"Even though Grant Hill heard praise for his defense on San Antonio's Manu Ginobili in Game 1 of their playoff series, he wasn't so sure when he saw the 27 points Ginobili scored.

So he sought advice from an unlikely source — his dad, former NFL running back Calvin Hill.

"Believe it or not, I spoke to my dad," he said. "He played football and he played on offense so I don't know how much knows but, he said stop looking at the ball and looking at his shoulders, look at his waist.

"There were a couple of times in the last game where he blew right by me. He's so crafty and good with the ball, so I tried to focus on his waist and midsection and stay in front of him. And our bigs did a really good job on the screen and roll getting out and showing early."

Hill and his teammates limited Ginobili to 11 points on 2-of-8 shooting and that went a long way toward a hard-fought 110-102 Phoenix victory that sends the Suns to San Antonio for Game?3 with a 2-0 series lead. The Spurs attributed much of their late-season resurgence and a first-round upset of the Dallas Mavericks to the rebirth of Ginobili's game.

And before the Suns opened the series coach Alvin Gentry said containing Ginobili would be a key to the series.

So who else but Hill to take the primary defensive assignment on the Spurs creative scorer?

"Grant Hill never ceases to amaze me," Gentry said. "Here's a 37 year-old guy — he hates when I say that. I shouldn't say that. Here's a guy on our team who's been in the league a long, long time and he does everything we ask him to do. He's always on the best perimeter player. He never complains. He just plays.

"I've been the luckiest guy in the world to be able to coach him as long as I have. He will forever be my favorite player."

Hill said he loves Gentry, too, although he might rethink that if Gentry keeps making him chase Ginobili."