Excuse me Mr. Ginobili, but how would you like to pay for this? Oh, just charge it.

Well, that was different.

I’ve been watching the NBA for quite a few years now, and I don’t think I have ever seen a game end with a charge to negate a basket.  The conventional wisdom in regards to calls like that, is that the “Ref’s like to let the players decide the game”, but as Reggie Miller said last night, (I may be taking a little liberty here) “It’s tough to make a call like that, but it is the right call.”

What I don’t understand, is how what Manu did could be seen in any light other than a player making a play.  As long as the rules are written and interpreted in a way that allows a player to take a charge in that manner, it is just good smart ball for a player to take advantage of it.  How often do we see players lauded for their ability to draw a foul on the offensive end of the court?  Let’s see…every frickin’ night, that’s how often!

Why just the other day, I was reading that now that his deep ball has improved if Derrick Rose ever learns to draw a foul on a more consistent basis he’d be next to unguardable. Dude’s pretty special as it is, but what the author was saying is that what’s separating him from the truly elite players is the ability to manufacture scoring opportunities.  Are you catching the inherent irony of these two paragraphs?

On the one had it’s a good thing to draw fouls if you’re on defense, but it is at the same time looked down on when you are playing defense.  You know what I am saying.  You know that Manu is regarded as a flopper.  You know that non-Bulls fans can’t stand Joakim Noah because he’s so effective at drawing charges and getting under the other team’s skin.

All editorializing aside, that win last night was another in a growing set of evidence that these Spurs are fo’REAL! To fight back on the second night of a back-to-back and hold on to win against a quality opponent says something.  When the Spurs took their first lead of the game late in the Third and then seized control of the next 12 minutes of game play, I was feeling pretty good as a Spurs fan.  Then came the inbounds blunder between Dice and Manu and the roof caved in and what I feared was the truth tried to come out and I just didn’t know what to do.  What I did do, was sit up and hold my breath and wish for a miracle.  What I got was two pre-Christmas miracles from none other than Manu Claus himself.