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Another nice article about Manu as if there weren't enough already. Even Duncan says something about Manu's falling
. I sure hope he can play well during this series.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...u_N.htm?csp=34
Spurs' super sixth-man Ginobili bent on winning
He's never averaged 20 points in an NBA season. He's never been an All-Star starter. He doesn't even start.
But without guard Manu Ginobili, the San Antonio Spurs have a tougher time defending their NBA le.
"Out in the first round," ESPN analyst Jon Barry says of the first-round matchup with the Phoenix Suns. "That series is tough enough, even with him."
Ginobili, 30, missed three of the Spurs' last four games because of a strained left groin. But he returned in the season finale against the Utah Jazz to post 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals in 19 minutes. After the game, he said he felt good and ready to go.
And "go" is the key word. There's a reason why Ginobili never averaged more than 29 minutes a game before this season. (This year he averaged a career-high 31 minutes.) "If I played him 40 minutes every night," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich says, "Manu might just burn up. Disintegrate."
Popovich could start him and still limit his minutes, but he likes the spark Ginobili (6-6, 205) gives him off the bench. And because All-Star center Tim Duncan often draws two defenders, it allows guard Michael Finley to get more open shots.
Plus there's the psychological effect on opponents, knowing Ginobili is lurking on the bench.
"Like Rip Hamilton, people hate guarding him, because he never stops moving," says Barry, a former NBA player. "I hated defending him. Once I told him, 'Could you please stand still just for one minute?' "
Barry's brother Brent, a teammate of Ginobili's, once dubbed him "El Contusion" for his bent style.
"He's got one of those ever-moving bodies," Duncan says. "One of those ever-being-hit-and-falling-down bodies."
To get an idea of the pounding Ginobili takes on a nightly basis, all you have to do is look at his feet.
After a win against the Washington Wizards this season, he sat at his locker stall, putting some kind of polish over his cracked and bruised toenails. When asked what he was doing, Ginobili blanched. "Not painting them, no," he said.
It's medicine, he explains. Helps ease the pain.
While Ginobili's high-burn style isn't conducive to the 82-game regular season, it is perfect for the postseason. In the last three years, he's averaged 18.7 points, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals a game, leading San Antonio to two NBA les (2006-07 and 2004-05). In his first five seasons as a Spur, they won three les.
"From the time he hits the court, he plays at a compe ive level that you rarely see," Popovich says. "He does the exact same things that Kobe (Bryant) does, that Michael Jordan did.
"That means he doesn't just score; he might go get the biggest defensive or offensive rebound in the game. He might go make the steal. He'll make the key pass at the end. He'll get the loose ball.
"All those sorts of things that win."
With Ginobili, it's all about quality, not quan y.
"I don't think I'm a player to play 42 minutes, to tell you the truth," Ginobili says. "I think 35 would be good. But we have a lot of good players, and it's good to have everybody fresh at the right time."
Duncan was asked what kind of numbers Ginobili could post if he did play 42 minutes a game.
"He could put up top-of-the-league numbers," Duncan says. "He'd definitely be in the top 10, maybe top five in scoring."
Ginobili is a bit more conservative on his potential scoring average.
"I don't think 30," he says. "Twenty or more on a regular basis, maybe. But I don't even want to consider that. It doesn't interest me. All the best memories of my career are with teams that won, not teams I scored a lot with."
One photo hangs in Popovich's AT&T Center office, he says: that of his favorite player, Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek. Popovich compares Ginobili's style to Havlicek's.
"Havlicek wasn't the prettiest player," Popovich says. "But he did the little things that win basketball games. And he did it while he was motoring all over the floor. Manu is the exact same way.
"He perturbs people."
