NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 17, 2005

Manu Ginobili

MANU GINOBILI: I really don't know. I think we stopped moving the ball and it's hard to penetrate and find the room to get to the hole when you are just standing. I think we moved the ball much better in 1 and 2. You know, they just played much better. They collapsed the paint a lot more, and when we moved the ball, we just didn't find a lot of open room to find the open shooter or penetrate. They just did a great job.

MANU GINOBILI: No. I was mainly an offensive guy. I didn't -- you know, when I was a kid, younger, I didn't care much about playing D because I knew I was able to score and I was going to play. So when I started playing on good teams and started getting mature, I started understanding defense a little more, giving more importance to it and started getting better.

MANU GINOBILI: Of course, we didn't think the series was over after the first two games. We knew it was going to be very hard here. What we didn't know was that it was going to be so hard, because they are really killing us. These last two games were just embarrassing. They beat us all over the court in every part of the game. So we came here wanting to at least win one, and we still have an opportunity. So we are going to give the best shot because we know how important it is when you are tied Game 5. So we really have got to step up, play better and more aggressively, more with our hearts than we did in Game 3 and 4.

MANU GINOBILI: Well, disappointed for sure. Embarrassment, too. Because what we did in Game 4 was really bad. So I am embarrassed. I don't know if my teammates are or not, but of course we are upset. Nobody likes losing like that, especially in an NBA Finals, so we are looking forward to playing Game 5 and do a much, much better job.

MANU GINOBILI: I really hope so. I think it's going to be bad for both sides if something like that happened. In this moment, of course, I don't have my mind on that, and I really don't care until next week seriously. There is something really big we are playing for now to be thinking about that. But of course, we know it's our future, the future of the league, too, so we are all looking forward to finding a solution.

MANU GINOBILI: Help him in any possible way. We have to just stay with the ball and, you know, try to feed him and all stay quiet and wait for him to do something. I think we have to create ball movement. If we pass him the ball when Ben Wallace or Rasheed or whoever is guarding him is helping, it's easier for him. We just don't have to give him the whole responsibility of what we are doing in Game 3 and 4. We just have to move the ball. If we've got him, good, if not, we just have to keep moving and try to attack. We played the whole season not depending only on him, so we don't have to do it now just because we are in trouble. So it's not a matter of Tim being responsible of this, but it's the team, that always happens. It's a matter of everybody looking inside of us and realize what we did wrong and try to, you know, improve it, get better and go out there and compete because we really need to compete even better.

MANU GINOBILI: We hope everybody does it. Because when you see hustle plays by some teammates that usually don't or don't show that every game, it's like it's contagious. You get pumped up because of that. So I'm going to try to do it. I hope Tony is going to try to do it, Tim, Bruce, always, so we have to start very aggressive and physical to show them that what happened in Game 3 and 4 is not going to happen again. I don't think it's a matter of one guy, because you can say Ben Wallace, but then you see Lindsey Hunter, McDyess coming from the bench and being very aggressive, Chauncey Billups, everybody. It's not a matter of one starting it. I think it's a team, and we've all got to be aware of what we're playing here. This is a Game 5 of the NBA Finals. You never know if you're going to be here again. So we've got to play with our pride and determination.