When Ginobili drives to the basket, his limbs fly everywhere and he always seems like he's about to lose control, but somehow in there he manages to get to the basket, take a good shot or draw a foul. It's a little like watching a bowl of spaghetti while someone shakes it.
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich has said he doesn't try to coach Ginobili, but I think that's just his way of saying he doesn't understand how Ginobili plays. Part of that is that Ginobili is Argentinian.
Now, at my odd and obscure international school in Wales, I felt like I developed a pretty good sense of different countries' national identities.
Although each of the 300-odd students at my school was different from the others, when I put all the people from a particular country together, I could usually see a single thing they all had in common, like how Americans have this overwhelming sense of the power of the individual.
Not to oversimplify, but the Argentinians were all weird. They were funny, they had a lot of energy, and even with the introverted ones, you felt like there was at least part of their brain that was going 100 miles a minute.
I got along pretty well with the Argentinians at my school, and when I think about them, the way Ginobili plays makes a lot of sense.
Ginobili (who, as I understand, is a national superstar), comes from the only basketball town in what is, of course, a football country (although I don't know whether this led to Ginobili's prowess or the other way around.)
In fact, and this is one of my favorite things about Ginobili, he led Argentina to a gold medal in the last summer Olympics. Isn't that great? It's as if Alexander the Great conquered the world and then came back to my hometown to be my lieutenant in a regular Warhammer 40,000 game.
Ginobili is a part of why the Spurs are such a strong road team because he doesn't mind being the villain on the road.
He hasn't really taken off during any particular game in these playoffs, but I remember last year he went to Denver and just humiliated the Nuggets during that series. He is still booed there.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention that he is one of the league's best floppers, which I always find mildly embarrassing. Apparently one of his team nicknames is "El Contusion" because of how he lets himself get banged up during a game.
The one thing I know I don't understand about Ginobili is why he plays so well off the bench. Ginobili, basically a starter, has played on and off for years as the sixth man.
Maybe it's a Seabiscuit thing, like he needs to be a little behind at the last turn to push himself for the finish.
Or maybe it's that Ginobili, one of the most entertaining and energetic players in the league, brings that shot of energy and enthusiasm to the Spurs just when they need it to be a championship team.
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2 comments:
he certaintly is a national hero in our country. in fact, he is on the papers pretty much everyday showing off his effortless jumps.
now, on a slightly different note, i would like to know how we, argentinians, were all 'weird' as you say. what was your thought process behind it? or was it just a spontenous reaction? tell me my secret santee! =) (vanesa, i guess one the weird ones who did not look argentinian)
Don't get me wrong - I loved all the Argentinians at school to death. It just seemed like you guys were operating on a different level than the rest of us.
I think part of it is that people from some countries just seem to have more emotions than people from other countries, like how they say that the emotions an Italian feels in a week would last a Scandinavian a year. Argentinians seemed to have a lot of emotion, but even when one of you was upset about something, there was a great feeling of optimism, almost idealism behind it.
It was so much fun to talk to any of you because you were always thinking and speaking so quickly and had so much energy. Trust me, "weird" is one of the highest compliments I can give.
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