A few weeks ago Manu Ginobili was one of the better 2-guards in the game. Now, all of a sudden, he looks like the best in the game. He’s not doing it against the Hawks, either. The Pistons are generally regarded as the best defensive team in the game, but so far in this series MG20 looks like he’s playing against the JV. He’s pretty much doing what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, and to whoever he damned well feels like doing it to. The stiffer the D gets, the more he elevates his game.

Best of all, he’s one of those truly great players who can kill you in a lot of different ways. If the outside shot is off he can slash. If the drive isn’t there, he can step back and bury the J. The real killer, though, the thing that opens all that up for him, is that he’s such a great passer. Seven assists last night, and that was a game-high, to go with his game-high 27 points.

As I was watching the game – actually, this was true in Game 1, as well – I felt like I was watching a team versus five players. The irony is that the Pistons were supposed to be the well-oiled, cohesive machine pitted against what some TV analysts were depicting as little more than Tim Duncan and Friends. Instead, Detroit spent most of the night looking like five guys who’d never met each other, while the Spurs were a fluid, seamlessly integrated steamroller, all powered by a high-performance V-12 at shooting guard.

I’ve always loved Duncan, and not just because he went to my alma mater, Wake Forest. No, TD is one of those guys who’s like a Magic or a Bird – he makes everybody else on his team better when he steps on the floor. Now, though, the Spurs have two of those guys, and that has to be a little scary even for a schemer as great as Larry Brown.

The series isn’t over by a long shot. The Pistons are just too good to go down without a better showing than we saw last night. But they’re up against it – thanks to the way Ginobili is playing, SA is not only proving to be everything they were billed as coming into the playoffs, they’re also proving to be everything Phoenix was billed as.