The Spurs put a contract in front of Manu Ginobili last spring. But before he signed, he had a question for Gregg Popovich.
How much longer do you plan to keep coaching?
“He told me just five months,” Ginobili deadpanned Wednesday night. “That’s why I stayed.”
At 21-3, the jokes come easy. Easier than the wins. The Spurs survived Wednesday after losing an 18-point lead, because Ginobili stepped back on the Milwaukee Bucks at the buzzer and did what he’s seemingly done all season.
So go back to last spring, when Ginobili’s contract was on the table.
Why wouldn’t Popovich want to hang around to watch this show as long as he could?
As Ginobili’s game-winner fell, and the arena rose, Popovich stood like a man with a mess of papers still on his desk. Even with this win, even with this record, Popovich has work to do.
Yes, Ginobili saved them. “But you wouldn’t be in that position,” Popovich said, “had you played the 24 minutes before that.”
Popovich has time to correct these things — after his career timetable was set last spring by Ginobili.
“It was a long conversation,” Ginobili said. “But I wanted to know if he was planning on coaching just another year, or the length of my contract. I wanted to know.”
Popovich had always kidded he’d retire when Tim Duncan did, and Wednesday restated why he’d always said that. Duncan’s seven blocks were necessary, especially since Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut had seven.
Popovich has also said in the past that he could see staying as the franchise transitions out of this era. For all of his outside interests, the game has a pull on him. His own contract likely does, too.
But Popovich never talked about how long, exactly, until Ginobili wanted to know. Asked about that Wednesday, Popovich responded as Ginobili did. With humor.
“Manu asked me a few questions before he signed,” he said. “I gave him whatever baloney I had to give him to get him to sign, and now I guess I’ve got to follow through somehow or another.”
There are probably times with this team that Popovich feels like he could coach forever. There will eventually be days, too, when he feels like he has been. But as long as Ginobili is upright, with an angle at the basket, the job should be tolerable for Popovich.
It was Wednesday. The Spurs cruised early, with ball movement and energy. Popovich felt sure enough to sit Ginobili to start the second half.
Popovich said he did it to save Ginobili some minutes. And when Ginobili was asked afterward why he thought he didn’t start the second half, his answer said a lot about their relationship.
“Ask the old guy with the white hair,” Ginobili said.
Also telling about them is what happened after the lead had dissolved and the game was tied. Ginobili had thrown in a 3-pointer for the lead in the final minutes but had been blocked twice afterward. When Popovich called for a pick-and-roll with 9.5 seconds left, Ginobili had another idea.
“I called for an iso,” Ginobili said.
Ginobili said he preferred, after being blocked twice, to play against one defender instead of two. So Ginobili drove left, then used his step-back jumper, which he says he’s been working on.
Bucks coach Scott Skiles thought Ginobili walked. The refs didn’t.
Popovich was scheduled hours later to get on a charter jet to Denver for a game the next night. These are the times when relaxing near a vineyard probably sounds appealing.
But Ginobili’s contract doesn’t end until 2013. By then, Popovich will be 64 years old.
By then, too, Ginobili will have done something else worth watching.
bharvey@express-news.net
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