Oh Ginobili; You Brought This On Yourself

Jun 13, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili (20) and power forward Tim Duncan (right) walk off the court after game four of the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT

Everyone including myself, have been wondering what has happened to Manu Ginobili.  In these NBA Finals Ginobili has been non existent through the first four games against the Miami Heat.  His best game of these series came back on game one where he scored 13 points and had three assists.

He has had the opportunity in these games to hit down jumpers, which he normally does, but there is just something that is going on with Ginobili to me I can’t quite put  my finger on.  You have to give credit to Miami’s defense right?  Miami is pressuring him in order for him to make quick decisions and get the ball out of his hands.  This in turn makes for the game to go into a hectic state.

Through the four games he has done things that would make any sane person, well, go insane.  Ginobili we all know has his own flare to the game.  He hasn’t changed any style of play since day one with the Spurs.  This is him, this is how he plays.  I understand that this is his style, but there is a time and a place where this can all be shown.  In the NBA Finals, we need to get back to fundamentals.

I surely will be getting a lot of trash thrown back at me for this article but it is what it is.  This has been brewing on me for a long time.  I like Ginobili, I still think he is a great player, but what has transpired with his play through this series alone has to make one think about his play for the rest of the series.

Game four, many people took to twitter, including myself, stating that he needed to be benched.  His shots are flat, he is making dumb mistakes leading to easy points for the Heat.  Everytime he touched the ball, I cringed. Why?  Nothing went right when he had the ball.

Am I lying?

The Spurs ‘Big Three’ has now vanished and is now the ‘Big Two’, that doesn’t even sound right.

Ginobili this series is averaging 7.5 points per game.  He has made 10 of his 29 attempts (3-of-16 Three attempts) through the four games.

There is hope for Ginobili, I think.  He has been stated as talking about retiring after years end, not retiring after years end, but one thing is for certain, he doesn’t blame his recent play on any health issues.

Whatever the case may be, teammates of Ginobili state that he will get out of the slump that he is in.  According to Paul Garcia, all Spurs have not lost any confidence on him:

TP: “We definetly need Manu. We need to help him. We need to get his confidence going. I’m sure he’s going to break out of that slump.”

— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) June 14, 2013

Gary Neal on Manu Ginobili: “I have not lost confidence in Manu.” #Spurs #Heat

— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) June 14, 2013

Danny Green on Manu Ginobili: “He’s been a little up and down.” Green too says he hasn’t lost confidence in Manu. #Spurs#Heat

— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) June 14, 2013

We are two days away to see which Ginobili will show up.  If it is going to be the one that wrecked it in last years Western Conference Finals, or we see the current one.  San Antonio is behind you Ginobili, I want to be but it is hard at this point.

Prove me wrong.