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We gonna need Manu to step up. and even Parker this time. I want parker to have a big 4th quarter for a change.
Boy.. I love Manu to bits.. and I am different from Aaaron and TPark, I love Parker too..
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...s.3b1d2f7.html
Buck Harvey: Manu goes back, and that's a sign
Web Posted: 04/26/2007 12:18 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
George Karl talked about the whistles Denver didn't get, just as he did two years ago. But this was different. This time Manu Ginobili wasn't Karl's target.
That's Karl. He complains with great versatility.
That's also Ginobili thus far in this series. He hasn't been talked about much.
He's been just another guy hidden by Tim Duncan and Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Ginobili was also just another Argentine on Wednesday, with Fab Oberto leading the Spurs in rebounding.
But there was a telling stretch that started late in the third quarter. Then the Ginobili of 2005 appeared. And when Denver closed within four points in the final minute, with both the Spurs and the crowd nervous, Ginobili forced his way through a handful of Nuggets just as he did two years ago.
If the Spurs are to repeat what they did in Denver in 2005?
They will need that Ginobili.
They will need something special, because the Nuggets again looked far better than their record. One play — such as Marcus Camby banging a dunk off the rim — could have changed everything.
As for Karl's gripe: There won't be many games where Iverson shoots 25 times and doesn't get a free throw in return.
But there were similar signs in Denver two years ago. The Nuggets headed home with a split, having won 20 of their last 21 games in their building, and they thought they had both at ude and al ude on their side.
Ginobili, again coming off the bench, checked in with the Spurs trailing in that Game 3. Then he went one-on-one, followed with a 3-pointer and kept going. Ginobili went on to score 32 points, finishing with a drive with three Nuggets banging him to the floor, and afterward Karl responded because his players hadn't been able to.
"He's difficult to defend or ref or watch," Karl said that night, "unless you are the San Antonio Spurs."
Karl now says it was just gamesmanship. Karl has since admitted his love for Ginobili, and Karl went so far that Ginobili laughed. Karl called Ginobili "perfect."
Ginobili was nearly perfect that postseason. He followed the Denver series by scoring 39 points in Game 5 against Seattle, then made the pass that eliminated the Sonics in the following game.
Ginobili stayed on the run against Phoenix, then opened with 53 points in the first two games against Detroit. He slipped Robert Horry the game-winner in Game 5 before combining with Duncan to win Game 7.
He had already been an All-Star before that postseason, and this past season he put together his best numbers. But he's never been better than what he started in that 2005 Game 3 in Denver; the Spurs would have never won their third le without every shot and bruise he took.
All of it is possible again, but there were few signs of that for the first six quarters of this series. Ginobili had gone 4 of 15 in the opener, and he started as slowly Wednesday. His best play early involved losing the ball — before a quick flip to Bruce Bowen set up a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.
What was going on?
"The Nuggets are doing a great job on him," said Gregg Popovich, and Ginobili said the same afterward. Without driving lanes, Ginobili says he tries to set up others.
Ginobili had only one basket late in the third period when he lost the ball again. Horry saved him, blocking Iverson from behind on the resulting fast break, and that's when something changed.
Ginobili stretched past Camby on a drive, threw in a 3-pointer and scored all but two of the Spurs' points in this stretch. As it was in 2005, what others did to Ginobili didn't matter as much as what he did.
"Manu was Manu," Duncan said.
Manu acted like Manu on Wednesday, too, coming off the floor with fists pumping. He calmed down as always in the locker room, and he was respectful of what comes next.
"You saw how hard it was to beat them here," Ginobili said. "Imagine how hard there."
With the Ginobili of 2005?
It's not hard to imagine how.
We gonna need Manu to step up. and even Parker this time. I want parker to have a big 4th quarter for a change.
We will definitely need the Big 3 to show up.
Actually we're going to need everyone to play well, but we're not getting it done on the road with the kind of performances (except in short spurts) that the big 3 have given so far.
Freaking Manu! He always kicks our ass. He's going to win atleast one of these games for you all. It's inevitable really.
I should actually be more mad at Kiki because Manu should be a Nugget. Damn you Kiki! Should have gave him Kmart's money.
The awesome thing about Manu and Duncan is that if either of them play a great game, we win, no questions asked, because the other one will likely feed from that an have at least a decent game. If Duncan dominates it opens up the paint for Manu, likewise if Manu is hitting the D collapses to him and frees Duncan for easy scores and/or offensive rebounds.
Not to mention how much havoc they can cause together on defense.
dude you need to get a bowen like defender to put on manu and other star players
then you would win
Manu would treat bowen like the .......... he is...
WTF?
they have the DPOY
Bowen would shut Manu down. Manu is a great player but he plays on emotion and needs to find a rhythm. Bowen is 100% hands-down bar-none the best rhythm disruptor in the league.
If Manu found his rhythm before Bowen was assigned to him, it might be a different story, but from the get-go? Manu better be on fire or he gets rocked.
Manu will destroy the Nuggets in Denver
he plays MUCH better on the road
Manu = X-Factor
I noticed when I watched the replay of this game (I missed seeing it in real-time) that AI had a couple of plays where the refs didn't call fouls but...in George's words, they weren't "Playoff Fouls". The oddity of this game was that AI really DID draw fouls but they were non-shooting fouls and earlier in quarters, prior to getting into the Bonus/Penalty. The Spurs ran so many doubles at him once he got the ball that it made it awkward for him to get into a rhythm.
manu = ing baller
Need to do that more, and Ginobli needs to take it to the damn rack everytime down.
Enough with the pullup pussy bull .
*ginobili*
The dumb Denver asshole crowd will boo Manu, getting his compe ive hot blood flowing, and he'll boo-m them back for 30+ points.
He actually loves that,It gets him going.
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