Damn you Manu Ginobili. Damn. You.
Why you gotta be like that? I had myself all convinced that we couldn't do it this year; that we were too old to get by both Phoenix and Dallas. We would put up a valiant effort in the playoffs; you, Tim and Tony would play your asses off but would get no help and we'd fall in 5 or 6 against DAL, never really having a shot.
I was ok with that; I could deal with that scenario. Blame Pop for his short-sightedness / veteran fetish and pray for some injection of youth in the off season.
But now you're playing out of your fucking mind again, and against Portland you dunked in traffic for the first time since 2005. And what got to me is we needed you to dunk in someone's grill at that moment. The bench went crazy and Melvin Ely was cheering like you guys grew up in Bahia Blanca together. You led a miraculous comeback with that familiar ferocity.
Bastard.
And now tonight you lead the Spurs down the stretch, playing the last 18 minutes of the game, scoring 16 in the fourth and 31 total on a ridiculous 16 FGA. There were driving layups, arrogant step-back threes, whipped passes into the lane, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.
Seriously, what the fuck? I mean, Jesus, your TS% is now higher than Dirk Nowitzki's! How the hell is that supposed to make me feel!?!?!? Oh, and what about your PER, huh? Higher than Lebron James'. You have a lot of fucking nerve.
So now I don't know how to feel. I find myself believing again... even looking forward to the opportunity of beating a 65+ win team in the Western Conference finals.
All I'm saying is don't fuck with me, ok? Please. I'm begging you.
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The Sickness surely deserves the plurality of the credit for tonight's win, but I am going to throw some love towards Tony Parker. Granted, he shot the ball horribly (5-17), but he was huge down the stretch. It started with 3:34 to go in the game; Bibby canned a 25-footer to put SAC up 1. The Wee Frenchman then made a driving layup over Brad Miller, forced Bibby to give up the ball on the defensive end and then made a ridiculous fast break layup over Williamson for the and-one opportunity. His defense was even more impressive; there was 4 possession sequence where he gave Bibby nothing. Quite a burst from a guy who was obviously playing at no more than 80%.
And before anyone complains about Tony taking a lot of shots in the fourth, it was obvious that Manu was gassed on and off through out the quarter. He can't lead the offense every time down the court.
Other stuff: at one point Corliss Williamson scored on like 5 straight possessions against Robert Horry. Terrific. And Michael Finley is shooting about 87% since I threw him under the bus.
I love talking about Bibby's beardette. It fascinates me almost as much as fractals. How does he maintain it? He must shave it everyday right? Does he have someone do that for him? Does he have them use a beardette template? There's some pretty fine line work going on there.
Well, that's 11 in a row. Next up is home against the Nets.