The San Antonio Spurs’ goal of an elusive repeat championship most likely will be determined by a player taken second-to-last in the 1999 NBA draft, someone whose on-court sanity has been questioned by his coach but who is also a favorite of both Kobe Bryant and TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

Yes, it should come as no surprise in the wildest season ever for the NBA’s Western Conference that Manu Ginobili, a player deemed crazy by teammate Tony Parker as well as Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, has played the best basketball of his life.

At age 30 and in his sixth NBA season, Ginobili has posted career-highs in points (19.5), minutes (31.1), rebounds (4.8), assists (4.5) and 3-point accuracy (40.1 percent), a number that has improved every season.

Among the highlights: Back-to-back 37-point outbursts — one as a starter, one off the bench — in victories over the Mavericks and Jazz in December, 46 points and eight 3-pointers in a road win against the Cavaliers in February, two games of 7-for-9 accuracy on 3-pointers against the Timberwolves. Oh, there was a highlight-reel dunk over the Rockets’ 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, too.

Ginobili, who maintains strong family ties in his homeland of Argentina, overcame numerous challenges to establish himself as one of the best basketball players in the world. So, brushing aside another challenge, a groin injury that forced him to miss three of the last four games of the regular season, should just be part of his routine.

With the playoffs beginning Saturday, of the roadblocks teams will encounter on a title drive, the one constructed by the Spurs is the most formidable. Yes, all roads to that title still run through San Antonio.

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While Parker, along with stalwart Tim Duncan also are vital to the Spurs’ pursuit of another NBA crown, whether they reach it or not will be on Ginobili. Not long ago, that statement, much like the player himself, would have been — well, crazy.

Unique style
The foray sometimes begins with a through-the-legs — the defenders’ legs, not his own — dribble or pass and ends with a circuitous attack on the basket, where Ginobili, crashing into would-be shot blockers, throws down an unexpected dunk. Didn’t see it coming? That goes for a lot of people, both on and off the court.

Douglas C. Pizac / AP Ginobili has never been afraid of contact, as Utah's Ronnie Price (17) and Matt Harpring discovered in this April 4 game.

After all, Ginobili’s pro career in this country began as an afterthought. He was selected by the Spurs late in the second and final round of that aforementioned 1999 draft. Ginobili had just completed his first professional season in Italy. Both he and the Spurs knew at the time that he wasn’t ready for the NBA. San Antonio tabbed him because, coming off a championship, the Spurs didn’t have a pressing need. At the same time, they didn’t like any of their other options in that draft slot.

Ginobili didn’t sign right away with San Antonio. Instead, continuing to play in Italy, he improved. Did he ever. In 2001 he was named MVP of the Italian League and led Bologna to the Italian and Euroleague championships. In 2002 he was again named MVP of the Italian League. Ready for a new challenge, and armed with the game to take him there, Ginobili signed with the Spurs in the summer of 2002. Two months later, he led Argentina to a stunning victory over the United States in the World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis, the first U.S. loss ever in international competition when using NBA players.

As a rookie with the Spurs in 2003, Ginobili was a role player who helped capture the NBA championship. He showed signs of genius, but the good was too often offset by daring maneuvers that resulted in missed shots or turnovers. This approach clashed with disciplined San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who yanked Ginobili from one game and, according to an article in USA Today, asked him, “If I put you back in the game, are you going to act anything like a normal human being?”

Slowly, Ginobili won over even Popovich, who opened up the offense a bit to let Ginobili and Parker, the quick point guard from France, be themselves. Sure, the mistakes continue to agitate, but they are fewer and are far outnumbered by successful, game-changing plays.

“(Ginobili’s) not easy to coach, and Pop and him are an ideal pairing because Pop is comfortable enough to give him the rope to let him be Manu,” said SuperSonics coach P.J. Carlesimo, lead assistant coach in San Antonio for five years through 2007. “And that’s what he’s got to be. I think it’s been a great relationship because Pop can get all over him when he does his crazy stuff, but he also knows that a lot of nights his crazy stuff turns out good.”

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images Ginobili, riding the wave's curl.

In his book Miracle on 33rd Street about the 1970 New York Knicks, author Phil Berger described Walt Frazier in this way: “Frazier had the kind of entranced joy inside the game’s rhythm that surfers are said to have in a wave’s curl.”

Ginobili plays the game on the same surfboard: fast, slow, up, down, in, out, each move precisely measured and delivered at the correct time and place. With no end of variables in constant movement around him, Ginobili appears comfortable.

“He has exquisite timing and feel, and plays at a perfect pace, always controlling his tempo,” said David Thorpe, director of skills development for NBA and college players at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla.

“He is a high-level athlete, extremely balanced and agile. He is technically superior — shots, fakes, moves off the dribble, footwork in his triple-threat game. He lulls defenders to sleep, then speeds up and slows down. He has every trick in the book. There just aren’t 10 shooting guards on the planet that have all those things in one combination, maybe five.”

Popovich’s headaches were alleviated not just because Ginobili matured but because he improved all aspects of his game. Consensus is that what makes Ginobili stand out is his intelligence, most notably an ability to see elements of the game, absorb them, incorporate them, improve upon them. A combination of athleticism and acumen.

“His best quality is that he’s very smart. His basketball IQ is huge,” said the Rockets’ Luis Scola, a teammate and friend of Ginobili’s on Argentina’s national team.

Opponents are painfully aware of his cerebral abilities.

Houston’s Shane Battier, one of the league’s premier defensive players and keeper of a database of opponents’ abilities and tendencies, described the difficulty in checking Ginobili.

“What makes him really tough, though, is that he can shoot it as well as he is an amazing finisher,” Battier said. “He understands angles really well. He understands how to exploit the holes in the defense. It’s difficult to try to come up with a game plan against him. He really is unique.”

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