We were all hoping that the Clippers would somehow manage to lose to a tanking Grizzlies club so that the Spurs could take on the Hornets. But now following Manu's elbow injury, the matchup may actually work in San Antonio's favor.
Against New Orleans, the Spurs would have needed Manu to carry the load. The Hornets are a good defensive team, however their main flaw on that end is the lack of a quality defender at the shooting guard position. The Spurs gameplan would have been to get the ball to Manu and let him tear apart the Hornets via pick-and-roll sets and isolation plays. As we saw in 2008, Manu led the way offensively even though he was playing on one leg.
A Manu-centric offensive gameplan against the Grizzlies was never going to work -- no matter the health of Ginobili's elbow. Tony Allen has been the best defender in basketball over the last few months and Memphis will [Note: The usage of the future tense was accompanied by a knock on wood as we await the MRI results] undoubtedly sic him on Manu for as many of the 48 minutes as possible. Sam Young, their other starting swingman, has capably defended Manu at times. Off the bench, Shane Battier is another elite perimeter defender.
Depending too much on Manu would have been a mistake -- so if you are a glass-half-full type of person, that is the silver lining you can point to without totally lying to yourself. Add that to the fact that the Spurs don't play a road game in this series for ten days and you might be able to go rest your head on a pillow for a few hours until we all click refresh a million times tomorrow awaiting The Results.
Silver Lining Runner-up: Shooting guard is the team's deepest position. Hill and Neal combined should allow Manu enough slack to work his way back to 100%. Especially at home in the first two games, it's plausible to get somewhat comparable production in the short term.
Silver Lining Second Runner-up: Hold a gun to my head and tell me to pick a Big 3 appendage to hyperextend and Manu's right arm would be atop that list. Considering how he rarely uses it for anything that requires finesse, he'll still be a big help even if it takes a week or two for his right arm to totally heal.
P.S.
If Manu's injury ends up being serious, you have my permission to jump off the Tower of the Americas.
As long as Manu's ready soon enough for the 3rd or 4th game against Memphis, I don't think the Spurs would suffer too much. Hill and Neal are good enough to fill the void. It'd also give him a couple of games to shake off the rust before the ( eventual ) 2nd round series where his presence would be essential.
Bring Manu off the bench for the first few games of his return...
Little pause.
Finally, finally, the fun starts, I think.
Connect to ST.
Read this.
81 irrelevant games.
On the 82nd, this happens.
Why on earth he was even on the floor, it's beyond me.
Memphis is a tough team.
It will be dogfight.
You don't want to get into a dogfight without your fearless warrior.
The right hand is huge for when Manu goes, "El Latigo." He can't do the move without it.
He was on the floor because the Spurs were set for kill mode to take down PHX and have a shot a #1 overall. HAD he not been hurt, then mostly everyone, including you probably, would have said that him resting last night and playing against PHX was a good move.
Not at all.
#1 overall is irrelevant and, in fact, it would have been MUCH better to be #2 in the West right now, for that matter.
If it was for me, the three would have played 1 or max 2 games per week over the last 40 days.
No Manu will allow Grizzlies to cross match-ups and put Allen on Parker while Conley will defend on Neal/Hill. That would be huge for them.
After your Bonner take... no.
This is an opportunity for the bench and for Pop to e up the rotation players
Uhhh Timvp I think you're way off here... All that would mean is Tony Allen shuts down Parker and our offense would all of a sudden become a massive dosage of Duncan with Hill/Neal/RJ/Tony becoming secondary options. I'm not sure Duncan can handle that kind of load.
This team has to have 3 viable #1 options at all times with secondary options not involving any of our big 3. We don't have any superstars on the level of Kobe/Lebron/Dwight.
We have to have Manu Ginobili.
Leave please.
Although the original post is all cheerful and optimistic, I instead just welcome the thought of sacking up. If the Spurs can't beat the ing Grizzlies in a 7 game HCA series without Ginobili then they don't have any chance at a ring.
There is no silver lining to any injuries.
So it'll be TP that Tony Allen shuts down. I agree that of the big 3 (because of Hill and Neal), Manu is the most expendable. Hopefully Hill and Neal will be enough since the first 2 games are at home. That gives Manu 1 1/2 weeks before game 3. It's going to get ugly offensively as Manu is the glue that holds the 2nd unit together.
The big 3 shouldn't have been on the floor. What for? A chance to flip a coin if both SA and CHI happen to make it to the Finals. Another of Pop's costly mistakes.
Where's the silver lining again?
Those elite perimeter defenders you mentioned aren't going to be taking the night off because Manu isn't there.
The way the injury looked and knowing that Manu's usually a slow healer it'll be a while before we see him if not in the next round (if we make it). I agree that Hill, Neal, RJ, and Anderson can do a good job of replacing Manu and get past the Grizzlies in the first round without Manu.
Yep...
The thing is Allen is a tough defender but he is not quick enough to D correctly TP. On the other hand I do like Conley defending Hill, Hill would be confortable with Conley on his back.
WTF Silver Lining???
There's no Silver Lining when any of the Big 3 gets hurt, when Timmy got hurt some people were expecting for Tiago to take his place and we all saw what happened, Bonner played major min.
LOL at the le of this thread
Is this trolling or is this just the newest member of the burn the tape crew?
R u kidding me? Manu doesn't use his right arm to push off on the defender EVERY time he goes to the basket???
Manu without his right arm would get schooled at the YMCA. His right arm and having enough strength on it to push off the defender everytime is a must.
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