jag
05-26-2008, 12:37 AM
Buck Harvey: Mess with Manu? Force of nature
San Antonio Express-News
Chip Engelland rebuilt Tony Parker’s shooting stroke, and he’s made Fab Oberto and others serviceable. But the Spurs assistant coach should have first looked at Manu Ginobili.
The Spurs’ staff jokes about Ginobili’s form, after all. When he shoots free throws they paraphrase from the movie “JFK.”
Back and to the right. Back and to the right.
But Engelland hasn’t touched Ginobili because, he said, “Why mess with Manu?”
That’s the franchise stance. Gregg Popovich lets him loose without much detailed instruction because, well, why mess with Manu?
That’s the way it is with a force of nature.
Kobe Bryant seems to understand, since he’s one himself. They’ve been tied together before, such as last year when they met in midair. Then with Ginobili defending, Bryant leaped forward, flinging his right arm backward and finding Ginobili’s face. What followed was the most prominent black eye of El Contusión’s career, as well as a one-game suspension for Bryant.
Told Bryant would also lose about $162,000 in pay, Ginobili smiled and had one question. “Am I getting anything?”
There was some discussion at the time that Bryant did this intentionally. But Bryant apologized to Ginobili as soon as it happened, and there was reason to believe him. During the 2005 All-Star Game, after all, Bryant called Ginobili his favorite player to watch.
Bryant probably liked watching Ginobili last week in Los Angeles, too. Then Ginobili culminated a blown 20-point lead in Game 1 by missing badly on a last-second 3-pointer. He followed that with an equally drab Game 2.
Bryant, meanwhile, continued as a force of nature. At no point during those two games did anyone see a similarity between the two.
There isn’t much to compare in athletic ability; Ginobili has joked in the past. But there is an inner drive that is undeniable in both, and that will be evident again later. Then Argentina, the gold-medal winner in Athens, will play the United States.
But that’s the summer. Popovich was more concerned with this series, and after the first two games he decided to concentrate on his failed offense. Instead of showing tape on defense to his players, which he nearly always does, Popovich went the other way.
Maybe this had something to do with Tim Duncan having a 22-21 night and with Tony Parker adding 20 points.
But Ginobili? Popovich can count on the inner drive in Ginobili, but not much else. Ginobili can giveth and he can taketh, and the Spurs have no choice but to watch and see which one it is.
Ginobili had blamed himself for everything that had happened in Los Angeles, and he’s written on his Web site about how he reacts to these disappointments. Sleep is rarely part of it.
Then there was the sore ankle and disfigured finger on his shooting hand. Had this messed with Manu?
What followed was vintage Ginobili. He scored more points in the first half than he did in the two games in Los Angeles combined, as threes began to fall as if he had willed them in. One on Sasha Vujacic had Vujacic looking at the scoreboard to see what had happened.
Bryant’s expression afterward suggested he’d once again been highly entertained. “He hit a lot of big shots, he hit one shot that just made me laugh,” Bryant said. “It was right in Sasha’s face. It was just great defense.”
Bryant, with his own damaged finger, added yet another comparison. Ginobili did all of this, Bryant said, again smiling, “with a nasty looking fingernail. It’s disgusting.”
By the second half Ginobili said he started to feel better, and a few of his stretching drives indicated as much. With that the Spurs had gone from being routed to routing, and Ginobili and Bryant were the same on the stat sheet. An even 30 points for each.
The only thing they didn’t do together was guard each other, and that’s a switch Phil Jackson could make for Game 4. It would make sense, too. Maybe the only way to stop one force of nature, after all, is with another.
San Antonio Express-News
Chip Engelland rebuilt Tony Parker’s shooting stroke, and he’s made Fab Oberto and others serviceable. But the Spurs assistant coach should have first looked at Manu Ginobili.
The Spurs’ staff jokes about Ginobili’s form, after all. When he shoots free throws they paraphrase from the movie “JFK.”
Back and to the right. Back and to the right.
But Engelland hasn’t touched Ginobili because, he said, “Why mess with Manu?”
That’s the franchise stance. Gregg Popovich lets him loose without much detailed instruction because, well, why mess with Manu?
That’s the way it is with a force of nature.
Kobe Bryant seems to understand, since he’s one himself. They’ve been tied together before, such as last year when they met in midair. Then with Ginobili defending, Bryant leaped forward, flinging his right arm backward and finding Ginobili’s face. What followed was the most prominent black eye of El Contusión’s career, as well as a one-game suspension for Bryant.
Told Bryant would also lose about $162,000 in pay, Ginobili smiled and had one question. “Am I getting anything?”
There was some discussion at the time that Bryant did this intentionally. But Bryant apologized to Ginobili as soon as it happened, and there was reason to believe him. During the 2005 All-Star Game, after all, Bryant called Ginobili his favorite player to watch.
Bryant probably liked watching Ginobili last week in Los Angeles, too. Then Ginobili culminated a blown 20-point lead in Game 1 by missing badly on a last-second 3-pointer. He followed that with an equally drab Game 2.
Bryant, meanwhile, continued as a force of nature. At no point during those two games did anyone see a similarity between the two.
There isn’t much to compare in athletic ability; Ginobili has joked in the past. But there is an inner drive that is undeniable in both, and that will be evident again later. Then Argentina, the gold-medal winner in Athens, will play the United States.
But that’s the summer. Popovich was more concerned with this series, and after the first two games he decided to concentrate on his failed offense. Instead of showing tape on defense to his players, which he nearly always does, Popovich went the other way.
Maybe this had something to do with Tim Duncan having a 22-21 night and with Tony Parker adding 20 points.
But Ginobili? Popovich can count on the inner drive in Ginobili, but not much else. Ginobili can giveth and he can taketh, and the Spurs have no choice but to watch and see which one it is.
Ginobili had blamed himself for everything that had happened in Los Angeles, and he’s written on his Web site about how he reacts to these disappointments. Sleep is rarely part of it.
Then there was the sore ankle and disfigured finger on his shooting hand. Had this messed with Manu?
What followed was vintage Ginobili. He scored more points in the first half than he did in the two games in Los Angeles combined, as threes began to fall as if he had willed them in. One on Sasha Vujacic had Vujacic looking at the scoreboard to see what had happened.
Bryant’s expression afterward suggested he’d once again been highly entertained. “He hit a lot of big shots, he hit one shot that just made me laugh,” Bryant said. “It was right in Sasha’s face. It was just great defense.”
Bryant, with his own damaged finger, added yet another comparison. Ginobili did all of this, Bryant said, again smiling, “with a nasty looking fingernail. It’s disgusting.”
By the second half Ginobili said he started to feel better, and a few of his stretching drives indicated as much. With that the Spurs had gone from being routed to routing, and Ginobili and Bryant were the same on the stat sheet. An even 30 points for each.
The only thing they didn’t do together was guard each other, and that’s a switch Phil Jackson could make for Game 4. It would make sense, too. Maybe the only way to stop one force of nature, after all, is with another.