Manu Ginobili: 'The loss against Miami in 2013 changed me significantly'
This season is likely the last for San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili. The future Hall of Famer knows the end is near and realizes he's incapable of producing how he used to.
Ginobili's self-awareness is just one of a few qualities that separate him from most modern day professional athletes, and he says plenty of interesting things in this interview with Argentina's La Nacion newspaper -- translated here by SB Nation's Pounding the Rock -- including some insight into how much winning drives him:
"Not as much as it did two years ago. The loss against Miami in 2013 changed me significantly. I'm calmer. I achieved that maturity later in my life and my career. There are losses, and then there are losses -- and 2013 was crushingly frustrating. If I'm doing this, if I'm sticking around it's not to be comfortable or tour the U.S. It's because I have big goals and want to relive the feelings I experienced during the best moments of my career. It really helps to be in a place in which they treat me so well, where there's always a chance to win and there's an amazing group of people."
Ginobili is arguably the most ingenious player of his time. And it's refreshing to hear all the things he said in this interview, particularly how the NBA Finals in 2013 changed his entire life.
Whether they know it or not, basketball fans everywhere are so lucky to have him back one more year.
(h/t: Pounding the Rock)
