NBA FINALS: PISTONS v SPURS

June 22, 2005

Manu Ginobili

MANU GINOBILI: They both had an unbelievable game. Chauncey and Rip were playing him tough on very important shots. Of course we're going to try to adjust more on them. But I think during the whole series, it's just been a great battle and we're both doing good. That's why we arrived to Game 7.

MANU GINOBILI: It's similar, very similar. The only difference is at this point you're -- you know your opponent well, you're playing many times against them and it's not same as playing in Italy in the Olympic games where you've just never faced them before. But still, the same responsibilities on the table, same pressure. So it comes back to be just one game for a lot of things, so it depends a lot on the character of the players.

MANU GINOBILI: You know, you can't make people change. People do what they feel and the way they feel comfortable doing them. Tim Duncan has been an unbelievable leader for a lot of years here, but we don't expect him to be yelling or doing things like that. He just do what he has to. He plays hard. He's a leader by example as we always say. So he's going to say some things when he has to, but we are not expecting him to be so emotional on the court, so everybody has a different way of showing their emotions.

MANU GINOBILI: Well, of course, you're nervous, a little anxious, because that's what we -- whatever you did in the last ten months, it comes back to just one game, you win it all or you go back home with nothing. So, of course, there is a lot of pressure and responsibility in the game, but it's for both. We earned ourselves the position to be finishing the series at home, and we're willing to take it. We think we are still in a good situation, and I think we have a team to win. Against them anything can happen, but I think we're going to be fine.

MANU GINOBILI: Well, they have two different guys, Rip and Chauncey. Chauncey is more of a creator out of the dribble. Rip and his three-point abilities, while Rip is just running all over the place, several picks, things like that, so you have to be very aware. As long as he can get a two-yard lead, he's going to let it fly and with good percentages. Chauncey is very, very good down the stretch, fourth quarters. So you've just got to be very, very aware. It's the kind of thing that you can't just control those things and then you're going to be fine. They have very good players. So it is a great team. We really respect them, but I think we are, too. We're going to be in a situation where we can match that up and play a better game.

MANU GINOBILI: I think the focus was there, is just sometimes you're going to make good decisions and sometimes you won't. I didn't play that smart in the last two minutes, and they did, so that's the difference between winning and losing at this point of the season. Little mistakes are the ones that are going to throw you down, so we've got to think about that. That's the part we can control. If Chauncey starts hitting threes with Tony standing in his face, you can't do nothing about it. By playing smarter, moving the ball a little bit more is something we can do. That's what we are trying to focus on.

MANU GINOBILI: Easy it was not at all. We were talking the last two days about how important the Game 6 was, that we didn't think there was a Game 7. We had to take it like if it was the last chance we had. I think we did that pretty well. They just happened to play better. We made too many mistakes and that's why they won the game. But after that was over, we know that there's another chance and now the same mental focus, the same responsibilities we have for Game 6.