link: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns
A New Manu
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
June 10, 2005
SAN ANTONIO – Two years ago it was different. Not so much the what – the San Antonio Spurs winning games in the NBA Finals – but the how.
Two years ago, this was Tim Duncan's team and only Tim Duncan's team.
Now it is a team, with multiple superstars capable of taking over games. Manu Ginobili did the honors on Thursday, leading the Spurs to a relatively easy 84-69 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Ginobili had 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He had nine rebounds. He drew a fourth-quarter foul on Ben Wallace that led to Wallace blowing his stack in a lynchpin moment in the game.
"Manu," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, "had one of a night."
It's not that the third-year guard from Argentina was incapable of big nights back in 2003, when as a rookie he was part of the Spurs' second NBA championship team. He averaged 9.4 points a game in those playoffs.
But he wasn't a game-breaker, a stretch-run guy. And he wasn't mature enough to shake off a slow start, remain patient and know that it would be different when the game was on the line.
"No doubt that my confidence has been built up a lot," Ginobili said following Game 1. "Now I know that even if I don't play that well at the beginning, I'm going to be on the court in the fourth quarter and I'm probably going to have the ball in my hands.
"That was a big difference [from] my first year here. I loved it too, but now it's different. I feel that responsibility of the end of the game way more. And that's what I love doing."
Make no mistake, Duncan, a two-time MVP and arguably the greatest power forward in NBA history, is the main man here in Texas. But now even when he dominates, he isn't being asked to carry the entire load.
"You know," said Popovich, "I say Manu did this and did that, but Timmy had 24 points and 17 rebounds and played some great D tonight. And I just ignore him. He gets the same treatment David Robinson got; you take it for granted every night."
Duncan is what he is – tremendous. But with the Spurs clinging to a 55-53 lead with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was Ginobili who broke it open. He drew the blocking call on Wallace and hit the free throw. He snagged a tough rebound. He scored on two driving layups, including a finger roll that must have made George Gervin proud.
"He was coming right at me and I was like, 'Is he going to finger roll this?' " marveled teammate Robert Horry. "That just shows you what kind of an athlete he is."
For good measure, Ginobili did it again while getting fouled. He hit the free throw, making it a 12-2 Spurs run from which the Pistons never recovered. It was a big-time effort from a big-time player.
"I think his confidence has always been there," Duncan said. "I think it's our confidence that is different. I think Pop's confidence is different in him. He gets on those rolls there and Pop understands to let him go.
"He breaks things off sometimes, but you have to understand [when] he really starts to feel good, he's going to make your team better."
Ginobili, 27, has become one of the world's best players. He was the star of the Argentina team that broke the United States' stranglehold on Olympic gold last summer in Athens.
This season, he put up his best numbers and made his biggest impact in the NBA. He became a difference-maker, a guy who can go 6-for-6 from the field and score 15 points in the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals.
"Every time you thought we were going to make a little run, he made a huge play," Pistons coach Larry Brown said.
The Pistons are vowing to put more emphasis on Ginobili in Sunday's Game 2. If they entered Thursday's opener under the impression San Antonio was still just Duncan and some other guys, they don't feel that way anymore.
"He had it easy," Chauncey Billups said. "I think we'll try to make it a little tougher on him."
Two years ago, that kind of talk, that kind of focus, that kind of pressure might have rattled Manu Ginobili.
This isn't two years ago.
"I think his confidence has always been there," Duncan said. "I think it's our confidence that is different. I think Pop's confidence is different in him. He gets on those rolls there and Pop understands to let him go.
This is the key. Manu himself said that his game hasn't improved in a dramatic way since 2002. He improved a few aspects, but letting him do his thing was the most important adjusment Pop made since last year.
DID YOU HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE!???
Let them concentrate on Manu.
Maybe that will give Tony a chance to steal the spotlight for a night.
That's the idea, #2 will be a good game for TP and Manu will wear a NFL uniformLet them concentrate on Manu.
Maybe that will give Tony a chance to steal the spotlight for a night.
Let them concentrate on Manu.
Maybe that will give Tony a chance to steal the spotlight for a night.
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