May 5, 2003

Minuto con Manu: Over and Done with the Suns

by Manu Ginobili

Spurs guard Emanuel Ginobili is regularly sharing the experiences of his rookie campaign in an online journal throughout the 2002-03 season. The first-year Argentine sensation filed this latest entry from the SBC Center, where the Spurs are preparing to take on the L.A. Lakers for Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals. For more information, visit Manu's official website: manuginobili.com
Far from easy, but fortunately the first round is history. Phoenix was a really tough opponent, but in fact, we didn’t expect less. As athletic and aggressive a team as they are, they set the series out really well.

In my opinion, they had two choices: one, to prevent Duncan from getting the ball and the other one, to let him have it, but to force him to drop it as soon as possible, with aggressive double teams. They chose the latter and it was quite a good decision, so good that they almost won the two first games in San Antonio.

By the third game, I think, we were ready and we knew how to attack the defense better. The first game was a hard shock for us, to lose in the way we did was not easy. Many doubts overcame us after that, and the psychological recovery for the second game (without David Robinson) was a big test we had to set for, both in the second and third game.

Another key factor was the way we improved the team defense over Marbury. However, I think that a player with his characteristics, if he is really inspired (as it had happened many times this year) it’s almost impossible to neutralize.

We also played well in the fourth game, but we lacked definition. I think we played brilliantly for 40 minutes, but then we gave in in the end and they won.

I believe the fifth game, as well as the third one, were our best games. Considering the fifth, disregarding some consecutive mistakes we made at the beginning of the third quarter we could say it was a perfect game.

We arrived very concentrated to the sixth game, knowing that by any means we did not want a seventh one. It was a neck-and-neck game, with the same tactics as the previous ones, but we score several three points shots in the end which discouraged them and allowed us to beat them.

Undoubtedly, we learned a lot in this series, especially how to play without Tim as a 25 or 35 points guarantee. We played being aware that WE were the ones who had to score, and if not, the game will turn out complicated.

Now, the three-times champion is next, a huge challenge for the team, which was eliminated by the Lakers the last two years (4-0 and 4-1, respectively).

I think it will be a tough series, let’s see how it begins. No doubt, the first two games are important in order to analyze what might happen afterwards. I don’t think being the home team will be of much influence, since, as it was clearly shown in the first round, many games have been won on the road.

Don’t miss the conference semifinals which will be really interesting!

See you soon!
Manu Ginobili