Manu hunt
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – He had a towel hung over his head during what would have been crunch time, if only the Detroit Pistons hadn't spent all night crunching him.
Manu Ginobili, who owned these Pistons and owned these NBA Finals when his San Antonio Spurs surged to a 2-0 lead, was marginalized again Thursday. He was left as ineffective as his team suddenly looked.
And as bizarre as these Finals have been – four blowouts (the latest by Detroit 102-71) that somehow have led to a series squared at 2-2 – and as much of a 180 as everyone has done in Michigan, nothing has been as stunning as the suddenly stagnant scoring of Ginobili.
After hanging 53 points and driving the Spurs' offense with endless slashes into the lane in the first two games, Ginobili has shorted out in Detroit. He's scored just 19 points (12 on Thursday) on just 15 shots (nine on Thursday) leaving the Spurs without an offensive engine and the Pistons with all the momentum.
"It's like a snowball," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said.
A snowball with a chance in Texas if the Pistons can continue to manhandle Manu in Sunday's critical Game 5 at The Palace.
Detroit has made no major tactical adjustments on Ginobili. This simply is a matter of the Pistons going to work, getting nasty and clogging the lane any time he drives.
It's simple. It's effective. It's frustrating to deal with.
"It's been like that against Denver," said Ginobili, trying to sound like this was nothing new. "It's been like that against Seattle. So we know it's going to be like that."
But the Pistons aren't Denver. And they aren't Seattle.
On Thursday, Detroit coach Larry Brown fed Ginobili a steady diet of long arms (Chauncey Billups) and quick feet (Lindsey Hunter). Whenever the Argentinean guard got past the first line of defense, a fired up Wallace (Ben or Rasheed – it hardly mattered) waited.
"That's difficult," Billups said. "People think when they get by [the perimeter] it's going to be an uncontested layup. Like in the first two games, it was an uncontested layup because our energy wasn't there. But now we're back to ourselves again, and you've got to deal with our second line of defense."
This is what it is to play Detroit, which can strangle the life right out of you. The game did come easy to Ginobili in the first two games, with open lanes and swoop shots allowing him to get plastered all over the highlight shows.
But from the first roar of this wild home crowd, the Pistons' mentality has been completely different. The defensive pressure has led to fast-break points (22 more on Thursday) and easy baskets at the other end. A team that couldn't shoot straight now is explosive.
"I'm just not finding the basket," Ginobili said. "They are really collapsing in the lane, and when we move the ball it's just not there. I don't think it's so much about X's and O's. I think the determination they showed, the aggressiveness, it was the reason they won."
If there is anything that should rock the Spurs right now it is that realization. The Pistons are the league's most emotional team, one that's capable of making huge swings in quality of play and in tune with its home crowd, but also veteran enough to win on the road.
The Pistons got blazing early and never cooled down Thursday. Seven players scored in double figures. They had 23 assists and a Finals-record three turnovers. They made 13 steals. Hunter (17 points) looked like Michael Jordan.
Ben Wallace hit three jump shots.
"I really believe, in all honesty, that this is probably the best game a team that I've been involved with [has played] in such an important game," Brown said. "I don't know if we could have done any better."
The Motown beast now awoken won't hinge on adjustments or philosophies, but on guts and character.
For the Spurs, it will rest on Ginobili. Tim Duncan may be the star of this team, but his points come in the flow of the offense. Without Ginobili stirring the drink, there is no flow. There is no offense.
Ginobili claimed it will take better team play to break the Pistons' defense, and that certainly is true. But if Ginobili is ready for prime time, if he is to be one of the game's truly great players, if he is going to live up to the plaudits heaped on him early in the series, then he must make that happen, not wait for it.
That's what the great ones do. That's what this good one must.
Because the snowball is rolling.
