As Manu Ginobili poured in 24 points and 10 assists in the Spurs’ victory over the Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last June, everyone in the building — and observers across the multiple continents where he established his basketball legacy — wondered whether they were witnessing Ginobili’s final rodeo in San Antonio.
Ginobili had broached the topic of retirement himself during his struggles in the Finals. Outside of his throwback performance in Game 5 and an 18-point showing in a Game 7 loss, he had a terrible series, scoring in single digits in four games and committing eight turnovers in Game 6.
But standing on the court inside the Spurs’ practice facility earlier this week, Ginobili said regardless of how the Finals had turned out, he never really was planning on going out on such a low note.
“No, not really,” Ginobili told The Post. “I said [I may retire] in a moment where I was struggling. I was struggling mentally, and it was hard for me to be on the right mindset. That’s why maybe I said it, in a tough moment, and I was at the low point and I said it.
“But after we lost, I thought a lot about how things went and what I was going to do and if I really enjoyed what I was doing, and I tried to convince myself that it was an anomaly.”
That’s proven to be the case in a resurgent 2013-14 season. Ginobili is averaging 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists in just 23.9 minutes while shooting 47 percent from the field, 37 percent from 3-point range and over 90 percent from the foul line, proving there still is plenty of life left in his 36-year-old legs.
“Manu is not going to be what he was when he was 22 years old,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “But he’s had [fresher] legs, he’s had a bounce in his legs, his vertical jump is better than its been in a while … changing directions, has ability to go by people.
“He didn’t have any of that last year, and those things have shown themselves from time to time this year. We’re really pleased with his progress.”
After last season ended, Ginobili sat down with management of the Spurs – the only NBA team he has played for – and worked out a two-year deal worth a total of $14 million to keep him in San Antonio. Many saw the contract as an overpay for an elderly
guard coming off an injury-plagued, career-worst season.
Two groups didn’t think it was an overpay: Ginobili and the Spurs. The Argentine legend was determined to prove he still had something left in the tank.
“It was a tough season, a lemon,” he said with a smile. “But I was going to get back healthy and enjoy the game and play well. That’s why I thought, ‘I’m going to keep going.’”
With his international career finally behind him, Ginobili had a chance this summer to rest, recuperating from a taxing 2012-13 season and preparing for the upcoming season in a way he simply hadn’t been able in previous summers as he played for Argentina in one international tournament after another.
“We expected more, and that’s what we’ve gotten so far, and basically it’s because he didn’t play all summer long,” Popovich said. “It’s the first time in many, many years [that was the case], and he lifted all summer long.
“This is the strongest he’s ever been and the freshest he’s been in a long, long while. So I think those two things have really propelled him into a situation where he can really be more consistent, and maybe even play more minutes, as the year goes along.”
Ginobili said: “My main concern now is trying to be healthy, taking care of my body, recovering well, and be on the court — if I can maintain that regularity of playing my 25 [minutes].
“I’m not asking for 38,” he added, laughing. “I’m just in a better mood, I don’t lose my rhythm and everything looks better.”
With Ginobili’s rebound, the Spurs’ unrelenting wins machine — which has been churning out 50-victory seasons since Tim Duncan arrived in 1997 — is also looking better. The Spurs stole Ginobili with the 57th overall pick in the 1999 draft, and brought him over from Europe three years later to join the core of Popovich, Duncan and Tony Parker. The group promptly won NBA titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
At 25-8, the Spurs are right on pace with last year’s 58-win team and remain among the Western Conference’s elite, even as their core continues to age.
As Popovich joked, “I know I’m not going to coach for 10 more years, and I know [Tim Duncan’s] not going to play for 10 more years. That’s a fact. So if you start going backwards, you think about it more now than I did 10 years ago, that’s for sure.”
But Ginobili, in his way, perfectly summed up the way he and his Spurs teammates have been able to keep their spectacular run of success going for all of these years.
“We are not the most talented team,” he said. “We are not the most athletic, we’re not the youngest, for sure, or the freshest, but we play well.”
And after enduring a season full of struggles, Manu Ginobili is back to playing as well as he has in years.
Pop prescribed group therapy for Spurs
The Spurs went on to squander a 3-2 lead to the Heat in the Finals after Ginobili’s signature Game 5 — including an instant-classic Game 6 overtime loss. A reporter recently began a question to Popovich about San Antonio’s heartbreaking loss, but was quickly cut off.
“You know, I didn’t think about it all day today until you just brought it up again,” Popovich said, cracking a smile. “So, thank you for keeping my streak alive.”
After the group had a good laugh, Popovich was asked the original question: Was he concerned about his players having a hangover from their collapse at the end of Game 6 and coming just short in Game 7, robbing the franchise of its fifth NBA title?
“I knew, being human beings, even if they told me there didn’t, there had to be some hangover there, because they had to be thinking about it just like I did,” Popovich said. “It really galls you when you had a chance to win a championship and let it slide.
“So, we attacked it. From the beginning of training camp, we showed them film of Game 6 and Game 7 … mostly Game 6, but part of Game 7, where we had the opportunities that we had. We looked at it in the sense of we wanted to be fueled by a missed opportunity and the anger of not getting it done, rather than saying, ‘Well, the basketball gods just didn’t allow it.’
“We’re trying to use it as fuel to say that you don’t get that many chances. So we looked at it and put it away. But we do that every year. We look at who beat us the year before, if we didn’t get a championship, go through it, learn from it, and then you kind of cleanse yourself, kind of a cathartic sort of deal, and then you move on.”
Ginobili was equally introspective about missing out on his fourth ring. Though it was a devastating loss, he said, it still was an honor to be one of the last two teams standing and to have played in one of the best playoff series of this century.
“We mourned for a couple days together, meeting and stuff,” he said. “We had dinner, and then everybody did their own things. Everybody went home for a month and realized that the bottom line is even if we lost in a tough spot, we made it to the Finals and there’s no way you can be suffering or feeling like crap for that.
“There were millions of players that wanted to be in that spot. We know we lost an incredible game and we could’ve won it, but we got to that spot, too, and we were that close, too, and in our heads, we have to be satisfied in some way that we were so close, and that it was a flip of a coin that didn’t work out for us.”
K-Marsh open for business in L.A.
Kendall Marshall has received an unexpected second chance at an NBA career this week thanks to a never-ending series of injuries to the Lakers’ point guards.
With Steve Nash (back), Steve Blake (elbow), Jordan Farmar (hamstring) and even shooting guard Xavier Henry (knee) out with injuries, the Lakers and coach Mike D’Antoni had no other choice but to turn to Marshall, a first-round pick by the Suns in 2012 who had a disastrous first year-plus in the league. The 6-foot-4 North Carolina product shot just 38.8 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from 3-point range last season for Phoenix. Marshall was sent to Washington in the Marcin Gortat trade during training camp and subsequently released by the Wizards.
Marshall then went to play for the Delaware 87ers in the D-League, where he had 31 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds and two steals in his debut. The Lakers chose to sign him in mid-December as their injuries began to mount.
It remains unlikely Marshall will be able to take advantage of this opportunity, but there isn’t a coach who has a better chance of maximizing whatever potential Marshall has than D’Antoni, whose system is a dream for point guards.
Denver’s budding problem
Just when it looked as if things couldn’t get worse for the Nuggets and first-year coach Brian Shaw, veteran point guard Andre Miller yelled at Shaw on the bench during a home loss to the 76ers Wednesday night as he was in the midst of receiving the first DNP-coach’s decision of his 15-year career.
The Nuggets suspended Miller for two games for conduct detrimental to the team, and Yahoo! Sports reported the Warriors and Kings were interested in acquiring Miller via trade. Besides being a veteran backup point guard that could help a playoff team — the Warriors have a huge hole at backup point behind Stephen Curry – or mentor a young player at the position — such as Sacramento’s Isaiah Thomas – Miller’s contract is appealing because it can effectively be removed from a team’s books this summer (he only has $2 million guaranteed).
Whether or not the Nuggets choose to move Miller in the wake of his public spat with Shaw, his availability will be a recurring theme as the mid-February trade deadline approaches and Denver struggles to remain in the playoff picture in the loaded Western Conference.