Stack vs. Manu
It’s become the Spurs trademark in recent years – just as they wear teams down with Tim Duncan’s glasswork, they seem to always find a way to get a mental edge. Yesterday was no different, as Manu Ginobli pulled his best Bruce Bowen, getting under Jerry Stackhouse’s skin during a skirmish for a long rebound late in the 3rd. After Stackhouse used Manu’s head to get off the ground, he was hit with a tech, which was shortly followed by Avery Johnson getting one.
Manu downplayed the scrap after the game. And why shouldn’t he? His elbow-to-the-throat-then-flop trick didn’t get him T’d up.
“It was just a board where we’re both fighting,” Ginobili said. “Of course, we both try to get that rebound. I just fell to the floor. I think he pushed my head to the floor, but nothing to complain about.
“He’s just a competitor. I am a competitor. We both try to win. So no big deal.”
But Stack wasn’t as forgiving. He pointed his finger at Ginobli as the dirty player even though ABC’s Mark Jackson blamed Stackhouse for escalating on the color commentary.
“It’s nothing new with him,” Stackhouse said. “He flails and falls and does a whole lot of that [stuff] throughout the course of the game, and it’s always the second guy that gets caught. I think that’s what they saw.”
March 24th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Arno says:
What’s interesting in this story is the cultural thing : the globalized NBA is now mixing people for diferent cultures. And Argnetina’s one (coming from soccer, I guess) doesn’t involve the American disgust of flopping (probably not manly enough). It’s the same with many aspects of the game : international players generally don’t even understand the notion of a MVP in a team game.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
doc says:
Manu better fall back for he catch what Hornacek did.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
marcus the great says:
what the hell are you talkin about??
March 24th, 2008 at 11:04 am
word says:
i already said this but: F the spurs! They are dirty players (Bowen killed my teams’s dream with that foul on Nash last season). And this year again right before playoffs they made sure they won this game to clinch their spot. Funny. Plus Duncan and Ginobli are whine asses.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Constable Goon says:
It is a requirement that you have to be a Level 3 Douchebag to play for the Spurs..minus Mike Finley.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Prof. TX says:
Ginobili is so bad about this, he makes Divac’s flops look like legitimate injuries. Some guys grow up watching and re-watching tapes of MJ’s shot or Olajuwon’s blocks to try and imitate them, Manu grew up analyzing how people fall and complain so that he can be a star at it. This guy acts like he’s so frail and weak and hurt, makes Reggie Miller look like Bill Goldberg in comparison.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
True Words says:
And this year again right before playoffs they made sure they won this game to clinch their spot
No shit sherlocke. Isn’t that the goal EVERY year.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am
fiyaman says:
I was watchin the game and Im not a Spurs fan or a Mavs fan but I agree with Mark Jackson.. I was a total dirty play by Stack and if the Spurs had any real players on their team he would have got Carmelo’d while he was geting up off their player. (nobaody even game to defend ginobli. If you watch the play Stackhouse put his hand around his neck and slammed hi head to the floor. Where I come we’d still be fight right now.
Manu flops yes but that doesnt excuse what Stack did I just wish someone would have chkd him for it cause if that was my boy i sure would have.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
doc says:
Aint none of them Spurs trying to get that ass whipped.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:59 am
reidd says:
wow alot of spur haters, yes they are dirty, but it gives them a mental edge, aka pistons of the past. while manu plays like a d-bag, what stackhouse did was unacceptable.
also nobody rags on the warriors who wine just as much if not more than the spurs and this also despite the fact that every nba superstar refuses to believe they committed a foul.
spurs just have a bad rep because of bowen and sean elliot who is a d-bag.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Furai says:
Once you let the Spurs get in your head, it’s done. The Spurs don’t loose their cool at all. How are the Spurs dirty. Only Bowen possibly, but Manu “flopping” doesn’t make him a dirty player.
It doesn’t matter, the Mavericks are possible/most likely out of the playoffs now since Dirk went down.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
GEE...Spring Break should be a national month long holiday and break! says:
I am saying though?!?!
If you gone mush dude’s head then mush it good.
That was on some ol lame ish. I don’t like that sneaky ish. If you gone check a dude then really check him. Otherwise get up or whatever and just continue to play.
Stackhouse was on some ol’ frustrated ish, and with a player like Manu? Come on Stack?!?! Everyone in the L know Manu ain’t gone raise up.
That was weak. Players better check their emotional state before the playoffs, cause if get suspended for doing something dumb, you hurtin your squad as well, specially if you are a player they need.
Players that will possibly hurt their teams in the playoffs because they can explode at any moment:
Sheed (of course)
Baron
S-Jack
Kobe (When calls don’t go his way he loses it)
Skip (R. Alston)
Melo
Kenyon
Stackhouse
K.G. (Mouthin off with other players)
P Dub (He gets his words in too)
March 24th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
tealish says:
Furai: Flopping is unsportsmanlike and disgraceful. Ah, much better than the “dirty” label.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
GEE...Spring Break should be a national month long holiday and break! says:
How dare I forget Bruce Bowen with his tatics, and Nash has some tatics too. They both can hurt their squads if they ain’t careful!
March 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Bron42 says:
for real, nash flops just as much as anyone else but manu has it down like a art form. Sure manu may not be tryin to cripple someone dirty, but you can still be a dirty player without hitting someone. routinly breakin rules your whole career you kno u can get away with is just as bad as pie facing someone onto the hardwood one time.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
dagwaller says:
Bron, what rule did Manu break?
If people don’t like flopping, maybe they should petition the NBA rules committee about making it ACTUALLY illegal. Until then, A.) understand that for it to be a charge, the guy has to fall, which I think is dumb, but it’s INVITING people to flop, and B.) hitting someone in the face (which is essentially what Stack did) is still illegal.
Reminds me of another act that NO ONE complains about, but is JUST as bad as flopping. The one where the shooter jumps INTO the defender, “drawing” a foul where there really wasn’t one intended. Think about it.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Prof. TX says:
I hate that the defender is called on that. A number of players, Manu included, have made a career out of jumping into or onto people who were playing legitimate defense.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
djKianoosh says:
i dont know what you guys were watching, but that was an easy call. I think the refs got it right. double foul because manu has his left arm extended and leaning into stack, and stack for pulling that arm down and taking both of them down. Tech for stack for pushing down on manu’s neck, and tech for avery for givin the ol’ stare down at mid-court.
loved van gundy’s cage idea.. just kidding. but even he was like, no tech needed. that was just a hard foul on stack.
as for spurs getting in their head, yeah, probably. but also they had just lost a big lead and dirk. so they were already fragile, that just put them over the edge.
what’s ginobili gonna do? let stack get that rebound? what do you guys want? stack was the dirty player in this one. just cause he couldn’t get the board he flipped out. that’s weak…
March 24th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
alex says:
its not really “legitimate defense” because you actually jump towards the player. people wouldn’t be called for that if they just jumped straight up. If a defender jumped straight up, and you jumped into him, i’m pretty sure that would be a charge.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
LOVELIFE says:
MANU’s
elbow 2 the throat while boxxxin out?
he deserved what
he got!!
March 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
G says:
gotta love Bowen’s role in the whole thing. He looks like a little kid tattling. I get the whole veteran not hurting his team, making sure the ref sees whats going on, but at somepoint you have to put that aside and get up in a guys face. He just smushed your mans face into the ground. Let him hear about it, dont just jump up and down and point
March 24th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
G says:
oh and by the way whats with the over analyzing of the whole thing? Basketball is a physical game despite what david stern would have you believe. These are grown men, they have egos, tempers, etc. You take two guys who been goin at it all game, stuff gets a lil physical they hit the floor hard these things will happen
March 24th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
rangerjohn says:
see manu is more of a class act then stack, ever heard the term “dont stoop to his level”?
stackhouse is a joke, the mavs are a joke. nothing but thugs.
“word says:
i already said this but: F the spurs! They are dirty players (Bowen killed my teams’s dream with that foul on Nash last season). ”
i wonder what foul was that? i assume you mean the one where amare and diaw came off the bench to get in the middle of the fight? if this is the “foul” you speak of, i have 2 things to say 1) horry is the one who commited that foul, bowen was no where near nash, 2)nash flopped harder then manu ever could on that foul (he even said it was not that hard a hit afterwards showing how much of a flop it really was)
all you spurs haters, all i can say is if manu was on YOUR team (same goes for bowen) you would be loving his game. he is a competeator like no other. he has won to many thing in his life without being dirty to be disrespected like you knuckleheads do.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
eyeused2b says:
I don’t care about players flopping, b/c unfortunately, it’s a part of the game, but what Manu did was deserving of retaliation. He already had position, so there was no need for him to throw his arm into Stack’s face and then dive backwards. Mark Jackson made it seem like Stack dragged him down. They both were already falling b/c Manu decided that since he felt a warm body next to him, he needed to lay on it. If you’re going to flop, flop when you’re doing something. Manu has taken to flopping just to be flopping. All that shit is bogus. Dirk did it too many times in that game as well. They all look like a bunch of pussies out there doing that nonsense.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
T-Dot Tim says:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
don’t want manu on my team or bowen, but I’d take TD and TP
March 24th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
rangerjohn says:
lmao there is not a single person who would HONESTLY say they dont want manu on their team, and if they did HONESTLY say that, they would be an idiot. look at the mans numbers. his numbers per 48 minutes are BETTER THEN KOBE’S and almost even to labrons numbers. he is barely in the top 20 in freethrow atempts so his “flopping” cant be that bad. see the thing is when you WANT TO SEE SOMETHING you tend to look harder for it, and you tend to exagerate things.
as for mnau hitting stackhouse in the face during the block out, stackhouse didnt move his hand to manu’s face AFTER they hit the floor, he had manu by the neck/face before they headed down. by the way go back and watch the video, stackhouse had his arm OVER THE TOP of manus arm so how did manu hit him in the neck/face, and when you go to block out/rebound where are your arms supposed to be? IN THE AIR, as in UP, if stackhouse ran into him fine, if manu ran into him fine but stackhouse grabbed manu by the neck to take him down, thats deserves a suspension, and if not then going after manu after the wistle and while he was down with his back to stackhouse is worthy of a suspension in itself