The New Look Spurs
March, the 6th, the San Antonio Spurs went to Memphis to play against playoff contender, at the time, Grizzlies, won the game but lost Tony Parker for the remainder of the regular season with a broken bone in his right hand at the end of the first half. Parker was never healthy this season. Most people forget but he underwent surgery during the summer to repair a high ankle sprain while playing for the French national team. Parker has also battle plantar fasciitis in his left foot and those with knowledge of the world of sports know by now that the prescription for it is extended rest.
Without his main ball handler and second leading scorer, Gregg Poppovic, who struggled to find a reliable lineup for the entire season, decided to keep it simple and turned his hopes to old closer and difference maker Manu Ginóbili. With no Parker to monopolize the ball and control the slow pace of the game, San Antonio hasn’t presented a new offense, they still play slow (tied for 21st on the league in pace), but now every possession passes through the hands of Ginóbili and the Spurs go as he goes.
After battling all sorts of injuries throughout the last few years and missing most of last season, Ginóbili sat the entire summer with instruction from the Spurs for him to do nothing but rest, so for the first time in a while, he did not join the Argentinean national team. Although it didn’t bring results at first, Ginóbili averaged almost 13 PPG in the first 3 months and the Spurs underachieved mostly struggling to fit newcomers Richard Jefferson & Antonio McDyess, it has shown results lately.
With Manu at the helm, SA is 6-3 and two of those three were close losses. Ginóbili’s presence and more featured role has also helped Richard Jefferson to be more affective. Jefferson, who has been in and out of the starting lineup, has increased his production lately. On March only, Ginóbili is shooting a season high 53.2% FG, 45.3% 3FG & averaging a season high 21.2 PPG. Jefferson has been able to reach his season average this month, something he was unable to do in January and February.
Manu has looked as good as he did during that run of 3 championships on 5 years. He has been loose and capable of moving quickly. The new look Spurs have been great lately, playing more consistent defense and doing what they do well on offense + Tim Duncan is still Tim Duncan, averaging 18 & 10.
San Antonio was supposed to be a powerhouse this year, trading for Jefferson, signing McDyess, resting Ginóbili & Duncan and having a deep team. They didn’t start the season playing good basketball but they never do, so nobody panicked. Once the second half of the season approached and SA still didn’t go on a run, we all started to speculate that maybe their window was in fact closed. They still don’t look like a contender but with Manu leading charge, you can easily see them putting up a fight, even if they finish in 8thand have to face the Lakers on the first round. Is still a stretch to imagine this team going on a run, even assuming they have Tony Parker during the playoffs, however the way Manu has looked rejuvenated and Duncan remains to be productive, there’s still hope.
