A Hurricane from Argentina

Manu Ginobili made landfall on the Pistons' hopes of stealing Game 1 at the SBC Center last night, a tropical storm of slashing offense. Manu dropped 15 in the final quarter on a team that prides itself on defense. It says a lot for San Antonio's hope to retake their title when they can run with the defenseless Suns, then steal enough points against the No. 2 defensive NBA team. Here's he's washing over Detroit's Carlos Arroyo, who the Pistons can play as much as they'd like, if you ask me.

We drove back from dinner at The County Line (get yours here) quick to see the start of the game. The BBQ palace on a finger of Lake Austin not only has great sauce, but education for the many out-of-towners enjoying Texas culture. Like this language lesson, which plays nonstop in the restrooms.

The game's start on ABC turned out to be a Will Smith performance with 40 backup dancers and fireworks. The network's gotta sell this one, because its primary element is for advanced basketball fans: defense. Like a 2-1 game in baseball, instead of the juiced-up homerball slugfests the casual fan enjoys.

North of here in Dallas, where the Mavs could not climb past those ill-defending Suns, sportswriters were already taking up the chant: This will be a boring series. Where's the offense? This defensive style of basketball is offensive. And so on. But they had to admit the Spurs can play whatever kind of ball is needed to win. And defenseless contenders need not apply:

Most elite teams impose their will or style of play on the opponent. Not San Antonio. This team is a chameleon willing to adapt to whatever style is needed.

The Spurs needed to average 108.2 points to beat Phoenix. All they needed this night was 84 points for a comfortable victory.

Here's another way to put the difference. The Spurs and Suns combined for 235 points in the first game of the conference finals. The Spurs and Pistons combined for 153 in this one.

Now we have an idea of just how bad the Suns' defense is.

The story at the Dallas Morning News, by way of the Knight Ridder wires, does point out that smothering defense — the Pistons didn't even score 70 — is easier when your opponent is playing bad.

I think there's a reason for the bad play. It wears Silver and Black, and plays enough defense to win. And while those shots clang on the other end, somebody who wasn't born in the USA — Manu, or Tony Parker, or Tim Duncan — is making landfall at the Spurs' end of the court.

They score. You don't. That's a great definition of what Detroit coach Larry Brown calls "the right way." It's only 1-0 now. The Spurs have to prove it all over again on Sunday night. Because when you play against a team that defends, you hope for the hurricane to break over their seawall.

And so my Spurs shirt and my "swingman" NBA shorts — the latter purchased two years ago in the SBC gift shop during the Spurs' last title run — those silver and black clothes go up on a hangar until Sunday, not to be washed. There's the scent of winning in them along with the smell of barbecue, floating in the steamy Texas heat of June, a great month to be able to continue cheering about basketball.