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View Full Version : Manu interview re: elimination, olympics and offseason



diego
06-03-2008, 08:45 AM
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2008/06/03/basquet/01685759.html

La vida sigue, pero no le hablen de básquet... Pasaron cinco días de la eliminación y Ginóbili todavía está golpeado. "No es que estoy quebrado o que tendré unas vacaciones de mierda, pero no me gustó terminar así, estoy desilusionado", aclara. Cómo será que, pese a lo organizado que es, Manu no sabe la fecha o el lugar de su descanso. "Algunos días iré a un lugar cercano, pero no pensaba terminar tan rápido...", admite. Y ni le hablen de mirar Boston-Lakers. "¿Quién sale campeón? Nadie, quiero que se suspendan las finales... Me duele no estar", explica, serio, dejando en claro que no le importan pese a que todo el mundo estará pendiente del River-Boca de la NBA.

Ocurre que a un tipo tan competitivo y acostumbrado a ganar no le es fácil digerir esta derrota ante los Lakers. "Quedé con bronca, como las otras tres veces que quedé eliminado, aunque esto tuvo algo distinto... No pude ayudar como hubiese gustado. Estoy triste porque no me sentí bien y eso jugó en mi cabeza. El equipo me necesitaba y no pude ayudar", le contó ayer a Olé.

-Siempre nos acostumbraste a dar más de lo esperado. ¿Qué sentís?

-Por eso me dolió. Es que había tenido mi mejor temporada en la NBA y me había sentido genial físicamente hasta las últimas dos semanas previas a los playoffs, cuando las lesiones no me dejaron entrar a la cancha como siempre, ser explosivo... A diferencia de otros años, no fui mejorando hasta llegar a playoffs en la mejor forma. Fue justo al revés. No jugué bien y eso me jodió.

-¿Fue tu peor serie de playoffs en la NBA?

-Sí, seguro. Fue una serie muy complicada para mí, por cómo me sentía, porque no pude cumplir y me siento responsable.

-¿Fue tu condición física la principal causa de tubajo nivel ante Lakers?

-Fue una razón importante. No tenía explosividad ni cambio de ritmo. Y de la forma que defiende Lakers, muy pegado y físico, necesitaba eso para dejar atrás a mi defensor. Por ese lado me limitó, pero igual pude haber jugado mejor, tirado mejor, tomado mejores decisiones... Pero sí, lo físico me afectó lo psicológico.

-¿Creés que pagaste un alto precio por tu gran fase regular, por haber tenido que tirar del carro de
un equipo irregular?

-No creo que fuera por eso. Me parece que tuve mala suerte en un momento importante y eso me perjudicó mucho. Las lesiones no creo que sean proporcionales a que haya jugado más esta temporada.

-¿No llegaste agotado al final de temporada?

-Por seis meses me sentí bárbaro, como nunca antes... Pero llegó la lesión y nunca la pude recuperar del todo, porque tenía líquido y jugamos día por medio. Y eso te va tirando para abajo. Pero no sentí cansancio ni saturación.

-¿Cómo está el tobillo? ¿Cuánto creés que deberás estar parado?

-Por suerte una resonancia determinó que no tengo ninguna rotura. Como quiero estar bien lo antes posible, me dieron una inyección y el antiinflamatorio está actuando para limpiar la zona. Me dijeron que en 10 o 15 días tendría que estar todo diez puntos.

-Popovich metió presión con sus palabras: no quiere que hagas nada por cuatro o cinco semanas. ¿Qué te pidió?

-Me pidió que me cuidara mucho, que les pase la información de cómo va todo, que sea cauto... Pero tengo cinco semanas hasta el comienzo del trabajo, tendría que tener tiempo de sobra. Por eso estoy tranquilo y él se quedó mejor. Habrá que ver cómo sigue esto... Ojalá no quede ninguna secuela. Entiendo la presión de los Spurs porque yo haría lo mismo en su lugar. Además, yo también quiero estar sano. Quiero jugar los Juegos pero sano.

-Volviendo a la serie. No les funcionó el habitual juego de pick and roll y pelota a Duncan, y les costó cambiar a un ataque con más circulación de pelota, más abierto, menos estructurado...

-Lo pudimos hacer a veces, en otras no. Estamos muy identificados con el otro juego y no lo hicimos bien. Fuimos muy irregulares, incluso individualmente. Nos pasó y lo pagamos. El primer partido fue clave, estar 20 arriba y perder fue un golpe durísimo. A veces una serie se define por cosas pequeñas. No jugamos brillante, pero tampoco estuvimos tan lejos...

-Te vimos sin confianza, casi sin mirar el aro. ¿Qué podés contar?

-Me sentí con menos confianza en los primeros dos que en el quinto. No estuve listo para esos encuentros en Los Angeles luego de aquel durísimo séptimo partido ante los Hornets. Y en el último contra Lakers ya me afectaba todo lo que me estaba pasando. Todo eso me jugó en contra.

-Esta temporada diste un salto más de calidad. ¿Es una locura decir que te metiste en el selecto grupo de las diez estrellas NBA más completas?

-No sé eso, sólo veo que di un salto de calidad más, le agregué cosas a mi juego y asumí un mayor liderazgo en el equipo, pero tengo la sensación de que fue al pedo (enfatiza). Hubiera preferido tener una peor fase regular y terminar jugando mejor cuando más cuenta... Importante es jugar bien en playoffs. El objetivo del equipo no es ganar la fase regular, 58 partidos... Ni el mío tener grandes números o jugar una gran fase regular.

-Pero no se puede salir campeón cada año...

-Eso ni hablar. Pero si tenés la chance, no querés dejarla escapar... Yo sé qué fase regular tuve, pero es normal que te quede el mal gusto de lo último.

-¿Creés que el plantel necesita ya un recambio, una cirugía mayor?

-No creo que un año más de cada uno haga tanta diferencia. En el 2007 ganamos por experiencia y oficio, y ahora parece que somos todos viejos y hay que cambiar todo. En todos lados hay exitismo, pero no creo que sea tan necesario cambiar. Habrá alguno, pero así llegamos a la final del Oeste. No hay que ser tan pesimista.

Con el paso de los días se irá la bronca y quedará el enorme valor de una temporada para la historia.

***

I'm too busy to do a full translation now, but there are a lot of interesting comments:

- he wants the finals suspended, feels this is the worst NBA elimination he's gone through and that he let the team down.
-he says he let the injury affect him psychologically and that, even injured, he could have done much better but he lost his confidence and the lakers took advantage
-he says they had a difficult time switching from P&R/4-down to motion, and that losing the 20 pt lead in game 1 really hurt their confidence as a team
-he says that he's most pissed about being healthy and well for the RS, then hurt and inconsistent in the PO, says its just bad luck and not from burnout
-says Pop asked him to take care of his ankle, and that they are on the same page, he wants to be healthy too
-says he doesnt think the team needs a huge "surgery", that they were able to get to the WCF as is and that only some minor changes should be enough.

hopefully someone else can do a proper translation because i've got a busy day. i'm looking at you urunobili!

amy020
06-03-2008, 09:01 AM
thanks a lot
can someone do a full translation?

urunobili
06-03-2008, 09:08 AM
i'm looking at you urunobili!

right back at ya'


Life goes on but don’t talk to him about basketball… five days have passed since the Spurs were eliminated and Ginobili is still beaten up… “It’s not that my spirit is fully broken and that I will have shitty vacations, but I didn’t like to finish this way, i am very disappointed” he says. It’s so bad that being a very organized guy, there’s no date or place for his vacations. “Some days I’ll go to a place close by, but I never thought I’d be off this fast…” he admits. Don’t even try to talk to him about the Boston – Lakers Finals “whose gonna be champ?” "No one, I want the Finals to be suspended… it hurts not being there” he seriously explains, making it clear that he doesn’t care about them despite the whole world is pending on the Boca –River of the NBA.

Happens that for a very competitive guy and used to win, it is no easy task to digest this loss to the Lakers. “I still have anger, like the other three times I was eliminated, but this one had something different…. I wasn’t able to help the way I’d liked to. I am sad because I didn’t feel fine and that was messing with my head. The team needed me and I couldn’t help”, he told Ole.

- You have us used to give more than expected. What do you feel?

That’s why it hurt that much. I was coming from my best season in the NBA and I felt great physically until the last two weeks before the playoffs started, when the injuries didn’t let me be on the court as always, be explosive… the difference is that opposite as in previous years, I wasn’t getting better and better and on the best shape possible when time to reach the playoffs was getting closer. It was backwards. I didn’t play well and that hurts.


- Was this your worst playoff series in the NBA?

It sure was. It was a very complicated series for me because of the way I was feeling, because I wasn’t able to deliver and I feel responsible.

- Was your physical conditioning the main cause of your low level of play against the Lakers?

It was an important reason. I didn’t have any explosiveness, no change of rhythm... And the way the Flakers defend, very close and physical, I needed that to be able to leave my defender behind me. In that sense it limited me, but i could have played better, shot better and taken better decisions… what is clear the physical thing affected my psyche definitively.

-Do you think you paid a high price for your great regular season, for had to be the go to guy of an irregular team?

I don’t think it was because of that. I think I had bad luck in an important moment and I was victim of that situation. I don’t think the injuries are proportional of my playing time during the regular season.

-So you didn’t get to the playoffs tired?

For six months I felt awesome, like never before… but then the injury came and I wasn’t able to fully heal, because I had some swelling on it and we were playing with just one day of rest in between games. That starts bringing you down. I didn’t feel tiredness or saturation.

-How is your ankle? How long do you think you have to rest it?

Luckily the MRI determined that there is no structural damage. As I’d like to be fine ASAP, they gave me an injection and an anti-inflammatory that is acting on the zone. They told me in 10 15 days everything should be perfect.

- Popovich said he doesn’t want you to do anything for 4, 5 weeks. What did he ask you?

He asked me to be extra careful, to keep them informed of how is everything going, to be cautious… but I have 5 weeks until I start working again, I should have more than enough time. That’s why I am calm and he feels better now. Let’s see how this goes… hopefully there won’t be any leftovers from this. I understand the Spurs pressure because I’d do the same thing on their place. In addition, I want to be healthy, I want to play the Olympics but healthy.

-Going back to the series, the P&R plays were not functioning and the ball to Duncan and it was difficult to change to an attack with more ball movement, more open less structured…

We were able to do it sometimes, some other not. We are very identified with the other kind of plays and we didn’t do it well. We were very irregulars, also individually. It happened and we paid the price. The first game was key, being up 20 and then lose that game like that was really tough. Sometimes a series is defined on the little things. We didn’t play brilliantly but we were not far either…

-We saw you without confidence, almost without looking at the rim, what can you tell us about that?

I felt with less confidence in the first two games than in the fifth. I wasn’t ready for those games in LA after that VERY tough 7th game against the Hornets. In the last game against the Flakers I was affected by all what was going on, all that played against me.

-In this season you stepped it up another level. Is it crazy to say that you were right there with the top 10 NBA most complete stars?

That I don’t know, I just see that I turned it up a notch, added things to my game and I took a bigger leadership role on the team but I have the sensation it was all useless. I would have preferred to have a worse regular season and end up playing better when it counts… Important is arrive perfectly to the playoffs. The objective of the team is not to win the regular season, 58 games… neither is mine to have numbers or have a great regular season.

-But you can’t be champion every single year…

No question about that. But if you have the chance you don’t want it to slip away… I know what kind of regular season I had, but it’s normal to have this bitter taste at the end.

-Do you think this team needs a change now or a mayor surgery at all?

I don’t think one more year on each one of us makes that much of a difference. On 2007 we won it with experience and now it seems everybody is too old and you have to change it all. There is a tendency to consider failure if you won’t win it all, but I don’t think it is that necessary to change. There will be some, but this way we reached the west finals. You don’t have to be very pessimistic.


-As the days pass by the anger will disappear and the value of a tremendous season will be right there on his history pages.

MoSpur
06-03-2008, 09:08 AM
He sounds very down and upset about the whole thing. I like that.

MarceloM!
06-03-2008, 09:38 AM
Big Manu.

urunobili
06-03-2008, 10:02 AM
done

xtremesteven33
06-03-2008, 10:35 AM
all we need is a younger bench. and well be good

Lake_show
06-03-2008, 10:37 AM
^^LOL your team needs a makeover

Lake_show
06-03-2008, 10:38 AM
all we need is a younger bench. and well be good

2007-2008 season

Vujacic- 8.8 PPG (.45% FG, .43% 3point), 1.0 APG, 2.1 RPG


17.8 minutes per game


Bowen- 6.0 PPG (.40% FG, .41% 3point) 1.1 APG, 2.9 RPG

30.2 minutes per game

LOL

xtremesteven33
06-03-2008, 10:40 AM
2007-2008 season

Vujacic- 8.8 PPG (.45% FG, .43% 3point), 1.0 APG, 2.1 RPG


17.8 minutes per game


Bowen- 6.0 PPG (.40% FG, .41% 3point) 1.1 APG, 2.9 RPG

30.2 minutes per game

LOL



dont even compare sasha to bowen...please

MaNuMaNiAc
06-03-2008, 10:42 AM
2007-2008 season

Vujacic- 8.8 PPG (.45% FG, .43% 3point), 1.0 APG, 2.1 RPG


17.8 minutes per game


Bowen- 6.0 PPG (.40% FG, .41% 3point) 1.1 APG, 2.9 RPG

30.2 minutes per game

LOL

Do you even understand how the Spurs work? jackass :rolleyes

hater
06-03-2008, 10:47 AM
Could Manu have subconciously blown the series to have ample time to recover for Olympics?

:wakeup

Lake_show
06-03-2008, 11:06 AM
Do you even understand how the Spurs work? jackass :rolleyes

He has better stats in half the time Bowen plays, he also plays good defense. I'll take that over ball stoppers.

Cherry
06-03-2008, 11:37 AM
“whose gonna be champ?” "No one, I want the Finals to be suspended…

:lol i love him

urunobili
06-03-2008, 11:42 AM
Could Manu have subconciously blown the series to have ample time to recover for Olympics?

:wakeup

u know what? i thought about this during the series against LA... :stirpot:

timvp
06-03-2008, 11:48 AM
I wasn’t ready for those games in LA after that VERY tough 7th game against the Hornets.Manu keeps saying that and maybe it's actually true. He played his worst game of his career in Game 1. He wasn't very good in 2, 4 and 5 but 1 was by far his worst game. If he would have been bad instead of horrible, Spurs win that game.

The rest of the Big Four came out rolling and playing awesome in Game 1. Perhaps Manu is saying he hadn't mentally made the transition to the next series or felt like he didn't prepare enough. I'm not exactly sure what he's getting at but "not being ready to play" has come out of his mouth multiple times now regarding that game.



P.S.

Thanks to urunobili for the translation.

Mulletino
06-03-2008, 11:49 AM
2007-2008 season

Vujacic- 8.8 PPG (.45% FG, .43% 3point), 1.0 APG, 2.1 RPG


17.8 minutes per game


Bowen- 6.0 PPG (.40% FG, .41% 3point) 1.1 APG, 2.9 RPG

30.2 minutes per game

LOL


Don't you have anything better to do?
Why do you bother going to a Spurs Forum instead of an LA one?
It makes me wonder if you are truly a closet Spurs fan.

Maybe you should change your name to ClosetSpurFan.

:flag:

ManuTim_best of Fwiendz
06-03-2008, 01:40 PM
Manu keeps saying that and maybe it's actually true. He played his worst game of his career in Game 1. He wasn't very good in 2, 4 and 5 but 1 was by far his worst game. If he would have been bad instead of horrible, Spurs win that game.

The rest of the Big Four came out rolling and playing awesome in Game 1. Perhaps Manu is saying he hadn't mentally made the transition to the next series or felt like he didn't prepare enough. I'm not exactly sure what he's getting at but "not being ready to play" has come out of his mouth multiple times now regarding that game.



P.S.

Thanks to urunobili for the translation.
If I had to guess about likelihoods Manu probably was more of victim of the flight debacle relative to the other guys.
Didn't he say he crashed that Tuesday morning in the hotel, sleeping in the afternoon or something?

I don't like making excuses, but just objectively looking at scenarios.
Sleep plays a big difference in your body's recooperation, (both mental and physical) so even a player getting three hours vs. six hours will notice the effects. I think Manu did himself in when he decided to BLOG ABOUT IT that Tuesday night, describing the players playing poker, etc :bang: ....sighh...Manu's internet habits were his downfall in 2008.

ManuTim_best of Fwiendz
06-03-2008, 01:41 PM
Don't you have anything better to do?
Why do you bother going to a Spurs Forum instead of an LA one?
It makes me wonder if you are truly a closet Spurs fan.

Maybe you should change your name to ClosetSpurFan.

:flag:

Laker fan like to bask in our dignity.

SenorSpur
06-03-2008, 02:09 PM
When a guy clearly doesn't have it, like Manu admitted in Game 1 of the Faker series, I wish Pop would ride the "hot" player. As opposed to forcing the issue to a guy who's clearly struggling both physically and mentally.

diego
06-03-2008, 02:16 PM
grande urunobili, sabia que podia contar contigo!

greens
06-03-2008, 07:22 PM
Manu keeps saying that and maybe it's actually true. He played his worst game of his career in Game 1. He wasn't very good in 2, 4 and 5 but 1 was by far his worst game. If he would have been bad instead of horrible, Spurs win that game.

The rest of the Big Four came out rolling and playing awesome in Game 1. Perhaps Manu is saying he hadn't mentally made the transition to the next series or felt like he didn't prepare enough. I'm not exactly sure what he's getting at but "not being ready to play" has come out of his mouth multiple times now regarding that game.



P.S.

Thanks to urunobili for the translation.






It's also interesting to notice that he clearly says that he played badly not due to being tired or washed up after having to take a big load during the regular season while Timmy and Tony had injuries. He says exhaustion is not the issue.

The issue is simply his ankle. Which is what I've been saying. I remember Kori saying that his ankle is not as bad as it seems because otherwise Manu would say if it's that bad during interviews. It seems that after the loss, Manu is more open about truly discussing his ankle problem. For instance, it's obvious that during the Lakers series, he had no lift, no speed, no physical strength, no explosion like he usually does. When that happens, you can't really penetrate or be as aggressive as you want to be. That's what I've been saying. And now he himself confirms this. Hence, it was a bigger issue than what some people were saying on this forum.

I remember certain individuals saying he was playing so badly due to his "usual" inconsistency and fatigue. Well, now we hear straight from him that it was mainly due to his ankle issue. Finally, a clear confirmation. Because I never thought he'd play this horribly just due to "inconsistency" or exhaustion. And his injury was a lot worse than what Pop or Manu were saying during the Lakers series because they refused to make excuses. But some fans took that as a sign that it wasn't that big of a deal since Manu didn't complain.


As for the "ready" part, I don't how anyone can be truly ready after playing a grueling 7 game series with a bad ankle on top of it all. Hence, Timmy/Tony were more prepared than Manu.