""I had such low expectations," Manu Ginobili said as he was leaving the arena Monday night, and he wasn't being modest.

His coaches had low expectations, too.

They'd seen him in practice looking like a guy who, well, had spent the past three months playing with his twins. To them, Ginobili appeared to be weeks away from being himself, and this scared them as they faced a 66-game season.

So what happened Monday stunned them. If Ginobili can play this way this quickly, don't all their plans change?

The Spurs felt the opposite emotion last spring. Then, when Ginobili's right elbow bent the wrong way, so did the Spurs' locker room.

One coach admitted this over the summer: While they said the right things, the players lost their belief when Ginobili went down.

While all of the Spurs had something to do with a remarkable regular season that produced 61 wins, Ginobili had something to do with all of them. On his way to All-Star resurgence, Ginobili led the Spurs as he has Argentina. The pieces fit because of him.

That's also a reason many in the league don't see the Spurs as legitimate contenders anymore. Most forget the Spurs lost close games to the ? Grizzlies last season either without Ginobili or with Ginobili's right arm in a brace. Most remember Ginobili's age, which is 34."