Just days after interviewing Fabricio Oberto, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sebastian Ginobili on Monday night. Sebastian is Manu Ginobili's older brother and a professional basketball player in Argentina.

We asked Sebastian about his background growing up as one of three brothers that all ended up playing professionally. We also asked him about his current team Libertad Sunchales, who are currently in the second round of the playoffs against Boca Juniors.

He also told us that he thinks the Spurs will win the series against the Mavericks and that he is a very loyal Spurs fan and doesn't have any other favorite teams.

Thanks to our chat room for listening and participating live and asking questions. If you didn't get a chance to listen live, be sure to follow us on twitter and subscribe to our rss feed and soon our newsletter so you can find out about our next live interview and be there live. If you didn't get a chance to be there, but still would like to ask a question, Sebastian has agreed to answer some questions for us and send them back over email. Email your questions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we'll send them along.

We also have a bonus for our spanish-speakers readers and listeners as Arianné Villanueva called in and ask Sebastian questions in Spanish as well.

We also want to thank Sebastian for giving us over an hour of his time, and Silvia and Rita for helping us set up the interview.

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According to Jeff McDonald on the MySA Courtside blog, Spurs guard George Hill will be a gametime decision for game two tomorrow night.

Spurs guard George Hill, still dealing with the lingering effects of an ankle sprain suffered April 4, will have his availability for Game 2 at Dallas determined at game time Wednesday, coach Gregg Popovich said this afternoon.

Hill practiced with the team this morning in San Antonio, after which he described his ankle as "so-so."

"It's still a little tender," Hill said. "I tried to give it a go Sunday, but it really wasn't all the way there. Hopefully, by Wednesday I'll be ready."

Hill's loss was definitely felt in game one and if he is a no go for game two, the Spurs will desperately need some help off the bench.

Make sure to keep it on Project Spurs for the latest on Hill and all of the latest playoff coverage.

If the Spurs need some locker-room material, well they got it now.

According to SportsdayDFW, after the Mavericks' practice today, owner Mark Cuban had the following to say:

"I hate the Spurs.''

But it's a respectful hate, he said, because the two teams play basketball the right way.

"Every possession just feels like it's a punch in a heavyweight fight,'' Cuban said. "It doesn't feel like a first-round of the playoffs. It feels like the conference finals, like we're playing to get to the Finals. That shows the respect we have for each other.''

Well Mr. Cuban, the feeling is mutual towards the Dallas Mavericks from Spurs nation. I sure hope someone showed this to the Spurs' players to light a fire under them.

Now if only Spurs' owner, Peter Holt, will fire back. Then we will have a true Texas showdown.

Throughout the 2010 San Antonio Spurs playoff run, I will be keeping a close eye on Spurs' rookie DeJuan Blair. Basically documenting his first NBA playoff experience. I will be giving my thoughts on his performances in the post-season and seeing how he responds to the pressure. Enjoy!

The playoffs. What a great opportunity for young player to showcase their capabilities on the biggest stage and at the highest level. Scoring champion Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder played in his first playoff game on Sunday and finished with 24 points, and rookie Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks scored 34 points in his first post-season appearance. But the only player I was really looking forward to watching play in their first playoff game was Spurs' rookie DeJuan Blair.

However, unlike Jennings and Durant, who both played over 40 minutes in their first playoff game, Blair only played eight minutes, mainly coming in to give Tim Duncan a breather. 

Blair's stat line: 7:56, 2-2 from the field, two rebounds (one offensive, one defensive), one assist, one blocked shot and four points.

His block was the only block of the game for the Silver and Black and noticeably his rebounds numbers were lacking. Again, mainly due to the lack of playing time.

He also had a tremendous dunk on Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki; however on the other end, he made a careless foul on Mavericks' Brendan Haywood which gave Haywood the "and 1." 

With Tim Duncan playing over 40 minutes a game this postseason, it doesn't look like Blair will get a lot of minutes. Especially since Blair averaged nearly two turnovers a game in the regular season. But the Spurs were out rebounded 37 to 45, and 13 of the Mavericks rebounds were offensive. So let's see if Spurs' coach Popovich decides to give Blair some more minutes and doesn't sit him like he does to most young players for the Spurs.  

With additional minutes, Blair will definitely help clean up the glass.  Let's not forget, during the last game of the regular season against this same Dallas team, he grabbed 23 rebounds.

Come back after game two to see what Blair does against the Dallas Mavericks as I chronicle his first NBA playoffs in part II of "Earning his Spurs."

Project Spurs' queen of all multimedia, Arianné Villanueva, went out to Fatso's Sports Garden in San Antonio and asked the Spurs fans in attendance for last week's Spurs-Mavs game what they thought of the Spurs playoff chances.

Some of the fans we're pretty bold about the first round series saying "we're going to win, that's my prediction," and "they might win the championship."

Some fans were a little more cautious with their predictions.

"They'll make it through the first round, but they might choke in the second round."

And if the Spurs make it to the finals, most of the Spurs fans are hoping to draw Cleveland yet again.

Tonight at 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST, we'll be going live with another very special edition of the Spurscast Live. Thanks to a few friends of the show and site, we've arranged an interview with Sebastian Ginobili, brother of the Spurs' Manu Ginobili.

Currently a member of Libertad de Sunchales in Argentina, "Sepo" plays the guard position.  His resume as a professional basketball player is stellar.  This is just scratching the surface: he has been an All-Star in 2001-2002, 2004, 2006-2007, and in 2009 for the Argentinian LigaA All-Star Game, was part of the South American Club Championships in 2005, was named to the Latinbasket.com All-Argentinian LigaA second team in 2005, was named to the Latinbasket.com All-Argentinian LigaA first team in 2006, and was recently a member of the Argentinian LigaA Regular Season Championship team in 2008. His resume goes on and on.

Tonight we will discuss game one of the Spurs versus the Mavericks playoff series, talk about playing in Argentina, and his thoughts on Manu.

But don't let Mike and I have all the fun. Be a part of the interview by chatting with us live and asking questions in the chat. A select few will also have the opportunity to join us live "on-the-air" and speak with the man himself.

Get Project Spurs bookmarked, set your alarm clocks and join us back here at 7 p.m. CST for this special episode of the Spurscast.

Well game one is over and the Spurs lost to their rivals the Mavericks, 100-94. So what stood out from the box score in this loss?  Aside from Richard Jefferson, Roger Mason, and well, pretty much any Spur not named Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker, looking terrible on the court, here are a few things that jumped out.

Free Throw Attempts

San Antonio Spurs: 14 vs. Dallas Mavericks: 34

The Spurs hit their free throws making 12 of 14 shots. Good for 85.7%. The Mavericks, on the other hand, just converted 73.5% of their shots from the foul line making 25 of 34. However, Dirk Nowitzki made all 12 of his free throws.

The huge discrepancy in foul shots taken could mean that the Spurs are not aggressive enough in attacking the basket or might be case of some early "home cooking." Let's just say in the third quarter alone, the Spurs only went to the line once. Thanks refs!

Rebounding

San Antonio Spurs: 37 vs. Dallas Mavericks: 45

The Mavericks out rebounded the Spurs in this game big time. They also got 13 offensive rebounds compared to the Spurs' eight. That meant more second chance points and better inside scoring opportunities for the Mavericks.

This is a huge concern for the Spurs as the Mavericks are just too big in the front-court with Erick Dampier and Brendan Haywood in the paint.

Field Goal Percentage

San Antonio Spurs: 50% (39-78) vs. Dallas Mavericks: 47.3% (35-74)

The Spurs shot a better percentage overall from the field. But they have to do a better job at defending Nowitzki who hit 85.7% (12-14) of his field goal attempts on his way to a game high 36 points.  Then again, does any team have an answer for Dirk? Unlike seasons past, the Spurs do not have a player like Bruce Bowen to frustrate Nowitzki.

Now What?

To get back in this series, the Spurs have to be a lot better on defense. Their adjustment on how to guard Nowitzki will dictate how this series will go. It could be said to allow Nowitzki to do his damage and stop players such as Caron Butler and the other complementary Dallas players from putting up numbers.

The Spurs' role players has to step up. Roger Mason Jr. and Matt Bonner continue to struggle against the Mavericks in the playoffs and George Hill and Richard Jefferson were practically non-factors in this game.

By Jeff Cerda, Project Spurs

The much anticipated rematch from last years playoffs got underway at the American Airlines Area when Tim Duncan and the Spurs faced off against Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks.

After being pulled early from the game against the Mavericks on Wednesday night after tripping over a camera man, George Hill returned to the starting lineup, while Tony Parker continued to come off of the bench.

The officiating was very questionable throughout the game tonight, calling one thing a foul on one end but not the same foul on the other end. It seemed like anytime a Spur player even thought about Dirk Nowitzki the refs were ready to blow the whistle and send him to the free throw line. There were numerous times when a Spurs' player would drive to the paint and contact would be made, but the whistle never came for the guys in silver and black. If you take away the six free throws during the “hack-a-Dampier,” the Mavericks shot 28 free throws to the Spurs 14. It seemed like every time the Spurs looked like they were going to make that real big run, the refs would make a questionable foul to stop any momentum that the Spurs had going.

The Mavericks won the tip to start off the game, but Manu Ginobili stepped in front of Jason Kidd to steal the ball and drive in for a lay up. The Spurs jumped out to a 6-1 lead early before Richard Jefferson picked up two quick fouls in just the first two minutes of the game to get Keith Bogans off the bench and in the game. Dallas then went on a 10-2 run led by Caron Butler and Nowitzki to go up 11-8 before Coach Greg Popovich called time out to stop the run.

Coming out of the time out, Ginobili connected on a driving layup to stop the bleeding and put some points on the board for the Spurs who went scoreless for three minutes. After the two teams traded baskets for a few minutes Mavericks' Kidd hit a three-point shot and another 23-foot jumper that was just inside the three-point line to have Dallas up 20-14. Parker would answer with a 16-foot jump shot and another 12-foot shot for the last points of the quarter. At the end of the first quarter the Mavericks were up 23-18. Both teams struggled shooting ball, ending quarter shooting 45%(Spurs) and 36.4%(Mavericks) respectively.

The Spurs started the second quarter on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 25, led by Ginobili who got a steal from Kidd and went from end to end to finish with a driving layup and capped off the run with a three-point shot assisted by Bonner. Shortly after that Nowitzki and Matt Bonner got into a small scuffle after a foul was called on Bonner for being to aggressive and not allowing Nowitzki to gain position. Nowitzki looked frustrated as he shoved Bonner’s hands away from him and walked away from the play.

After going scoreless for the next 2:19, DeJuan Blair got a monster slam dunk over Nowitzki to put the score at 27-29, Mavericks. The two teams still continued to trade baskets as this was a back and forth battle with each teams’ defense not really playing up to par. Ginobili had 9 of his 16 first-half points in the second quarter for the Spurs while Nowitzki led the Mavs with 11 of his 19 first half points to have the Mavericks up 50-45 at the break.

After Nowitzki hit a 16 foot jumper to open up the third quarter the Spurs went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 54. Antonio McDyess had four of those nine points which included a slam dunk and a 22 foot jumper that quieted the crowd in Dallas and forced the Mavericks to call a time out. The teams went back and forth again, exchanging the lead a couple of times before Nowitzki went on a 7-0 run by himself to have the Mavericks up 67-61 with 3:46 to go in the quarter. With Erick Dampier shooting 60% from the charity stripe on the season, the Spurs decided to go to a “hack-a-Damp” approach to put a clamp down on the Mavericks offense. Dampier went 4-6 during this time and made the last two in a row before coach Popovich decided to ditch the move. Nowitzki had 13 points in the third to lead the Mavericks to their biggest lead of the night at the end of the third, 76-69.

Caron Butler scored five quick points to start off the fourth to push the lead to 12 points, 81-69. Coach Popovich called a quick time out to settle down the Spurs and talk things over. After the time out the Spurs went on a 11-4 run that included two "and 1" plays, one from Ginobili and one from Duncan, to pull back within five, 85-80.

Yet again the teams would go back to trading baskets. With 5:28 to go in the game the Mavericks answered that run with a 12-6 run of their own that included a three-point shot from Kidd and Jason Terry, to push the lead back up to double digits, 100-88 with 1:54 to go in the game. Although Dallas would not score again, the game the game was out of reach.

With the Spurs not getting any of the calls, not making any baskets, nor getting any key stops down the stretch, Spurs fans knew that the Mavericks would take game one. The scoreboard didn’t reflect how the game was played late, the Spurs got the last six points to end the game but the Mavs out rebounded (45-37), out assisted (23-19), out blocked (4-1) and had less turnovers (15-17) than the Spurs, which all added up to a 100-94 victory.

Game Notes:

• Dallas shot 34 free throws to the Spurs 14
• Dallas scored 39 points off of free throws and turnovers
• The Spurs benched only produced 27 points, down from their average of 39.2 and only grabbed 7 rebounds also down from their season average of 17.2
• Dirk Nowitzki shot 12-14(85%) as far as field goals and 12-12(100%) on free throws