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A MANU ON A MISSION.
“I’m enjoying this moment fully”
San Antonio, USA - I’m about to hop on a flight to Memphis, where we’ll be playing tonight. It’s a small trip of only 24 hours. Luckily, the big storm that is affecting a large part of the country is not a problem for us and we’ll be traveling without a problem. It has happened in the past, especially in Chicago and Denver, where the visiting team could not fly out for a while; this season so far that has not been the case. Only during the Rodeo road trip that starts in February 1st we’ll be traveling east, which at this time is the area mostly affected by the tough climate.
I’m in a better mood after we sucked against New York. They were stronger and quicker to all the loose balls. We’re not a physical team, but that night it was much more evident than usual. Up to that point we were playing well against teams under .500 and had some problems against the top teams. After that we beat the Clippers, but with an asterisk, since they played the day before and did not have Chris Paul, out with an injury. Frankly speaking, since my last column at the end of November, the team has underperformed a bit. Especially towards the end of December and noticeably on defense. While that generates a bit of uncertainty, it’s early in the season and there’s a big margin left to get better and more consistent. We’re holding on to a good record, but that’s not enough; what’s important at this point is to play well and improve. The win and losses numbers come and go as the season goes on and become much more important some time before the playoffs. At this time, you don’t worry about the record.
It is notable what’s happening in the Eastern conference, where there’s a very noticeable difference between the top two teams and the rest. Indiana and Miami are clearly the best in the NBA, a lot of steps above Toronto, a team that improved in the last few games, and Atlanta, that’s not a contender and also lost Al Horford for the rest of the season. The top two in the East are going to finish with 20 games or more above the rest. Instead, the Western conference is much more even, as usual. Portland, Oklahoma and us have some separation, but there’s nine teams that are right there. Memphis, tonight’s opponent, misses Marc Gasol, but when he comes back they’ll also be battling up there.
As far as me, in December I played much better. I started off with difficulties on my shot and driving to the basket, but right now I’m doing great, happy. I’m still healthy, I feel strong, I’m attacking the rim and improved my shooting -although the last two games were not that great on that aspect- and made good progress on my percentages. I’m much more satisfied because personally I’m having a much better season. Better mood, more positive, which helps go through the day to day. And it’s really helpful to be healthy. I don’t think it’s exclusively a matter of luck or that it has to do with resting before the season. A lot of it has to do with my change in eating habits and training, and a slight change in the way I play.
On one hand, I’m much more aware of what I eat. When you’re 25, 26, 28 years old, you have a physical error margin; if you ate too much or bad food, you don’t feel it as much. But at 36, and competing against these monsters, if I don’t watch what I eat, and I don’t have the necessary fuel, I feel it on the joints and the muscles. Quality of ingredients is key. I’m avoiding white flour and sugars, that is, bread, sweets, regular pasta. And eating much more proteins. I added much more fish to my diet; before I would do 80% meat, 20% fish, and now it’s more like 50%-50%.
On the other hand, I was saying I changed the way I play a bit, and it can be seen in that I’m having more assists than rebounds, two stats that were fairly even in my career. Since I don’t have the same legs as a few years back, it’s better that somebody else grab the rebound, collide with other players and all, unless it’s an important part of the game. Right now I’m much more focused on creating plays than in rebounding. At this stage in my career it’s much more important. But lately, feeling good physically, I went back a bit to the usual style and I’m more aggressive, attacking the basket more. You’ve probably seen I had a dunk against the Clippers. In that mini-challenge I have going with Boris Diaw to see who dunks more by the end of the season, I’m doing better, much better. Last season we finished 5-5. Now I’m leading comfortably, 7-3 or 8-3. The prize is simply to bug the other guy, or pay for one or two dinners, but since we eat together in all our trips, the real goal is to challenge ourselves and try to finish strong at the rim.
The AllStar game will be in February, but I have no expectations to be there, at all. I’m waiting for that weekend to rest with my family and travel somewhere, instead of attending that exhibition. If it happens, I’ll be happy, but I don’t think there’s any real possibilities.
The main thing is that I’m feeling good and last season I was feeling bad. It was a complicated season, because of physical problems that prevented me from playing, except for the playoffs. I went through difficult moments, stress, that put my head somewhere else. I was seriously thinking about retiring, it wasn’t just talk. But when you’re feeling bad, you see everything bad. Putting things in perspective, you think with more clarity and realize some things. I’m very glad that I made the decision to keep playing.
You always remember the latest, the near past is always more fresh in the mind, but the season before last one I also started pretty bad too. Now I’m enjoying this season like I didn’t do the past two. When your head is right, you value much more what’s going on. At 36 years old I’m at a good level, in one of the best teams and in a unbeatable situation socially and as a group. I’m having a great time. Enjoying this moment fully.
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Original article in Spanish:
http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1...o-este-momento
excuse any typos per par...
A MANU ON A MISSION.
thanks
Want to believe in this guy again.....
If we can get to the same level we were at in the playoffs and have Manu this time we will be hard to beat.
The diet change is good to hear about. I used to read about Manu eating sweets quite a bit, some sort of Argentine candy that he likes. I think he said that his relatives used to bring it for him when they came to visit, of course it's not just that, that he needed to cut out of his diet. The changes he made with the rest of his diet seem good. You can't have an average or poor diet throughout the season if you want to perform out there, it can really screw you up. This one change should be really good for Manu, just like it has been for Tim.
I'm curious what kind of diet TP has. Hopefully, he's also watching what he eats.
It will all come down to who will we face. Warriors, Houston are pretty much the worst matchup for us in the furst, while Phoenix and Dallas should be easy. Second round will be extremely though facing one of Houston, Warriors or Clippers. Blazers will be a none-issue coming playoff time, OKC is OKC.
Hope Gino's eating habits rub off on Boris.
Positive environment strengthens cohesion/chemistry.
Great encouraging read! Thanks!
Yeah that would be nice. He was somewhat ty last year. I know he called last year "so-so" but sounds like he's being more honest about it. Too bad he imploded in the Finals and cost Spurs a ring, but just gotta hope Spurs are healthier and better this time.
He definitely looks much better this year. I kept saying it all last year, I didn't like the way he looked or his comments, kept hearing it was a "non-issue" from Nono, but looks like he was in fact messed up. It will be interesting to see how far he can push his body this season, because he looks good compared to last year.
Last edited by HI-FI; 01-07-2014 at 03:23 AM.
Great stuff. I always enjoy these.
Thx for translating!
Thanks!
Thanks man. Good stuff.
Thanks nono ! good read as usual
Nice to see that Boris and Manu have a good chemistry together
As far as I know, TP is a kinda freak regarding diet, this is something he cares a lot. I remember an interview where he was explaining his routine and in particular his habit to drink tons grass juice or something
Thanks for the translation.
Manu has been great for a month. The key is that he is staying healthy which allow him to get in better shape and get his rhythm back.
He has also upped his aggression level:
October and November: 14 FTA in 399 minutes played.
December and January: 60 FTA in 388 minutes played.
Parker really didn't care about what he eat earlier in his career. He got fat few years ago when he broke his hand and since that he is taking care of what he eats to stay in shape.
Having a good diet is just so important that Spurs are lucky to have their main players saying fit. A lot of NBA players could be so much better if they were less fat. Being fat has also a huge factor regarding injuries.
Injuries and some kind of disease can alleviate their symptoms with a healthy diet. (Remember Howard and his pre-diabetes for his crazy sugar addiction)
Last edited by wildchild; 01-07-2014 at 08:35 AM.
I wish I didn't hate fish. All I'll eat is Tuna fish sandwiches or Luby's LuAnn platter thing. -- Are you people writing this down ?
In a related story, rumor has it that Manu's improved play is due to a steady diet of:
And not those weird ones from HEB.
I had another vision of parker's diet, his mother is a naturopath and a diet freak. I remember an old interview of Parker when he was just arriving in San Antonio about his new life, part of the interview was about diet and the risk of american food or something. Parker said in that interview that his mother was taking care closely of that.
I found a quote of his mother in French dated from 2007: "Le corps d'un sportif est un instrument. Alors, pas une goutte de Coca-Cola. Je concoctais des jus de carottes mélangés à de la pomme, des milk-shakes avec de la spiruline, une algue très riche en protéines." " s'il prend le moindre gramme de créatine, je l'ai prévenu, il verra un scandale comme San Antonio n'en a jamais connu."
In French: "The body of an athlete is a tool. So no coca cola. I was preparing carot juice mixed with aple, milk shakes with spirulin, an alga rich in proteins" "If he takes the smallest amount of creatin, I warned him, he will see a scandal like San Antonio has never seen"
That's what he said last year (at the 18 min mark):
http://www.canalplus.fr/c-sport/pid2...tml?vid=647572
Transcription/translation:
"In 2010, I had a big ankle sprain and then I broke my hand so I missed 25 games. My body fat raised to 10% while in SA point guards had to stay below 8%. I told to myself that I will take a personal cook to be sure I eat well since I'm getting older and I had to be careful. Taking a cook has helped me and I'm now at 6% of body fat. I'm now very careful."
I didn't like what Manu said about not being a physical team. Hopefully he just meant they aren't a physical team right now.
Thanks for the translation buddy
BTW, since I got trashed by the manufan for saying that Ginobili was only "very good" in November, the manufan should notice I actually use the word great to talk about his play in December/January.
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