Ginobili puts it down to competitiveness no dislike for certain team.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has told reporters that he “likes everybody” after LeBron James claimed that there was a dislike towards the Miami Heat.
Immediately after the Spurs had clinched the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, forward Tim Duncan insisted that; “”We’ve got four more to win. We’ll do it this time”.
Following on from the heartbreaking loss they suffered in Game 6 of the NBA Finals last year before losing the decider, James believes that he can tell from comments coming out of their camp that they don’t like the Heat.
“They don’t like us. They don’t,” James said Monday in Miami, as reported by ESPN.
“I can sense it from Timmy’s comments over the last couple of days. … They want us, so they got us.”
However, both Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have insisted that Duncan’s comments were taken out of context as he isn’t one to engage in trash talk ahead of a match-up. Ultimately, he was just revealing the motivation that the team has to put right the wrong of last year and be successful again.
Ginobili went on to explain that due to the competitive nature of the playoffs, teams dislike one another due to the fact that they are standing in each other’s way of winning a championship, and it rarely has anything to do with personalities.
Popovich called the talk “silly” and insisted that his team have a lot of respect for their opponents, but will be going out focusing on their game and winning.
“Are you really going to ask that?” Popovich said. “So somebody will say, ‘I don’t like him’ and the other guy, ‘So and so said they don’t like you.’ ‘Well, I don’t like him either.’ Come on, this is silly.”
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