Manu: Love the playoffs, but it's a different experience for me now

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Originally Posted by tmtcsc

He has stated that his attitude has changed in other ways as well. He used to be very hard on himself when he or the team didn't perform well. He was borderline inconsolable and manic when they lost. I think it was that obsession that made him so great. He can say what he wants about still wanting to win, but we all know its not the same. The bigger issue with him is that he is 39 years old now and his body can't do what his mind asks from it.

As Shaq often says, its going to come down to the "others" playing above their norms. --> Patty Mills, David Lee, Danny Green, Anderson, Simmons. These are going to have to be the difference makers.

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That's off the court, dealing with failure stuff. I would attribute that to maturity not him losing his competitiveness. On the court he still brings that fire, still gets as emotional as anyone on the team, still willing to sacrifice his body despite being a senior citizen, and still eager to contribute as much as his body allows him to.

It's impossible for a guy like him to just turn that off, imo.

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Originally Posted by dabom

We win and die by Manu. Doesn't mean he would be the best player. :lol

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Did he say that? What are you laughing about?

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Originally Posted by FkLA

Not sure why some of y'all take this as his competitive fire dwindling. A guy like him never loses that. The great Timothy Duncan didnt lose it either, he fought till the end with no knees.

All Manu is saying is that before he wanted the regular season to be over with so the playoffs could start. Whereas now he's enjoying the whole ride since he doesn't have much time left.

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Truth.
Peeps need to calm down and quit reading between the lines. He's not passive-aggressive.

Spurs will get a good solid punch in the mouth this series and it will fuel them. Memphis is the perfect first round opponent.

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Originally Posted by benefactor

Spurs will get a good solid punch in the mouth this series and it will fuel them. Memphis is the perfect first round opponent.

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Every now and then this guy pops out and Post the most Cliche, Vanilla, Casual Post...

:lol

Hilarious.

TD and Manu should have jointly retired after the 2014 finals

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Originally Posted by ElNono

^ It's not surprising that when Manu plays well, we win championships, tbh... he will be missed when he's gone...

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And when he joins the opposite team we lose

ISO bball is sucky bball and UNbeautiful, unsuccessful bball

Of course the offense gets stuck in an iso-centric way of playing. Dont know if Manu is still hoping for ways to make t he offense more fluid or he's just hoping the team goes back to the beautiful game. Alas, it's too late to change it now at this stage

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Originally Posted by FkLA

Not sure why some of y'all take this as his competitive fire dwindling. A guy like him never loses that. The great Timothy Duncan didnt lose it either, he fought till the end with no knees.

All Manu is saying is that before he wanted the regular season to be over with so the playoffs could start. Whereas now he's enjoying the whole ride since he doesn't have much time left.

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Because like you with TP, people on here just have an idea in their head and no matter what they will project that onto the player.

Manu of course has fire and him being more reflective about his career now is no surprise. Manu has always been very candid and open his entire career.

I'm not worried about Manu sucking due to him checking out.

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Originally Posted by Amuseddaysleeper

The team lacks hunger

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Porker's fat rolls and quadruple chin say otherwise, tbh.

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Originally Posted by apalisoc_9

Every now and then this guy pops out and Post the most Cliche, Vanilla, Casual Post...

:lol

Hilarious.

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Says the one running the player fan shtick that lost its shine 5 years ago on this site.

Don't quote me or address me in any other way you cocksucking sock puppet...about basketball or any other subject.

Different experience as in a scoreless experience? Then yes.

There is no Spurs player I've had a love/hate relationship over the years than Manu. My god I've been so mad at that guy I wanted to fly to Argentina and hunt him down. THEN...he'll redeem himself. The most important thing, to me, that Manu did, and the difference between the way he played in the Miami loss to the redemption the following year, is he learned to play within himself and to me, that's an important aspect to sport and all things in life. You do need to push yourself but at the same time, do whatever it is you do, within your skill set/capability and KNOW WHAT THAT IS. Manu figured that out. Took a bit, but he did figure it out. Manu has always pushed the envelope of his skill set. As he aged, it started to bite him because he didn't have that physical capability to be that ALL THE TIME, but he did learn. You pick your spots and opportunities. He figured it out. Parker is learning that to. You have to have longevity. Pick your time and spot. As the old joke goes, 'Two bulls standing on the top of a hill. The young one spots a herd of cows in the valley and says to the old bull, lets run down there and fuck one of those cows.' The old bull says, 'Lets walk down and fuck them all.'

'A man's gotta know his limitations'

--Clint Eastwood

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Originally Posted by xtremesteven33

I get the impression this is his final run. Doesnt want to set high expectations, but wanting to enjoy the game of basketball for the last time. Knowing Manu, hes not going down without a fight. Hes got some game left in the tank and you know hes going to sacrifice everything he has for the final time.

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A guy saying he wouldn't mind playing 20 more games and having one more year on his contract gives you the impression he's going to retire?

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Originally Posted by benefactor

Spurs will get a good solid punch in the mouth this series and it will fuel them. Memphis is the perfect first round opponent.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by apalisoc_9

Every now and then this guy pops out and Post the most Cliche, Vanilla, Casual Post...

:lol

Hilarious.

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Originally Posted by Gregg Popovich

The one thing I do like about it is Memphis is a heck of a defensive team, and they play pretty rock 'em sock 'em and I think that gets you ready for anybody that you are going to play. So I think that was the most important thing for us...is for a lot of our guys that haven't been with us for a long time or are new to see how it works in the playoffs. How things are going to be called and the kind of tenacity and the understanding that it's a 48 minute game and anything can happen. We've had big leads and other teams in the playoffs have had big leads and you lose them. It's tough. People are hungry. People want to win.

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:wakeup

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-eRa-0WAAAKxUu.jpg:large

Was huge defensively today. Good thing he can take some minutes away from our 29yr old past his prime starting SG....

Manu is most definitely retiring.
One good game out of 6.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

Manu is most definitely retiring.
One good game out of 6.

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Good thing we didn't waste it

SA Girl, he played badly last night?

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Originally Posted by From Downtown

Good thing we didn't waste it

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Frankly team was lucky they didn't waste good games from their guys. They really didn't play well as a group (save kawhi and he wasn't exceptional that game... was game 3.. no one had it going and for what it's worth.. I don't think it was wasted. All the young players got the chance to compete against Memphis starters and they played as well as one could have hoped... they didn't lay down and die.)

The only real hearbreaker was game 4 bc kawhi was so exceptional... really at the time, made sad he didn't get help. I think Manu probably felt so bad about that (if it hurt us as fans, can you imagine how teammates felt letting him down?) and so they came out balling in game 5.

No matter what happens we have to appreciate this team and not take them for granted.

Hopefully Manu has a few more. I'd like for it to be more than just 1 out of 6... we shall see. I keep thinking Pop has to play his younger guys more, but they are bound to make a mistake here or there and go back to the doghouse. In Manu Pop trusts...

but it's become clear to me, this is Manu's last run.

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Originally Posted by Pocho La Pantera

SA Girl, he played badly last night?

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He had two bad TO and only one made basket. That is way down from RS production... so it is subpar.. I wouldn't call it a good game tbh.

I really love Manu but I wish he knows when it is time to quit. Being the competitor that he is I hate seeing him struggle like this and become more of a liability. To be fair I was at one of the games and he was really involved in coaching the guys during the timeouts. He was even in the coaches huddle.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

He had two bad TO and only one made basket. That is way down from RS production... so it is subpar.. I wouldn't call it a good game tbh.

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To say the truth this was a really particular series. Memphis is a top 5 defense in the nba, and their offensive averages were better than their rs averages.
So in reality they played a team with ratings near the top 10 in the league.
We have to see now how he fares against Houston. Which is a better offensive team but in defense the drop off is giant. Memphis is 5th in Drtg while Houston is 18th.
Not to say that physical teams are bound to bother Manu at this stage in his career.