Tag: Manu Ginobili

Wait almost over for Spurs

By Jeff McDonald

Blame the Los Angeles Clippers for whiffing twice in their bid to close out the Memphis Grizzlies. Blame the Grizzlies for their stubborn and steadfast refusal to go quietly.

Blame the Utah Jazz for putting up all the resistance of soaked newsprint in their first-round series with the Spurs. Blame the Spurs for the ruthless efficiency with which they swept away the Jazz.

Whoever is to blame for the Spurs’ prolonged break between playoff rounds — and there is plenty to go around — this is what is most important now:

The end, thank goodness, is nigh.

“I think everybody pretty much wants to get back on the floor and play,” Spurs guard Danny Green said.

Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals is set for Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the ATT Center. All that is missing now is an opponent.

By dinnertime tonight, that devilish detail should be finalized, too. Either the Grizzlies or the Clippers will win Game 7 in Memphis, slated for a noon tipoff, then will not pass “Go” en route to San Antonio for the start of the next round.

“I really don’t care who we play,” Spurs captain Tim Duncan said. “Whatever it might be, they’re going to figure it out themselves. We’re just going to be here waiting.”

And waiting.

When the Spurs finally take the floor again for Game 1, it will have been eight days since finishing off the sweep in Utah.

With such a long layoff, the Spurs are at least certain to start the next round completely healthy, afflicted by no malady save for cabin fever.

To pass the time, coach Gregg Popovich has staged a pair of full-squad scrimmages in the team’s practice gym, complete with referees. After the Grizzlies and Clippers dispense with their series this afternoon, the Spurs will reconvene for their first opponent-specific practice of the break.

“I think guys are getting a little excited to see who’s going to be next up,” Green said. “Playoffs are a big deal. We want to get back to them as quick as we can.”

By the time the Spurs returned from Utah early Tuesday morning, the fifth-seeded Clippers had forged a surprising 3-1 lead in their series. There was hope among Spurs players and coaches that the second round might be soon in the offing.

But the Clippers have since squandered two chances to finish the fourth-seeded Grizzlies — including once in Los Angeles in Game 6 — pushing the series to the limit.

Now that their two potential opponents have arrived at a do-or-die seventh game, the Spurs have expressed no public preference for which they prefer.

A matchup with Memphis would bring a rematch of last year’s first-round series, when the Grizzlies — then a No. 8 seed — stunned the top-seeded Spurs. A meeting with the Clippers would summon a pair of Western Conference All-Star starters to the second-round stage in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

In the regular season, the Spurs went 4-0 against Memphis and 2-1 against the Clippers, who on March 9 became one of only five visitors this year to win at the ATT Center.

“But both teams play very hard, good defensively, good defense on the bigs,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Whoever we play will be really tough.”

At long last, the Spurs can fill in that last remaining blank this afternoon.

“It’s going to be nice to get back on the floor so we can get back in the flow of things,” Green said. “It’s the playoffs. Nobody wants to be sitting at home watching games. We want to be part of it.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS OR GRIZZLIES

Game 1: @Spurs, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., TNT

Game 2: @Spurs, Thursday, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Game 3: @Clippers or Grizzlies, Saturday, 2:30 pm., ABC

Game 4: @Clippers or Grizzlies, Sunday, 9:30 p.m. or 7 p.m., TNT

*Game 5: @Spurs, May 22 (Tuesday), TNT

*Game 6: @Clippers or Grizzlies, May 24 (Thursday), ESPN

*Game 7: @Spurs, May 27 (Sunday), TNT

* if necessary

Spurs fear a lack of fear itself

By Jeff McDonald

SALT LAKE CITY — For two games in their Western Conference first-round series against Utah, the Spurs have successfully guarded against Al Jefferson’s repertoire of herky-jerky post moves.

They have guarded against Devin Harris’ quickness and Paul Millsap’s blue-collar ruggedness.

Tonight, as the series shifts to rowdy EnergySolutions Arena with the top-seeded Spurs up 2-0 and solidly in command, they are poised to come face-to-face with their most formidable foe yet in these playoffs.

Overconfidence.

“From game to game, there’s always a danger of letdowns,” said Tim Duncan, the Spurs’ 36-year-old captain. “We’re going to fight against that, but there’s no promises in any way.”

In their quest to put a lock on the series, it seems the only thing the Spurs have to fear now is the lack of fear itself.

The Spurs won the first two games by a staggering total of 46 points. Their 106-91 victory in Game 1 looked like a nail-biter compared to the 114-83 ransacking the Spurs delivered in Game 2.

The 31-point margin in Game 2 marked the Spurs’ third-largest win in team playoff history. For Utah, it was the franchise’s second-worst postseason defeat, surpassed in humiliation ?only by a 96-54 loss to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals.

How each team responds now will determine how much life is left in this series.

“It’s easy to fold your tent,” Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. “But fight is fight, and competitors compete. Guys who want to quit will quit.”

So far, the Spurs have treated the eighth-seeded Jazz like a D-League team, with All-Star point guard Tony Parker obliterating Utah’s backcourt en route to a combined 46 points and 17 assists. Their Duncan-led frontcourt has outplayed Jefferson and Millsap in helping post a 120-80 edge in paint points.

In Game 2, the Spurs were ahead 20-8 before star sixth man Manu Ginobili had even stripped off his warmups.

It speaks to the Spurs’ sense of professionalism and self-restraint that they haven’t yet begun planning dinner reservations in Memphis or Los Angeles.

“What I see is ultimate focus,” forward Stephen Jackson said. “Nobody is talking about the next series. Everyone is focused about what’s in front of us.”

The Spurs’ battle against overconfidence began before coach Gregg Popovich left the interview podium after Wednesday’s Game 2 romp, when he reminded that the runaway victory was “nothing to be satisfied about.”

In Utah, the Spurs are expecting to find a different Jazz team than the one that presented so little resistance in San Antonio.

“I know Pop’s really antsy about us coming out and getting jumped on,” Duncan said.

If nothing else, the Spurs are anticipating an amped-up performance from the Utah crowd, generally considered one of the NBA’s most rambunctious.

Those who were around in 2007 haven’t forgotten the Spurs’ last trip to Salt Lake for a playoff game, when players and coaches exited the court to a hail of debris after a Game 4 victory in that year’s Western Conference finals.

“They’re going to play even harder, with a great atmosphere,” said Ginobili, one of the few Spurs yet to find his footing. “They’re going to be fired up. Hopefully, we don’t relax and keep fighting.”

Down 2-0 in a series against a Spurs team that hasn’t lost a game since April 11, the Jazz would love to have such worries.

Their mission now, as impossible as anything Tom Cruise ever tried: Win four out of five against a Spurs team that has only lost three times since March 9.

“We’re fighting for our lives,” Utah forward Gordon Hayward said.

To stay alive, the Jazz will make adjustments. They will feed Jefferson in the post. They will rely on Harris’ quickness, and Millsap’s ruggedness.

In the end, however, Utah’s best hope for survival might be out of its hands. Ultimately, Game 3 could come down to how well the Spurs handle their own prosperity.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS LEAD BEST-OF-7 SERIES 2-0

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3 Saturday: Spurs @Jazz, 9 p.m.
TV: FSNSW, TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

Game 4 Monday: Spurs @Jazz, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 5 Wednesday: Jazz @Spurs, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 6 May 11: Spurs @Jazz, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 7 May 13: Jazz @Spurs, TBD
TV: TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* — As needed in best-of-7 series

With Ginobili whole, Spurs like their chances

By Jeff McDonald

Manu Ginobili flung up a final few jumpers at the end of practice Saturday, then wandered over to do time with the gathered media.

What the Spurs guard said mattered far less than how he looked and felt.

Unlike the eve of last year’s postseason, there was no constricting blue brace strapped to Ginobili’s right arm. His elbow is fine. Hand, too. The ankles, knees, nose and abdomen? All shipshape, thanks for asking.

Incredibly for this time of year in South Texas, Ginobili doesn’t even report any allergies.

“No complaints,” he said.

For the Spurs, hoping to parlay this year’s No. 1 seed in the Western Conference into a deeper run than last year, that is certainly good news.

The Spurs open Game 1 of their first-round series against eighth-seeded Utah this afternoon at the ATT Center, their 34-year-old Argentine playmaker intact.

It is a stark change from, well, the past four postseasons.

Ginobili hasn’t been completely healthy and available for an entire playoff run since 2007. Not coincidentally, that is the last time the Spurs won an NBA title.

With point guard Tony Parker playing the best basketball of his life, Tim Duncan looking years away from retirement and Ginobili whole, the Spurs enter this year’s tournament liking their chances of taking home Larry O’Brien Trophy No. 5.

“We’re confident. We’re playing well,” said Duncan, the Spurs’ 36-year-old captain. “Above all, we are healthy.”

It’s a big “above all.”

The Spurs were confident last year, too, before disaster hit on the last day of the regular season in Phoenix.

Ginobili was squeezing between the Suns’ Grant Hill and a Duncan screen when his right elbow became trapped, hyperextending ligaments and fracturing bone.

He missed Game 1 against Memphis, which the Spurs lost en route to becoming the second No. 1 seed in the best-of-7 era to tumble in the first round.

“An injury messes up everything,” said Ginobili, who averaged 13.2 points and 4.8 assists off the bench after the All-Star break. “When you are hurt, you think more about your injury than your opponent and what you’ve got to do.”

Ever since the 2007 championship, the Spurs have been able to faithfully write “catastrophic Ginobili injury” on their April calendar, just before the words “plan early vacation.”

This year, perhaps Ginobili got it out of the way early, missing 22 games with a broken left hand from January to early February.

Some of the playoff injuries Ginobili could play through (ankle ligament impingement, 2008; fractured nose, 2010; fractured elbow, 2011). Some he could not (stress fracture, right leg, 2009).

Given the hardscrabble manner in which the Jazz play, there’s no guarantee Ginobili makes it out of this year’s first round unscathed.

Utah doesn’t rank among the NBA leaders in fouls for nothing.

“Every time we play Utah, it’s a lot of hits and a lot of hacking,” Parker said.

Ginobili’s injured elbow was not the sole reason the Spurs lost to Memphis last season — Zach Randolph and the rest of the Grizzlies had something to do with it, too — but it didn’t help.

If nothing else, the pratfall of last April served to remind the Spurs of how much has to go right to win a championship, and how little time this particular incarnation has left to add another one.

“We don’t talk about it, but they’re intelligent people,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “They know they’re not going to play together forever. That’s why last year was such a big disappointment.”

Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are the longest-tenured trio of teammates in the NBA, and the calendar never stops flipping forward.

“This year, I’m sure it’s in the back of their minds,” Popovich said. “They know they’re getting closer and closer to where that group is not going to be there.”

This afternoon, unlike last season, that championship-winning core will be intact to start the playoffs.

Because of that, the Spurs like their chances.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN