NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SPURS v SUNS

May 29, 2005

Manu Ginobili

MANU GINOBILI: I feel like I am playing better than the regular season, being more steadily better for longer periods of time. I think I have done good things in the regular season too. Like everybody, in the regular season it is hard to maintain the concentration for 10, 15 games. You are going to have up and downs, back-to-back. It is hard. So now with all the adrenaline, you are always focusing and ready to go.

MANU GINOBILI: Well, more than don't do that it's calm down and try to be a little more solid. That's always happening in my career; especially here. But I think I came a long way, what I used to do on the court, and I am trying to find a balance with my instinct and my way of playing with the Spurs. I found the balance.

MANU GINOBILI: Well, I used to be less aware of time and the situations, being even more risky all the time, you know. Here you can be risky, some moments when you want to involve the crowd, things like that. But now I think I am a more mature player than what I used to be.

MANU GINOBILI: I don't know. I am probably -- it's probably not me to say it. I just see -- the other teams approach the game differently. You are going to see some teams that don't even go to double team on Duncan. That's not -- was not normal before. If that happens because they respect Tony and me a lot more and Brent Barry and Bruce Bowen from the corner and things like that, so that makes you feel very good knowing that this is not a one-guy team as much as it used to.

MANU GINOBILI: It did help me, but I don't care much about what the people thought about me but what I felt about it and how the team felt about me and how Pop felt about me. I think I made a big step on confidence and feeling good about myself. Even Pop realized a little more that I can do more things and help me get better to do that.

MANU GINOBILI: It was really hard to think that we would be 3-0. Of course now we think about sweeping because you want to win every single game that you have. And being the fourth at home, we don't want to give them anything. But we still know it's going to be hard; that we're going to have to work a lot and be very humble because those guys are really good. They have a lot of talent, so we know we have got to be humble and go there and work.

MANU GINOBILI: Yeah, I think he changed a little bit. He started allowing me to do a little more things than he usually did, but more because he saw -- probably because he saw that I was a different player in the sense that I needed to have that little more freedom to contribute more and do better for the team.

MANU GINOBILI: Obviously when you have the fans on your side and they get excited when you do something good, it helps your confidence a lot. You start feeling even better than what you did before making that basket. So I always try to make the fans involved and especially in the situation where we're now, where probably many times being 3-0 kind of relax a little bit, so we need the fans big time.

MANU GINOBILI: When?

MANU GINOBILI: No, no. Probably in my last couple of years in Italy is where I started realizing that, well, more things came easier than other players, that I would have a shot in the NBA. Before that I truly didn't think about it.

MANU GINOBILI: No, I don't think I am faster. I used to -- in Italy I make the difference with my athleticism, but here I am average. I don't think I am better than many of these guys that you see every day.