Manu Ginobili

) and defers to teammate Trevor Ariza. 

Why?  Because Ariza is open, as his defender (Manu Ginobili) is aggressively trapping Kobe (along with his defender Roger Mason) along with near the sideline.  Kobe has to pass, there is no other option, and the Spurs effectively get to choose (to a certain degree), who the ball goes to.  And the Spurs chose Ariza, who was 23 feet away from the basket at the top of the three-point arc.  Mind you, Trevor Ariza is no slouch, and he actually made a great drive to the basket and (brace yourselves) got hosed on a bogus traveling call that sealed the win for San Antonio, but that’s not the point.  Well, that is kind of the point, but not just because the Spurs walked away with a win. 

Continue reading "A Quick Aside... (NOT!)"

First, check out this, it's super hilarious and well written.  Now, on to the good stuff... 

We're less than four hours away from the Blazers and Celtics tipping off in Boston (catch it on ESPN if you don't want to listen to Mike Rice gush over Channing Frye and you love Van Gundy/Jackson as much as I do), so I figured I'd provide a few nuggets of wisdom about what might be the keys to the game for both sides.  Now before you all collectively groan in disgust, let me reassure you that what follows may actually prove insightful, unlike most other "key to tonight's match-up" pieces that simply say score, defend and rebound better than your opponent.  There are a few things that I'm looking for as indicators of successful play by both sides which go much deeper than the usual mundane crap, so bear with me.

Continue reading "Celtics v. Blazers Preview Extravaganza"

ff of the bench for the Blazers next year.  To me, his game and his ability are reminiscent of Manu Ginobili, and not because he’s white and foreign!  If you can stay awake through a Spurs game, inevitably there will be at least three moments where Manu scores and you end up saying to yourself: “how the HELL did he just get to the rim and score!?”  I said the same thing many times during the gold medal game about Rudy, in disbelief every time, even though he just kept on scoring big basket after big basket. 

Continue reading "Welcome Distractions Courtesy of Spain"

fouled out.  San Antonio has the ball with 12.6 left on the clock, and after Phoenix blankets Manu Ginobili, he finds Tim Duncan who just drilled the game tying 3-pointer (his first of the season) with three seconds to go (Mike D'Antoni's  facial expression was priceless).  This season's NBA playoffs are already surpassing all expectations, as we are now headed to double overtime in just the second game (LeBron's throw-down in the first game was also unreal) of this year's playoffs.

Continue reading "Playoff Extravaganza Part Two: Suns v. Spurs"