bench. It does not bother me at all, the important thing is to play the decisive moments. I would love to play 32 minutes per game, but the Spurs have many people to rotate and Popovich philosophy is avoid riding any one player and get to the playoffs with the players intact and without injuries. It has worked before, so I don't think it will change. I know that coming from the bench I can be equally important. It does not affect my ego at all. Besides, at the time of recognition by the people and the press we are always together up there with Tim and Tony.
May be I will play this next few weeks a little bit more as point due to the injuries of Beno and Jacque, but it will not be anything new or complicated, I have done it several times, even during the preseason. I guess that in three weeks the two points will be back [ guess again ]. It is possible that in this games weŽll use Darius Washington, a point that has just joined us. (I guess Manu never saw this coming :) )
The team is almost the same and we have done a stronger preparation than other times, so we are very well. Tim is training since August and i notice him in excellent shape . Tony is back from his ankle injury and I started training here in San Antonio in September, taking advantage that I have not played with the National team. The years that i play with the NT I take some days off, so this has helped me this year. I feel very well, but since I have not played many minutes (we tested the new guys), fine tuning will be done during the season.
We have an experienced team, were we know each other and this can be more important than having more legs. May be we lack someone young that can change the shape of a game, but I value a lot knowledge and experience. If needed, I take the place of the young and act as a game changer....
I think the conditions are set to repeat. We have the tools to accomplish this, not lets see what happens. It is not easy, there are six or seven teams with similar possibilities. In the West I think that Phoenix and Dallas will be back in the first places. WeŽll see if we add Houston if their stars (Mcgrady and Ming) can stay healthy, besides Luisito Scola will give them more depth. I donŽt see what will happen with Utah.
In the East we have to respect Detroit, as always, and Cleveland, although it lost two important players it is the last finalist and it has Lebron. Boston is a question mark. No other team has so much talent in three players (Pierce, Allen and Garnett) , but we have to see how they complement each other. And Chicago is another complicated team, with a very strong and fast game, no one wants to play them. I imagine a season as even as the last one.