Manu Ginobili on Howard saga: “It’s been such a long soap opera”

Mar 6, 2011; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (20) drives against Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) during the first half at the AT

Manu Ginobili wasn’t even in the vicinity of the United States when the big news happened.

The Los Angeles Lakers finally orchestrated the four-team blockbuster that would bring Dwight Howard, and hopefully not the excessive amount of emotional baggage in Orlando, and championship expectations that naturally come when you acquire player of his stature.

Ginobili was preparing to play the United States in the semifinals. When he was finally confronted with the question, he jokingly responded.

“I’m so happy it happened finally,” Ginobili said. “It’s been such a long soap, how do you say, soap opera.”

He wasn’t serious; this is another example of the underrated sense of humor in the San Antonio organization. Ironically, his statement is actually a nice way to define the situation given Howard’s incoherent decision making the past year.

He added, while he doesn’t know the exact parameters of the deal, that the Lakers will be a lot tougher with Howard.

“I know Dwight got to L.A. and (Pau) Gasol stayed,” Ginobili said. “That makes them even tougher. So we     will go play them as hard as we always have and try to beat them regardless.”

Sometimes it takes a long soap opera to firmly entrench themselves in the championship conversation again.