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There's a problem with this though. Ginobili was not just having an off shooting night, he was off at everything. In particular his passing and ballhandling was really making it extremely hard on us to get or keep control. Ginobili should have been benched in the first half (2nd quarter) when he constantly screwed up so he could sit on the bench and think about it going into and during halftime. Then come out with a chip on his shoulder and play better in the 2nd half.C) You don't bench Manu Ginobili. How many times have we seen him suck for 95% of the game before coming up big at the end? He's done that so often that it's expected at this point. Manu is a player you want on your team when the going gets tough. Sure, he didn't play well last night (yeah, that's being kind) but you don't bench him. Only hindsight would tell you he should have been benched.
Instead, Pop rode it out. . .and let him suck all the way into the half. Then he come sout of the half still sucking. Goes into the 4th still sucking. Ends the game choking. Then sucks again in OT throwing turnover after turnover then charging into a fully defended paint. It never changed because he never changed how he was playing. Pop rarely gave him the boot up the ass that he deserved to get.
It isn't just hindsight. During the game I was explaing to my girlfriend about why Pop isn't benching him when it seems extremely obvious that he should be. We started to talk about this in the 2nd quarter, and it extended to every quarter after that too. I thought Pop should have benched him roughly halfway through the 2nd when it was obvious nothing Manu was doing was positive, and left him there until halftime. Maybe it would've lit a fire under him. As the game went on and he continued to suck, it became harder and harder to justify keeping him in. Then of course, as we all know he chokes on the key free throw, commits two terrible turnovers AND charges into 3 Heat players to force up a stupid shot in OT to blow our last real chance at winning. He screwed us in every quarter AND in OT with his ty play.
Yeah, we've seen Manu suck then turn it on. . .but he rarely turns it around anymore.
I get why Pop didn't bench him though: Manu just had a great game and Manu's potential is greater than anyone else he could've had in there. Sometimes guys just don't have it on a given night though and you have to go away from the liquid nitrogen cold hands of Ginobili and try something else even if the potential is less.
