Tag: Manu Ginobili

Ginobili saves day, lifts Argentina

By Mike Monroe
mmonroe@express-news.net

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — With a berth in the 2012 Olympics on the line and down by eight points to Puerto Rico early in the third quarter, Manu Ginobili felt something in his gut he had not experienced in six years.

“It can be compared only to (NBA Finals) Game 7 in 2005,” said Ginobili, who helped the Spurs come from behind against the Detroit Pistons to win the NBA championship that year.

The star guard was at it again on Saturday, sparking a rally for Argentina that produced an 81-79 victory at Malvinas Argentinas Arena in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament.

As he had for the Spurs in the second half of that Game 7 in San Antonio, Ginobili fueled Argentina in the third quarter. This time, he made four 3-pointers in a stretch of less than five minutes, erasing Puerto Rico’s lead and setting up Argentina’s victory.

In the end, it took an errant 3-pointer by Puerto Rico’s J.J. Barea of the Dallas Mavericks at the final buzzer before Ginobili could savor victory.

“It was one of the toughest games I’ve ever played,” he said, “a game where you have no tomorrow, no revenge.

“Imagine what it would have been like to be eliminated at home in front of these amazing fans, my family and friends. It would have been really, really tough, probably one of the toughest losses of my career. So when I saw Barea’s shot hit the rim, I was so emotional. I lifted a big, huge backpack off my side.”

Ginobili scored only four points in the first half but had 19 in the second, with 12 of them coming on his 3-pointers in the third period. Overall, he made 6 of 7 shots from deep range.

Ginobili called the Olympic berth “an obligation” he and his teammates had made for themselves when they gathered for training camp for the tournament.

“We had everything on this, and we won our trip to London. Everything is beautiful. We have another game (today) and we want another championship. I haven’t won one since 2007.”

Argentina will play Brazil — an 83-76 winner over Dominican Republic in the other semifinal — in today’s championship match.

Spurs center Tiago Splitter, in foul trouble all game, played barely 11 minutes in the Olympic-clinching game. He scored only three points to go with three rebounds. In the end, it didn’t matter that he had a sub-par game.

“Personally, I didn’t make my best performance, but I am very happy,” he said. “This is something that I needed in my life, to play in the Olympic Games, not just for me, but also for Brazil basketball.”

Scola leads Argentina to Americas title

By Mike Monroe
mmonroe@express-news.net

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — By the final five minutes of Sunday’s FIBA Americas championship game, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili had a thick band of tape covering a gash on the bridge of his nose.

His teammate, Houston Rockets power forward Luis Scola, had a butterfly Band-Aid covering a cut on his left eyelid.

His legs so rubbery from having played six games in seven nights, Ginobili missed three of four from the free-throw line in the final 16.6 seconds, a rarity for the 90 percent shooter that the Spurs trust on the charity stripe in the final seconds of tight games.

When Scola finally secured an 80-75 victory for Argentina over archrival Brazil by making two free throws with less than a second remaining, Ginobili and the rest of the Argentine team found the energy to join their countrymen and sing along in a raucous chorus that filled the arena. Translated, the refrain went: “Go, go Argentina; go everyone to win; this group ? never stops supporting you.”

His gold medal still around his neck 30 minutes later, powder blue and white confetti still trapped in his thinning hair, the 34-year-old Spurs star encapsulated his feelings after achieving the goal he and his teammates had set for themselves this summer.

“Now it is a mix between exhaustion and excitement and happiness, of course,” said Ginobili, who scored only eight points on 2-for-9 shooting, including going 0 for 3 from 3-point range. “We’ve been together for 45 days just to accomplish this.

“It was not easy to play today. Yesterday (an 81-79 semifinal victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday that secured Argentina’s spot in the 2012 Olympic Games in London) was very tiring and emotional. Once we got that goal, coming here we made one further step, so we are very, very happy.”

Sunday’s victory was not much easier than the one on Saturday, which wasn’t secured until a last-second 3-point attempt by Puerto Rico’s J.J. Barea fell off the rim.

Ahead by 11 with just 46.6 seconds remaining, Argentina let the lead dwindle to 77-75 as Carlos Delfino, Guillermo Kammerichs and Ginobili missed four of six free throws, and Brazil scored on each ensuing possession.

Ginobili missed one of two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to give Brazil an opportunity to tie with a 3-pointer, but an errant pass ended up in Scola’s hands.

Fouled with six-tenths of a second remaining, Scola made both free throws, and the celebration began.

Scola was 12 of 18 from the field and scored 32 points, earning Most Valuable Player honors for the tournament. He led the tournament in scoring, averaging 21.4 points in 10 games.

Scola and Ginobili were named to the all-tournament team along with Brazilian point guard Marcelo Huertas, Dominican Republic center Al Horford and Puerto Rico guard Carlos Arroyo.

Spurs center Tiago Splitter, his playing time limited once again by foul trouble, made 5 of 10 shots and scored 12 points with five rebounds for Brazil.

“I think we played hard in this game,” Splitter said. “We tried to win, even though we got our goal yesterday to go to the Olympic Games. We made a heck of an effort to win this game, and I think you have to congratulate everybody who gave a lot to this team. We are very happy.”

As players from both teams congratulated one another at game’s end, Splitter and Ginobili shared a hug and mutual congratulations.

“He told me it was a hell of a game and we made them give an extra effort to try to win,” Splitter said. “We congratulated each other to be in the Olympic Games.”

Argentina’s Luis Scola, left, Brazil’s Tiago Splitter collide in their FIBA Americas Championship final in Mar del Plata, Argentina on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Tales from the web: ‘The Golden Generation’ favored in FIBA Americas

Argentina’s “Golden Generation” should have one more big sendoff in front of their home fans over the next couple of weeks.

With standouts like Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Carlos Delfino, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni on the team, SB Nation.com’s Tom Ziller predicts the Argentinians are “to win one of  two berths to the Olympics in London next year by qualifying at the FIBA Americas Tournament that begins on Tuesday.

Ziller has an extensive preview and a primer of what to watch for in the tournament.

Here are some other Spurs-related tidbits that have popped up on the web the last several days.

Enjoy.  

  • Andrew McNeill of 48 Minutes of Hell.com pulls out a protractor to develop an infographical look at how successful thein the history of the franchise.
  • Paul Garcia of Project Spurs.com analyzes why Ryan Richards.
  • Janie Annie of Pounding the Rock.com analyzes in its “friendly” victory over Venezuela last week.
  • Tallahassee Democrat sports editor Ira Schoffel admits to whiffing on his prediction that Tim Duncan wasin the NBA.
  • Adam Fromal of the Bleacher Report.com among his most successful franchises in NBA history, trailing , , and his No. 1 choice .
  • Royce Young of CBS Sports.com reports that former Spur George Hill after the lockout started.
  • Rob Mahoney of the Dallas-centric Two Man Game.com relates why he doesn’t expect a rash of willing knockoffs of the Mavericks like .  
  • Phillip Barnett of Forum Blue and Gold.comof the FIBA Americas and Eurobasket tournaments.  
  • Purdue volleyball player Anna Drewry, formerly of Clark High School, tells the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal-Courier’s Sam King that she was back in the day by David Robinson.  
  • Jonathan Tjarks of Real GM.com notes that Duncan is one of the few NBA forwards over the last two seasons who had .