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ESTOY CONTENTO POR LA VUELTA; YA ESTABA PERDIENDO LA PACIENCIA

por MANU

Estaba seguro de que podía volver a jugar antes. Por eso contra Denver y contra New York ni siquiera llevé el saco a la cancha, que es obligatorio por el reglamento de vestimenta de la NBA cuando no jugás. En el primero de esos dos partidos, para poder ir a sentarme detrás del banco de suplentes, me tuvo que prestar el saco Fabri (Oberto) y en el segundo usé el de James Borrego, el asistente de video del equipo. Por las dudas, contra los Clippers llevé el mío, pero por suerte no fue necesario usarlo y quedó colgado en el vestuario.

Me quedé afuera en cinco partidos y la verdad es que me pongo muy pesado cuando no juego. Reconozco que estaba perdiendo la paciencia, pero no me enojo con Popovich, ni con nadie. Pienso que no estamos jugando bien, que podría estar ayudando al equipo y ver este momento desde afuera me hizo sentir peor. En los dos primeros partidos desde que me lesioné, tenía dolor en el dedo y sabía que no podía entrar, pero después, empecé a sentir que no estaba haciendo nada.

Se puede tomar esto de dos maneras. Cada tanto viene bien tomarse unos días, en el buen sentido. Estos descansos en la mitad de la temporada sirven para recargar energía. Por mi forma de ser, se me hizo un poco largo, pero tampoco llegué a amargarme porque no me sacaban de la lista de lesionados. Pop en todo momento me explicó que falta un montón para lo importante, que me quiere tener bien cuando empiecen los playoffs.

El tema es que a mí no me gusta perder ritmo de juego y Popovich no quería que yo me apurara por volver y me lesionara otra vez. Me dijo que primero lo perdió a Tony (Parker), después a Tim (Duncan), a los dos juntos, a mí... Cuando lo pensás fríamente, sabés que tiene razón.

Justamente antes del partido contra los Clippers estuvimos hablando con Tony y Tim sobre el tiempo que hacía que no teníamos un juego completo juntos. Desde noviembre. Y ahora que volví yo, tampoco pudimos completar un partido, porque faltando dos minutos Duncan se golpeó en una rodilla y tuvo que salir, aunque no es nada grave.

Yo me sentí bárbaro. Volver a jugar era suficiente motivo para estar contento, no importaba si no jugaba bien. Encima, ganamos. Me cuidé un poco en los primeros minutos, pero cuando me empecé a mover, enseguida me acostumbré a lo de la mano. La férula que tengo es durísima. De ninguna manera puedo mover el dedo índice con esa cosa puesta. Creo que me podrían pegar un hachazo y no me lastimarían.

Me siento muy seguro, aunque es cierto que es algo incómoda. No me afecta ni me limita para nada en la mecánica del tiro. El problema es cuando vengo picando e intento hacer un dribling, o freno y trato de agarrar la pelota o hacer una finta. Ahí se complica la cosa. De todos modos, me adapté bien.

En cuanto al juego, no somos los Spurs que pretendemos ser en abril. El tema de las lesiones nos perjudicó, entramos en un bache; fue algo simultáneo. Si bien todavía tenemos un buen número de victorias (23-9), es porque arrancamos muy bien. Pero a mediados de diciembre empezamos a caer. Si tomamos los últimos 12 partidos, tenemos nada más que un 50% de triunfos y eso no está bien.

Estamos jugando mal, especialmente en la ofensiva. En los últimos partidos mejoramos en defensa, pero seguimos fallando en el ataque, no encontramos nuestro sistema de juego todavía.

Pero hay tiempo para recuperarse. Como siempre, la temporada es larga. Sobre el resto de los rivales, la verdad es que hay que tener en cuenta lo que está haciendo Boston. No los vi jugar mucho, pero los que siguen los números, las estadísticas, se pueden dar cuenta de que no es fácil hacer lo que están haciendo ellos. Y en esto no importa que jueguen en la Conferencia Este. Estar 29-3 es impresionante.

Además de tener el talento con Ray Allen, Paul Pierce y Kevin Garnett, son el mejor equipo defensivo de la NBA. Pocos hablan de ese aspecto de Boston, y es el que está haciendo la diferencia. Todavía no nos enfrentamos y ya pensaremos en ellos cuando llegue el momento, pero sin dudas hay que respetarlos. .

no hablo espanol

I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE BACK; I WAS LOSING MY PATIENCE

by Manu

I was sure that I could play before than I did. That’s why against Denver and the Knicks I didn’t even take my jacket to the game that is the compulsory dress code the league has when you don’t play. In the first of those two games, to be able to sit behind the bench, Fabri had to borrow me his jacket and for the second one I used James Borrego’s one (Spurs Video Assistant). Just in case against the Clippers I took my own, but luckily it wasn’t necessary to use it and it stood at the locker room.

I didn’t play for 5 games and I really get moody when I don’t. I have to confess that I was losing my patience, but I am not angry with Popovich, with anyone actually. I think we are not playing well, that I could be helping the team and seeing this moment from outside made me feel worse. In the two first games after I got injured, I had pain in my finger and I knew I wasn’t going to play, but after that, I started to feel that I wasn’t doing anything.

There’s two ways of seeing this. It is good to take a couple of days off (the right way). This kind of breaks on mid-season can be used to save some energy. But because of the way I am, it was kind of long, but I didn’t reach the point to get depressed because I was still in the inactive list. Pop explained to me all the time that still there’s a long road ahead for what is important, that he wants me ok come playoff time.


The issue is that I don’t like to lose my rhythm and Popovich didn’t want me to hurry for coming back and re-injure it again. He told me he lost Tony, then Tim, both of them and then me… when you think about it, you know he is right.

Right before the Clippers game Tony Tim and I were talking about it… it’s been a while since we don’t have a game together, since November actually. Now that I am back, we even couldn’t finish a game because with two minutes left Duncan banged his knee and had to go out, it is nothing serious though.

I personally felt great. Just to play was big enough reason to be happy, it didn’t matter if I didn’t play well. Even better, we won. I was kind of careful the first minutes of the game, but when I started moving I got used to my “hand” issue. The cast I have is really hard. There is no way I can move my index with that thing on it. I think you could hit me with an axe and I wouldn’t get hurt.

I feel pretty confident with it, but it is true that is uncomfortable. It doesn’t affect my ability to shoot. The problem is when I come bouncing the ball up court and I try to dribble or stop and try to catch the ball and fake. Then is when it gets complicated, but anyhow I adapted well to it.

About the way we are playing we are not the Spurs we want to be in April. The issue with the injuries slowed us down, we fell into a hole, it was something simultaneous. Despite having a pretty good record (23-9), it’s because we had a great start. But on mid December we started to fall. If we take the last 12 games, we just have a 50% of W’s and that is not good.
We are playing bad, especially on the offense. These last few games we got better on defense, we are still coming up short when we attack, and we are not finding our game system yet.

There is still time to recover. As always the season is long. About the rest of the rival teams in the league we have to take into account what Boston is doing. I haven’t seen them play much, but the people that follow numbers, stats, can realize that is not easy to do what they are doing. It doesn’t matter that they play in the East. Being 29-3 is indeed impressive.

Despite having the talent with ray Allen, Paul Pierce and KG, they’re the best defensive team on the NBA. Just a few talk about that aspect of Boston and that is what is making the difference for them. We haven’t faced each other yet and we’ll think about them come the time but there’s no doubt we have to respect them.

I like having him back...a lot. He brings energy to everyone.

ok thanks. good read so far.

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Originally Posted by ancestron

ok thanks. good read so far.

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thanx, nice read

gee..that guy is really a basketbaholic :dizzy :dizzy :lol :lol

thanks for the translation urunobili :clap

Thanks for the translation! It seems the celtics draws a lot of Manu's attention. He mentioned them N times in his posts. I cannot wait to watch the games, spurs vs celtics!

cant wait for SPurs vs Pistons this week. both got something to prove

Can we have a Spurs V. Patriots tennis match or something?

"I was sure that I could play before than I did. That’s why against Denver and the Knicks I didn’t even take my jacket to the game that is the compulsory dress code the league has when you don’t play. In the first of those two games, to be able to sit behind the bench, Fabri had to borrow me his jacket and for the second one I used James Borrego’s one (Spurs Video Assistant). Just in case against the Clippers I took my own, but luckily it wasn’t necessary to use it and it stood at the locker room"

:lol

Nice article. Gotta love Manu. When he was out and the Spurs were losing, he looked like he wanted to kill somebody.

While he's missed games every year of his career, he took it especially hard this season. For whatever reason, he seems to really be on a mission this year. Hopefully he's healthy and ready to dominate in the playoffs :hungry:

Great read.
Thanks for the translation urunobili.

Manu's passion for this game shows even when he talks about it.

:lol at Manu borrowing the video assistant's jacket. He probably smelled like Camels and day old coffee after the game.

Manu's got his head screwed on, his feet on the ground, and his big heart in the right place. What a great person.

oh yeah, big balls, too.

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Originally Posted by urunobili

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Thank you so much for taking the time to do the translation.

I really love all of Manu's articles because they always show that he's a very devoted basketball player...he's a guy who just really wants to play, who especially wants to help his team in any way possible...

timvp, he does indeed seem even more motivated this year...And I also like how he's paying close attention to how other teams are playing and giving them respect...

I pretty much guessed that he was pestering Pop to let him play like two games before Pop allowed him to...You could see him being frustrated at watching his team play not to their best ability during those losses...he really wanted to help his teammates out...

Tony also mentioned in his recent question and answer thing on his site about the fact that The Big Three didn't play together since November...

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Originally Posted by timvp

For whatever reason, he seems to really be on a mission this year.

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I have this theory -- one that I doubt will ever be proven -- that Manu holds himself responsible for the failure to repeat in '06 and that he's on a mission to get the Spurs into position to accomplish that goal, whatever it takes.

I don't agree that the basis for the motivation is correct -- the Spurs only had a chance to win Game 7 against the Mavs because Manu was huge on both ends -- but with a competitor like Ginobili, I could certainly see him believing that he cost the Spurs the repeat and fueling himself by that belief.

I think so too. I heard that Manu was especially upset and down after that 2006 loss, so much so that Pop was checking up on him...inviting him to dinner at his house more frequently...that also the guys were all trying to spend more time with him in the summer...So I definitely can guess that there is an even more added motivation for Manu this year especially, since I think a part of him still feels guilty about that loss...

However, I still think the Mavs loss was not Manu's fault...I think the reality is that the team either loses a game or wins a game, but they do it together one way or another...one person should not have to take all the responsibility for a win or for a loss. Even after that big foul, the Spurs still had a chance to win, there was more than enough time on the clock before even the overtime started, then 5 full minutes of overtime at home...there were more opportunities to win...

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

I have this theory -- one that I doubt will ever be proven -- that Manu holds himself responsible for the failure to repeat in '06 and that he's on a mission to get the Spurs into position to accomplish that goal, whatever it takes.

I don't agree that the basis for the motivation is correct -- the Spurs only had a chance to win Game 7 against the Mavs because Manu was huge on both ends -- but with a competitor like Ginobili, I could certainly see him believing that he cost the Spurs the repeat and fueling himself by that belief.

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I love Pop and his no-nonsense, get-over-yourself attitude towards the team, but it got a bit irritating to keep hearing him say last year that what cost them the repeat was 'one stupid foul.' And when he said in the 07 championship video something like, "Listening is important[...] so maybe we don't foul Nowitzki on the last play [...]", I was like :madrun .

I know Pop did try to comfort Manu after that series, like he did after Manu's turnover in the Sacramento series. It's just this one issue that pisses me off. :lol

Manu is the one Spur we can know for certain who wants a piece of the Mavs come playoff time.

:makemyday :makemyday :makemyday

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I think you could hit me with an axe and I wouldn’t get hurt.

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If he ever reads the things we've said in praise of him.... :lol

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Originally Posted by carina_gino20

I love Pop and his no-nonsense, get-over-yourself attitude towards the team, but it got a bit irritating to keep hearing him say last year that what cost them the repeat was 'one stupid foul.' And when he said in the 07 championship video something like, "Listening is important[...] so maybe we don't foul Nowitzki on the last play [...]", I was like :madrun .

I know Pop did try to comfort Manu after that series, like he did after Manu's turnover in the Sacramento series. It's just this one issue that pisses me off. :lol

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i saw that in the video too... i think it was Pop just being a little more sarcastic to fire him up... it is also a prove that he and the team have gone over it by that point as they were joking about it... Pop would NEVER say somehitn like that to hurt Manu... he was just firing him up... and btw he said that
"Listening is important[...] so maybe we don't foul Nowitzki on the last play [...]" and then added "and maybe we'd have another ring right now..."

:downspin:

we lost the Dallas series on game 2

the main reason I think Manu wants it this year is because he knows he's got only 2 or 3 more good years left in him.

Thanks for the translation.

I love getting Gino's perspective.

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Originally Posted by boutons_

Manu's got his head screwed on, his feet on the ground, and his big heart in the right place. What a great person.

oh yeah, big balls, too.

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Great quote.

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

I have this theory -- one that I doubt will ever be proven -- that Manu holds himself responsible for the failure to repeat in '06 and that he's on a mission to get the Spurs into position to accomplish that goal, whatever it takes.

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But wouldn't that mission have been accomplished last season...they came back from '06 and won the title in '07...

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Originally Posted by 1Parker1

But wouldn't that mission have been accomplished last season...they came back from '06 and won the title in '07...

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FWD is talking about the mission to repeat. They haven't accomplished that yet.

^ what she said.

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Originally Posted by Kori Ellis

FWD is talking about the mission to repeat. They haven't accomplished that yet.

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Ah, the theory makes sense then :lol

I'm not sure it's a very good theory, but it certainly works for me.

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

I'm not sure it's a very good theory, but it certainly works for me.

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Well, I'm rooting for your theory to be right also. A pissed off Manu in the playoffs is a definite edge in favor of the Spurs. :)

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Originally Posted by 1Parker1

But wouldn't that mission have been accomplished last season...they came back from '06 and won the title in '07...

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He wants to do it with the Mavs in the way. He wants to be the one to bury them in agony.

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Originally Posted by urunobili

i saw that in the video too... i think it was Pop just being a little more sarcastic to fire him up... it is also a prove that he and the team have gone over it by that point as they were joking about it... Pop would NEVER say somehitn like that to hurt Manu... he was just firing him up... and btw he said that
"Listening is important[...] so maybe we don't foul Nowitzki on the last play [...]" and then added "and maybe we'd have another ring right now..."

:downspin:

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Probably. But that clip was during training camp, and it was only a couple of months after the loss. I don't know, I just think it was a bit insensitive considering how hard Manu beats himself up for that play. But whatever works for Manu is fine. If it takes an avenging attitude, then all the better for the spurs.