For TP Haters

[tinysands]

I'm not sure what Church I belong to. Some think I am anti-Manu, but I'm on record as saying Manu > Gervin in a must-win game. Some say I'm a Tony homer, then again I've call him out for disappearing and called him out for letting the Eva circus distract him from basketball. So I'm pretty sure I'm right down the middle between party lines.

That said, no question Manu is the Golden Boy of the team. He plays his 25 minutes and no matter what he does, Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) fans love him. Last night he was 0-for-7 when it counted and defensively, he turned Larry Hughes into LeBron James. I don't know the last time I saw the Cavs win and it wasn't LeBron doing the damage.

Even with all that, the Golden Boy got almost no blame. Duncan and even Oberto (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/fabricio_oberto) got blamed much more ... and those guys actually produced a little bit. If Manu wasn't missing shots or playing bad defense, he was turning the ball over. It doesn't matter though because Manu is the most loved player in franchise history.

Tony, on the other hand, gets blasted regularly and rarely gets praised. Pop can tell him to shoot the ball 20 times and Tony can go out and follow orders ... and then Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) fans will complain that he wasn't passing enough. If Tony would have been the one 0-7 while turning Eric Snow into LeBron, there'd be a 22 page thread calling for a Parker for Speedy trade. I don't want to even think what would have happened if it was Tony who fouled Dirk last year instead of Manu . . .

I think it mostly comes down to the positions they play. Tony plays the hardest position in the game and the easiest to criticize. Manu plays half the game and it's a lot harder for him to mess up. If he's scoring, the masses think he's doing his job. Tony has to score, set up his teammates, follow Pop's orders, manage the game ... all while being by far the youngest member of the core. And on top of it all, he's a cocky French kid ... and nobody likes the French

All in all, they are both very good players. It's impossible for me to say which one is more important to the team, because they are virtually the same in terms of value. If either one goes down, there is no championship. But I gave up a long time ago in hoping Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) fan would be fair to them. Manu is the most loved person in San Antonio who can do no wrong. Tony is the point guard who doesn't pass it to Manu enough.

And it won't change.

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因为 Manu 是球队的宠儿。他每场只上25分钟，而且不管他做了什么，马刺的球迷总是喜欢他的。客场对骑士，他全场8投1中，而且在防守端他让 Larry Hughes 看起来像是 LeBron James。上一次骑士战胜马刺、而且不是靠 LeBron 的神勇表现，不知道是猴年马月的事了。

即使如此，也几乎没有人去责备这个宠儿。就连 Duncan 和 Oberto (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/fabricio_oberto) 得到的批评声都要更多……而实际上，他们2人好歹还作出了不少贡献。特别是这场比赛里面，除了打铁和糟糕的防守之外，Manu 贡献的只有无穷的失误。不过这些都不要紧，因为 Manu 是球队历史上最受人喜爱的一名球员。

而另一方面，Tony 被骂则几乎是家常便饭的，却很少有人给予他应有的表扬。Pop 会让他出手20次，然后 Tony 谨遵指示，完成了教练布置的任务，结果马刺的球迷却开始抱怨他传球太少、太“独”了。要是 Tony 是那个8投1中、让 Eric Snow 变成 LeBron 的人，那么这里肯定会冒出来一个长达22页、要求用 Parker 换 Speedy 的帖子。假如上季最后时刻对 Dirk 犯规的是 Tony，我都不敢想象人们会怎么指责他……

这其中最主要的原因可能是来自于两人所打的位置的不同。Tony 打的是场上难度最大的一个位置，却也是最容易挑毛病的一个位置。而 Manu 每场只上一半多的时间，要挑他的毛病显然要难上一些。只要他能得分，那么人们就认为他做好了自己的事。与此同时，Tony 的任务清单上，包括了——得分、为队友制造得分的机会、 听从 Pop 的指示、控制比赛的节奏……要知道，他是球队三巨头中最年轻的一个。哦，对了，最重要的，大概阿根廷人总是比法国人更讨人喜欢吧……

但不管怎么说，他们都是非常出色的球员。很难说他们两个谁对球队更重要，因为他们对球队起到的作用是一样的，任何一个倒下的话，毫无疑问马刺的冠军梦想就会成为水中花镜中月了。但长久以来，马刺的球迷给予他们两人的待遇可谓是天差地别。Manu 永远是那个不论做错什么都不要紧的圣城的最爱。Tony 永远是那个不肯传球给 Manu 的控卫。

可悲的是，这样的偏见永远都不会改变。

Short explanation - take it for what it's worth:

Tony "wasting" his energy trying to carry the team for the first 3 quarters has always been by design. Tony was told to score and early and then late defer to Tim/Manu. This year, they are actually changing that and trying to have Tony be involved in scoring late too. And some games he does fine. Other games, like last night, he makes mistakes. For the last few years he hasn't been part of the scoring in 4th quarters because that was left for Manu and Tim.

But realize, that most of what Tony does is by design. Yes, he still gets tunnel vision at times. Last night on the 2-on-1 break, he was going to pass to Manu, but he was too late.

He's never going to be a guy who regularly gets 15/10. The Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) don't use him that way. He's a scoring point guard who they want to score even more.

Take the fact that last year in the playoffs when he was shooting 17 times a game, Pop wanted him to shoot 25 times a game.

Your criticism of Tony's play (though his mistakes are not as frequent as some in this thread suggest) is not off base. But take into account that most of what he does is because of how the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) have chosen to use him in the past.