Article: Spurs' Ginobili shaping up nicely
 

Spurs' Ginobili shaping up nicely
Spurs' Ginobili shaping up nicely:banana
By Jeff McDonald

The passes come zipping from every direction, and in every way imaginable.

No look. Behind-the-back. Over-the-shoulder. In traffic. With English.

If there's one thing DeJuan Blair has learned early in his rookie season with the Spurs, it's that when Manu Ginobili is directing a fast break, expect the unexpected.

“He can throw it off his back, hit it off his foot,” Blair said. “He can do anything. He's amazing.”

In the Spurs' 117-99 trouncing of Minnesota on Tuesday night, Ginobili did everything but sell popcorn.

In what coach Gregg Popovich called one of his Argentine guard's best all-around games, Ginobili had 14 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and three steals, narrowly missing the first triple-double of his career. Improbably, his overstuffed stat sheet didn't do justice to the havoc he wreaked on the Timberwolves.

With Ginobili in the lead, tossing the ball around the AT&T Center like a live grenade, the Spurs enjoyed a season-high 29 fast-break points en route to their ninth win in 11 games.

“We really moved the ball well,” Ginobili said. “When we do that, everybody feels good, and everybody hustles. It's a different mood.”

Spurs forward Richard Jefferson scored 24 points, a team-leading total that matched his second-best game of the season. Tim Duncan added a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. Roger Mason Jr. had 18 points, including 10 in the second quarter as the Spurs (18-11) began to turn the game into a laugher.

All of it was obscured by Hurricane Manu.

There were times when it looked as if Ginobili had a homing device in the back of his head. He seemed bent on getting all of his teammates in on the tail end of a SportsCenter highlight.

In the first half, he hit a trailing Jefferson with a no-look touch pass for a dunk. After a steal, he found George Hill with a length-of-the-court, over-the-shoulder fling that, to the uninitiated, might have looked like an 80-foot hook shot that only went 60.

Later, he hit Blair with a behind-the-back job while falling out of bounds, the ball finding the Spurs' big rookie so unexpectedly that he was surprised he'd caught it, even after he did.

It was as if Ginobili were a Globetrotter, and the Timberwolves (7-25) were the Washington Generals.

“He has a lot of tricks in his bag,” Hill said. “When he's out running the break, you know to keep your head up. He'll throw it through his legs, with backspin. He throws all kinds of stuff.”

On nights like this, when Ginobili can dominate a game by making just five field goals, general manager R.C. Buford must feel like locking up him to a long-term contract extension — and signing Ginobili's pending twins for good measure.

Tuesday's performance was Ginobili's third good one in a row and one of the first times he looked more like the game-changing dervish he was earlier in his career, and not the injury-plagued player he's been for the past season and a half.

“He looked,” Popovich said, “like Manu.”

Ginobili's wrap-around to Blair gave him his season-high 10th assist with 6:02 to play, moving him as close as he'd ever been to a triple-double. Popovich left him in the game a little longer than usual to allow him to grab a 10th rebound.

Minnesota, which had shot below 40 percent for most of the game, responded by making four of its next five shots. With 4:52 left, Popovich pulled Ginobili aside and asked if he'd like to stick around for a chance to finish off the feat.

Ginobili declined. Even when it seemed as if he could do anything, it didn't mean he had to do everything.

“I guess the triple-double is a big deal in the States,” Ginobili said. “For me, it's not. I was not going to force it.”

thanxs.


this article pretty much, close the other thread :-)

Amen to that, Pop. Welcome back, Manu.

You could see how Blair is really impressed with Manu and the way he was passing him the ball so he has to be prepared for anything! :rock

:bigsmile

Aw, thanks for the article. He was amazing last night and I hope it s just the beginning of something good. WTG, Manu

Even some of the crazy passes to DeJuan that ended on fouls would´ve made a 13 o 14 assists stat sheet for Manu

"Fozzie Blair" was hilarious last night, he has absolutely no offensive skills but always winds up in the middle of the play.

he is not hurricane manu, he is more like tornado manu...

HE'S MANU GINOBILI!:rockon

GINOOOOOOOOOBILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! One of my fave players EVER.

That's when the Spurs are unbeatable.

His energy and his skill just changed the game..no he didn't drop forty points but his passes..his steals..his hustle changes this team. I just hope this is just the beginning...GO MANU! :rock

I guess his biggest fans David Robinson must have been real happy too...:wink

No doubt it was Great to see Manu come back to normal.
Truth is Manu is Manu we all knew him like that.... Indeed we all missed that Ridiculously unstopable Ball of Energy and WILL Power MANU who can move mountains and no one can stop his WILL POWER when he is that FOCUSED.....:worthy

Hope to see him healthy like that for a long time. But I also hope to save hime to the last...We so much so much neeeeeeeeeeeeeed him like this in the PO.

I hope the good LORD will bless him all the way this year right to the top of that mountain and then Manu will laugh all the way to the bank... if you know what I mean...:wink