Reply With Quote
Working on it...
Si dependiera de mí, me quedaría toda la vida en San Antonio
En este último viaje a Sacramento no tenía mucho sentido moverme. Lo mejor fue quedarme en casa y seguir con mi bota ortopédica esperando y viendo el partido por tele... Pero cuando arranquen los playoffs voy a viajar a todos lados con el equipo, como siempre, aunque esta vez va a ser muy raro, desde afuera. Va a ser la primera vez en siete años en la NBA que me pierda un partido en los playoffs.
Cuando se confirmó la lesión fue un shock fuerte. Entiendo que se hable mucho de mi situación y sé que se trajo otra vez el tema de los Juegos Olímpicos. Por eso siento que es importante aclarar que lo que me pasó fue en la otra pierna, la derecha, y no tiene nada que ver con lo del tobillo izquierdo, en China.
El peroné es un hueso que prácticamente no soporta peso, casi todo recae sobre la tibia. En un principio se vinculó una cosa con la otra, pero ahora los médicos me dicen que eso no tiene mucho sentido. Para ir a jugar con la selección, los Spurs me dieron el alta médica, del mismo modo que ahora cuando volví en la NBA. Siempre hay riesgos y eso es lo que pasó, tuve una mala racha de lesiones. Soy consciente de que el año que viene al terminar la temporada puedo ser agente libre, y tanto los Spurs como yo podemos elegir. Pero esto no cambió mi forma de pensar. Lo dije muchas veces y lo repito: si dependiera de mí, me quedaría en San Antonio toda la vida.
Por todo esto, entre otras cosas, el equipo no está pasando un buen momento. No recuerdo que en otra temporada hayamos llegado a los playoffs siendo un equipo con un juego tan irregular. Las lesiones no son un problema técnico-táctico. Yo me perdí el 55% de los partidos, pero además Tim Duncan tiene sus problemas en las rodillas, a veces está dolorido y no puede jugar normalmente. El equipo se modifica mucho, trata de readaptarse y lo sufre mucho.
Igual, en los primeros 60 partidos de la temporada estuvimos segundos y hasta con tres partidos de ventaja. En los últimos 20 se complicó por esto de las lesiones.
Nosotros ahora podemos quedar entre los puestos 2 y 5. Más allá de tener ventaja de localía, por el rendimiento de los rivales, cualquiera parece ser lo mismo. Lo que todos quieren evitar, por supuesto, es el octavo lugar, porque los Lakers sí mostraron ser superiores a todos. Después todos tienen sus pros y sus contras: Portland es un gran equipo, atlético, pero algo joven e irregular; Houston es fuerte, pero puede sufrir la falta de un líder ofensivo y con talento como McGrady en los playoffs; a New Orleans lo conocemos, tiene muchos altibajos; Dallas está repuntando... Cualquiera es un peligro.
Del otro lado, Cleveland dio un pasito adelante respecto de Boston, que tiene problemas sin Kevin Garnett, y Orlando. Los playoffs son todos los años distintos, pero creo que esta vez Cleveland tiene jugadores nuevos que pueden marcar diferencias, como Delonte West y Mo Williams. Si algún equipo hace lo que hicimos nosotros en las finales de 2007, cerrándole la defensa en la pintura a James, puede tener problemas afuera, porque son buenos tiradores a pie firme. A LeBron lo rodearon mejor que otras veces y él está intratable.
Van a ser unos playoffs muy distintos, pero me voy a sentir parte del equipo, como siempre. Las sensaciones son distintas, claro. Cuando gané los campeonatos, el de 2005 fue el más emocionante, porque fui determinante como nunca, en 2003 fue una emoción increíble, pero con otro rol, y en 2007 también tuvo otro sabor. Me va a tocar aportar como hincha, pero voy a sentirme responsable. Siempre es así, cuando nos va bien o cuando nos va mal.
Manu
Working on it...
Wow-that was a great read! Thank you!
He's telling Spurs fans to off. He hates it in SA. He wants to be traded.
I can just translate the le of the article, "If it depends on me...I would want to spend my whole life in San Antonio."
And then in the first paragraph he says that even though he couldn't travel with the team to Sacramento, he watched the game from home in his protective boot. He will be traveling with the team for the playoffs though
Why? Because TP has become the better player?
Nah . . . he is just bitter right now due to all the injuries.
. . . and TP has always been the better player (at least that is what ducks told me)
I understand. Hopefully he calms down with time and realizes it is not a big deal to be worse than a smaller Frenchman.
If it would be my decision, I would stay in San Antonio forever
There was no reason for me to move too much and make this last trip to Sacramento. The reasonable thing to do was to stay home with my orthopedic boot and watch the game on TV... But when the playoffs start I'm going to travel with the team everywhere, like I've always done, but this time it's going to be weird watching from outside the lines. It's going to be the first time in 7 years I'll miss a playoff game.
When the fracture was confirmed the shock was terrible. I understand that there's a lot of talk about my situation and that the Olympic Games topic was brought back up. That's why I feel it's important to clarify that what happened to me was in the other leg, the right one, and has nothing to do with the left ankle injury in China.
The fibula is a bone that basically can't handle any weight, almost everything is handled by the tibia (shinbone). At some point, some people wanted to tie the two injuries together, but now the doctors tell me that's just makes no sense. To go play with the national team the Spurs medical staff gave me the clearance, just exactly like they a few weeks back when I came back to play in the NBA. There are always risks, and that's what happened. I had a bad stretch with injuries. I'm conscious that at the end of the next season I will be a free agent, and both the Spurs and me can make a choice. But this didn't change the way I think. I said it many times and I'll say it again: If it would be my decision, I would stay in San Antonio forever.
Because of this situation, among other things, the team is not playing that well. I don't remember any other season that we got to the playoffs playing so irregularly. The injuries are a technical-tactical problem. I missed 55% of the games, but Tim Duncan also has problems in his knees, and sometimes he's in pain and can't play normally. The team changes a lot, tries to re-adapt and suffers a lot.
Nevertheless, after 60 games this season we were in second place, and even with 3 games advantage over the third team. In the last 20 it got complicated with this whole injury issue.
We now can end up between 2nd and 5th. Regardless of home court advantage, and because of how they've been playing, any of the potential rivals look pretty much the same. What everyone is trying to avoid, of course, is the 8th spot since the Lakers did show everyone they were the superior team. After that, all teams have their plus and minuses: Portland is a great team, athletic, but somewhat young and irregular; Houston is strong, but could suffer missing an talented offensive leader like McGrady in the playoffs; New Orleans we know well, they have a lot of up and downs; Dallas is picking up... all of them are dangerous.
On the other side, Cleveland is a step ahead of Boston, that has problems without Kevin garnett, and Orlando. The playoffs are different every year, but I think Cleveland this time around has a few new players like Delonte West or Mo Williams that can make a difference. If any team tries to do what we did in the 2007 Finals, clogging the paint to stop James, they can have problems from the outside because they're good spot up shooters. Lebron is surrounded better this time and he has been unstoppable.
They're going to be a very different playoffs, but I will still feel part of the team, as usual. The way I'll feel about it will be different though, obviously. When I won championships, the 2005 one was the most emotional for me because I was determinant like I never was. In 2003 was really incredible, but I had a different role. And 2007 also felt different. It's going to be my turn to support the team as a fan, but I still feel responsible for anything that happens. It's always like that, when things go well and when they don't.
Manu
"Originally Posted by smeagol
He's telling Spurs fans to off. He hates it in SA. He wants to be traded."
you're good at fishing smeagol....
Manu with the Cavs pick. haha
Nice read
thanks for the translation
Manu is one cool cat. You feel for him and I truly hope he makes a full recovery. Vamos Los Spurs Vamos.
Or is it I that is dangling the worm. Think about it."Originally Posted by smeagol
He's telling Spurs fans to off. He hates it in SA. He wants to be traded."
you're good too my friend
Good interview, I wish him the best
I always felt that Manu (rather than Tim) should have been the Finals MVP of that great series in '05.
Thanks ElNono.
Manu shouldn't even care responding to the pseudo whining spurs fans who doesn't even know the difference between their left and right legs.
Manu will be fine when he heals up. Just tell the boy to drink more milk or take some calcium tablets sheesh.
Manu needs to join the TNT crew in the studio for the playoffs. I'd love to see Chuck do the GINOOOOOBLEEEEE thing with him sitting there in person.
That would be awesome.
Good read. Thanks for the translation.
Thanks for the translation.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
