Manu Ginobili has that sixth sense

[stuart]

Ginobili considered for sixth-man award...

Barbosa, Ginobili have sixth sense (Usa Today)
By David DuPree, USA TODAY

When it comes to making things happen for their teams, the spotlight often turns on Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns and Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs.

Overshadowed most nights this season by higher-profile All-Stars Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion of the Suns and Tim Duncan and Tony Parker of the Spurs, Barbosa and Ginobili often set the tone with their all-out, frenetic play.

That could be particularly important tonight in one of the biggest games of the season for both teams (9:30 ET, TNT).

The rivals appear headed for a second-round showdown in the playoffs, with the big question being who will have the home-court advantage. The Suns go into the game with a three-game lead over the third-place Spurs in the race for the No. 2 seed in the West behind the Dallas Mavericks. The winner will also capture the season series 2-1.

"They're one of the best in the league," Duncan said of the Suns. "It's a great test time for us, especially coming down toward the end of the season here."

It's also a head-to-head showcase for Barbosa and Ginobili, the two leading candidates for the NBA's Sixth Man Award. Ginobili began the season as San Antonio's starting shooting guard, but when the Spurs bench faltered, coach Gregg Popovich did what he has often done — turned to Ginobili to provide the spark. This time it happened in late January.

"It isn't the first time," Ginobili said. "I understand why it's this way. It's the best way to help the team win, so I'm in favor of it."

To win the Sixth Man Award, a player has to have come in off the bench in more games than he has started. Ginobili has started 36 games and been a reserve in 33. The Spurs have eight games left, so Ginobili will have to come off the bench in four of them without any more starts to be eligible.

Barbosa, although he has started the last two games and 17 overall this season, will end the season having come off the bench 55 times if he remains the starter.

"It doesn't matter to me," Barbosa said. "My role is still the same — to make things happen."

Ben Gordon of the Chicago Bulls was the early leader for the Sixth Man Award, but he has started 44 games, making him ineligible.

The Suns lead the league in scoring and two of the three shooting categories, and the Spurs, third in opponents' field goal percentage and second in opponents' three-point percentage, are one of the league's premier defensive teams.

"We shoot the ball so well that it gets overlooked how well guys are shooting," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said.

For the Spurs, going into the playoffs with everything clicking has always been their objective. "We haven't really focused on getting the best record in any year," Popovich said. "The focus has always been making sure our priorities are in order, beginning with defense, that we're as healthy as we can possibly be, and that our bench has gotten enough minutes."

[Czarkazem13]

Manu Ginobili has that sixth sense.

What's Leandrinho, chopped liver?

[sergioloro]

aguante manu!!

[Levenspiel]

He's just awesome in this year's playoffs. Truly special player!

[mktackabery]

[rikhardur]

The best Argentinian player of all times?

[kukoc7]

One can consider Manu to be the best basketball player in the planet right now. Why? He's successful in both the international game and in the NBA. There are many NBA stars that can be argued as being better than Manu, but haven't proben anything in the international level.

[manuginobili]

Ginobili is without a doubt one of the few players that can be dominant both in international and NBA competition.
I'm still trying to find an NBA player of his caliber who is willing to accept coming off the bench. Ginobili is the ultimate teammate; a guy who is willing to put his ego aside; to the benefit of his team.
He creates an unselfish attitude on his team, that is unbelievable.
The greatest fear/nightmare of a coach playing against the Spurs would be: trailing in the first quarter by, let's say, 10 points and knowing that Ginobili still has to come off the bench...

[mvblair]

The Spurs as an organization love this guy too. This is a great column about the Argentine Jumpin Bean:

Hard to Deal? Kobe is Not the Only Exception -- November 13, 2007, by Buck Harvey, San Antonio Express-News

Last summer, when ideas were bouncing around more than basketballs were, an NBA general manager in another city came to a conclusion. Now might be the best time to trade a 6-foot-6 star with three rings and a recognizable four-letter first name.

Yes, he said.

It would make sense to trade Manu Ginobili.

The Spurs never considered such a thing, and they had their reasons. For one, fans might have stormed the AT&T Center and burned it to the ground.

But even if the Spurs had wanted to trade Ginobili, would they have gotten equal value in return? Even if the Spurs had received players who were younger and could jump higher, would they have been able to duplicate what Ginobili has done for both the Spurs and their crowd?

The Lakers have their own answer to similar questions.

That's why Kobe Bryant will be in town tonight.

These two have rarely been lumped together, and one of the exceptions was last January. Then, after Ginobili blocked Bryant's shot at the end of a Spurs win, Bryant followed through with a blow to Ginobili's face.

Ginobili, as is customary, got a bruise. Bryant got a one-game suspension.

Otherwise, they have stood on the opposite ends of the NBA room. Ginobili, at half the price, has averaged about half as many points over his career. Ginobili also has played about a third of the NBA minutes, yet Ginobili, at about the same age, is the one who some think should be aging.

An ESPN columnist recently put Ginobili into a group he called the "All-Decline" team. "As a 30-year-old slasher," the ESPN columnist wrote, "we'd expect his numbers to go down."

That would be part of the trade logic of last summer. Given that Ginobili should be declining, he would never be more attractive to another team than he was then.

As predicted, Ginobili's numbers will likely go down — because they have rarely been as high as they've been the first two weeks of this season. Ginobili is currently the Spurs' leading scorer, and that underscores how balanced the Spurs have become. Tim Duncan is third.

Then there's the dunk Ginobili put on Yao Ming last week: The one making the "All-Decline" team that night was gravity.

Knowing Ginobili, he will eventually take a few shots to a thigh, and he will sag. His scoring will drop as he shares with Duncan and Tony Parker, and Ginobili won't always be as confident and efficient as he was Sunday. Then, he put 21 points on Milwaukee in 19 minutes.

Players who consistently score more points will beat him out for an All-Star berth. And, going by this pattern, there might be a few weeks in January or February when the Spurs will be wondering when Manu will be Manu again.

But if the pattern continues, Ginobili will begin to make plays that few in the league can make. In moments that matter, he will turn the corner on a pick-and-roll, draw a foul on defense, attack the rim, find an open teammate.

He also will make fools of everyone who measures players by their numbers. He's averaged only about 14 points a game over his NBA career, for example. But in just the fourth quarters of the last road games in each of the Phoenix, Utah and Cleveland series last season, he averaged about 15 points.

Who does this? Who in the history of the sport averages more in vital playoff fourth quarters than in entire games in the regular season?

Ray Allen? Shawn Marion? Josh Howard? Each made the West All-Star roster last season, and a few months later, they combined to win one playoff series.

So Ginobili isn't Bryant. Ginobili's place in the game is unique.

Still, these two are the same when it comes to a trade. Just as the Lakers hesitate to trade Bryant because they can't get equal value, the Spurs would face a similar dilemma. Assuming players such as LeBron James and Dwight Howard wouldn't be available, there's not a package of talent that could replace what they do on the floor and at the box office.

So when is the right time to trade them?

Never.

[mvblair]

I thought this should be put in the unofficial tribute thread for Ginobili.

Spus' Playoff Pulse Beats with Ginobili - April 15, 2010, by Johnny Luden, Yahoo! Sports

The questions, the skepticism – the fear – this is what made Manu Ginobili burn. He felt it from within his own organization, from the opposing defenders who nudged closer to him, from the reporters who wanted to know how he was feeling. Everyone, it seemed, had lost faith. Their eyes said as much, even if their lips didn’t.

He’s not the same.

On a few of the tougher nights, Ginobili wondered, too, and perhaps that hurt worst of all. His career had stretched from Argentina to Italy to Texas, delivering him three NBA championships, an Olympic gold medal and assorted other European titles, but there had been so many games, so many collisions. His left foot was the first to fail him, initially in the 2008 playoffs, then in the Olympics later that summer. Surgery followed. Once he began to find his game again late last season, he injured the right foot.

So Ginobili trudged forward this season, hoping to recapture what he had lost. The weeks went by and, still, he couldn’t find his burst. He’d walk off the court, shoulders sagging, muttering to himself in Spanish. This was also true: His head needed fixing as much as his body. He and his wife were expecting twins and his impending free agency continued to stare at them. Having long expected to be with the San Antonio Spurs through the end of his career, he slowly convinced himself he’d have to play elsewhere. All of it weighed on him.

“The thing that bothered me this whole time,” Ginobili said, “was people doubting me I could do it.”

Looking back, maybe it was foolish to question him. Through his eight years in San Antonio, Ginobili had lifted the Spurs through all those end-of-game, pressure-cooker moments. Resurrecting himself might have been his greatest comeback yet. It took five months, but he has again made believers of them all, and that explains more than anything why the Spurs decided to give him a contract extension that will pay nearly $40 million over the next three years.

When Ginobili’s healthy, when he’s playing as he has over the past couple months, isn’t anything possible?



...Ginobili’s passion, his competitiveness, spreads through a roster. When he believes, they all do.

This, too, is why the Spurs ignored industry logic and extended Ginobili rather than wait until summer, when they could have assessed their roster after the playoffs. ....

...Even if the Spurs continue to transition to a younger team, Ginobili will guide and teach. He’s too valuable to let walk away.

....

“He’s … different,” the Thunder’s Kevin Durant(notes) told reporters, and he should know: Ginobili had just run him down to block his dunk at the rim.

....

Ginobili says he always knew he’d find his magic, but even those closest to him weren’t quite so sure. Ginobili will admit this much: “I didn’t know whether people would trust me anymore.”

Not only do they trust, they also follow. These Spurs of the past six weeks belong to Ginobili as much as anyone. Popovich spent much of the season searching for a winning combination, and he found one when Parker broke a finger and Ginobili moved into the starting lineup. Ginobili has made Richard Jefferson productive. He has made DeJuan Blair better. More than anything, that explains why Parker returned as a reserve.


And if the Mavericks again eliminate the Spurs in the opening round? This summer could bring more change....