Buck Harvey: Half Manu means no chance: The snapshot

[greens]

Buck Harvey: Half Manu means no chance: The snapshot
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c....41c72e64.html
Web Posted: 05/30/2008 12:50 AM CDT

San Antonio Express-News

LOS ANGELES — Cue up dramatic music. Put everything in slow motion. Then roll the collage.

The Tim Duncan three against the Suns would start off. A sweaty, bald-headed ref would follow.

A picture of the Ring of Fire would be required from New Orleans, as would an image to reflect how hot Tony Parker was in Phoenix in Game 3. They would have to find something to tell about a Game 7 win on the road, as well as some video from the sleep-over on the tarmac.

Yes, the no-call would not be forgotten.

But the conclusive picture, contrasted against the endless power and skill of Kobe Bryant, would be a snapshot of Manu Ginobili in an appropriate pose of fatigue and frustration.

Look in his eyes.

How many les would the Spurs have won the past five years with this Ginobili?

The collage would help explain how difficult these le runs are. Things have to fall right for two months, and the Spurs were running uphill from the start. A 55-win Suns team was as daunting a sixth seed as the league has seen.

That Game 1 against the Suns looked a lot like Game 1 against the Lakers. Just as the Suns blew a lead in San Antonio, changing all emotions and dynamics, so did the Spurs with a 20-point lead in Los Angeles.

The Hornets were as rough in the next round, and the Spurs’ comeback then will eventually be the fond memory of the season. Down 0-2, against a talented, younger team, the Spurs survived and went farther than they had in any of their previous repeat attempts.

All of it was more difficult and more remarkable because of Ginobili. Or, rather, the lack of Ginobili. He was never the same since landing badly in the Phoenix series, and this goes back to the common thread of championship teams.

Things have to go right. And Ginobili, coming off his best regular season, getting his own MVP mention for the first time, wasn’t right.

Some days he said he hurt, and some days he said it didn’t matter. Doctors shrugged, and coaches didn’t dwell on the chronic soreness in his left ankle.

But after Thursday, one coach guessed Ginobili had been about half of what he has been in the past. Or, as Brent Barry said, “We had ‘Ma.’ We were missing ‘Nu.’”

The stat sheet backed up that. In four games of the Western Conference finals, Ginobili averaged just over eight points.

In the other game he scored 30. Not coincidentally, that was also the only game the Spurs won in this series.

But even that breakthrough game was about him making 3-pointers, and he said the same Thursday. He had none of the lift and explosion that makes him who he is.

Bryant had enough for both of them. With Pau Gasol to work with —and without Gasol the Lakers would have been gone in the first round — Bryant put on a show worthy of both his MVP award and his hype.

Afterward Ginobili praised Bryant, and he said the Lakers “played better than we did when it counted.” He also used the word “great” when describing them, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm behind it.

Little wonder he also said he didn’t think there is a 4-1 difference between the teams. He said this, too: “I don’t know if they are really that much better than us, or Phoenix and New Orleans.”

If he sounded frustrated, that’s because he was. Bryant went for 17 points in the fourth Thursday, and he was both clutch and artistic. But, just a year ago, Ginobili did the same.

In the last road game in each of the last three series, in fourth quarters alone, Ginobili went for 15 against the Suns, 16 against the Jazz and 13 to close out the Cavaliers.

Take that way, and what do the Spurs have in the past five years? Maybe the 2003 le, but nothing more.

With about five minutes left Thursday and trailing by two, the Spurs tried for more. Bryant missed, and the Spurs swung the ball, and Barry passed up a 3-point attempt to set up Ginobili.

The collage should show this, too, because it is another fitting image: Ginobili shooting for the lead and missing.

“Ma” was there. “Nu” wasn’t.

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[GSH]

I'm so glad he wrote that. The Spurs didn't lose because of Manu, as some boneheads have said. They couldn't win without him. There's a huge difference.

I saw him shoot 3-pointers in the WCF series where he was completely flat-footed. (OK... if his feet left the floor, it was just barely.) Being a choke artist, as some idiots claim, would not have caused him to start shooting flat-footed. It just wouldn't have shown up that way.

He was playing with a lot of pain, and he gutted it out like few players would, nor could have. Ray Allen jammed his ankle during the season. He sat out several games, and even when he came back, his numbers went to . Manu didn't have that luxury.

If a lot of these Manu-bashers had a finger that hurt as badly as Ginobili's ankle, they wouldn't be able to make themselves type all this rubbish.

[mrspurs]

buck harvey and his normal........waste of space........go spurs go

[Emanuel20]

Yikes another disappointing summer for Manu...Horrible!
I hate it when people put the blame on him when basketball is a team game.

Manu will be back!

[wildbill2u]

I don't think Harvey was blaming Manu. He was simply pointing out that Manu was unable to compete in the typically Manuistic manner.

[ducks]

this year only manu might have been the best player for the spur not before
this article is over the top
spurs had a few bad breaks
had they won game one they would have ran the series
I think they could have beat the lakers without a 100% manu

not sure on boston though

[Don Quixote]

Yikes another disappointing summer for Manu...Horrible!
I hate it when people put the blame on him when basketball is a team game.

Manu will be back!

Here's to Manu A true fighter, and a great man.

Let's hope he comes back next year hungry and healthy!

[sassystriker]

Good read!

Manu the warrior is always present. He'll be hunger when he comes back.

[1Parker1]

He's right, the Spurs go as Manu goes. He always has been and always will be the catalyst for this team in the playoffs, that's in fact his role. It's no coincidence that he's played a big part in every championship run. Even last year, people forget, he came through big for the Spurs in Game 4 and 6 against the Suns and was a large part of the reason why the Spurs advanced. In Game 4 to clinch the series against the Cavs, he again was the one that stepped up and the Spurs were able to close them out in 4.

[T Park]

Nice article by buck.

Pretty darn spot on.

[greens]

He's right, the Spurs go as Manu goes. He always has been and always will be the catalyst for this team in the playoffs, that's in fact his role. It's no coincidence that he's played a big part in every championship run. Even last year, people forget, he came through big for the Spurs in Game 4 and 6 against the Suns and was a large part of the reason why the Spurs advanced. In Game 4 to clinch the series against the Cavs, he again was the one that stepped up and the Spurs were able to close them out in 4.

Exactly. People also tend to only remember the Supermanu playoffs in 2005. However, in 2007, in the clutch time, who came up big? Manu. All the crucial and important games, he had the highest points. Game Four of the Finals, he had the most points. Games 5 and 6 against the Suns, he came up huge, especially in the fourth quarter. The road games against Utah, Manu came up huge too. Even in his rookie year in 2003, he had huge games vs the Lakers and the Mavs. Not to mention in the Finals, in Game 6, key steals and dunks and points.