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Must be great when everyone in the locker room is talking about what play should be No.1.
Manu's passing fancy (or fancy passing)
By Jeff McDonald
Here's an anecdote that didn't quite make the dead tree edition on Wednesday's E-N ...
Half an hour after the Spurs' 117-99 trampling of Minnesota had ended, the Spurs' locker room was still abuzz about Manu Ginobili's Night of 1,000 Trick Passes. Three players were engaged in a raucous, though playful, back-and-forth debate about which one them should be featured as SportsCenter's Play of the Day.
The candidates:
* Richard Jefferson, for catching Ginobili's no-look touch pass and finishing with a fast-break dunk.
* George Hill, for being on the receiving end of Ginobili's full-court, over-the-shoulder fling.
* DeJuan Blair, for being in the right place at the right time to snag Ginobili's behind-the-back-while-falling-out-of-bounds dish.
All of them made a good case. Blair had perhaps the best one.
"He threw the ball behind his back through a space about like that," Blair said, wide-eyed and holding his hands about a foot and a half apart. "It was amazing."
They all agreed Jefferson would probably take home top honors. If chicks dig the long ball in baseball, they dig the slam dunk in basketball.
"He got a dunk," Blair said. "So he's probably No. 1."
I've never heard a post-game locker room quite so abuzz about the exploits of one player. At one point, the trio drew assistant general manager Dell Demps into the conversation. Soon, Keith Bogans -- who occupies the locker next to Hill's -- was chiming in on Ginobili's near triple double (14 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds).
"Ah, he's too old," Bogans said, eyes rolling and voice soaked in sarcasm. "He can't play anymore."
For a player whose biggest nemesis on the way back from injury problems is his own confidence, it was a significant night for Ginobili. After all, what spells confidence like threading pass after pass through the eye of a needle?
Ginobili had three solid games in a row now, preceded by two not-so-solid ones. He likes the trend, but isn't prepared to declare himself all the way back just yet.
"I'm just looking to be steady and play overall better basketball," he said. "Sometimes I can score, sometimes I won't, but I can do a lot of things, so I'm very happy with the last three wins."
Spurs-Timberwolves postgame audio
- Spurs guard Manu Ginobili
- Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr.
- Spurs center DeJuan Blair
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
(Follow the link for audio)
UPDATE: Turns out, Blair was wrong. His play with Manu was SportCenter's No. 1 Play of the Day.
Must be great when everyone in the locker room is talking about what play should be No.1.
If that doesn't build his confidence, I don't think anything will.
Since the beginning of the season I really think the problem was in Manu's head, not his body. So hopefully by now he's getting all of the negative out of his head...
Tony sits brooding in a corner of the locker room, listening as his team mates take turns extolling Manu's uncanny passing ability...
Bogans just pissed on half of this board.
tony looked pretty excited along with the rest of his teammates when Manu was doing his magic there at the end.
And then Manu will commit 5 TOs the next game. He is so inconsistent this season that you don't even know which Manu will show up.
But yeah, he was awesome with his timing on his passes, pinpoint accuracy.
Manu tired of everybody saying how good Steve Nash looks despite his age. Decided to do something about it
Tony sits brooding in a corner of the locker room, listening as his team mates take turns extolling Manu's uncanny passing ability...
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