Has it really been almost nine years? Yes, that’s how long it’s been since my most recent personal playoff climax. Sure, the Spurs made the playoffs in 2018 and 2019. But those series can’t even remotely compete with what happened in the early hours of May 10, 2017 (May 9 in the US).
I had my first team in those days. Not in the Wembanyama sense, but in the sense that it was a team I built and led to serve a German industry giant — seven days a week in a two-shift system. German industry giants aren’t particularly friendly with their suppliers, so it was a tough job. But maybe that contributed to us, as a team, being an extremely tight unit.
I don’t miss the job I did back then, but I miss being so close with my coworkers. The good thing is — I’m still in touch with some of them. And one of them has even become a true friend.
When he started working for us, I quickly told HR to make it a priority that he not leave. After all, it’s hard to find people willing to start working at 5 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon. And very few were as good and as reliable as him.
Other than work, we quickly bonded over sports — mostly soccer. But of course, he had to listen to an awful lot of Spurs talk during our shifts together, as well as during our visits to the pub after work.
When the Spurs matched up with the Rockets in the 2017 playoffs, my colleague was aware that there might be a shift (ot two) in which I would arrive after 5 a.m. (I made the shift schedule, so I made sure I was working with him at the time.)
On May 10, 2017, I was indeed late. It was Game 5 against the Rockets — and the game went into overtime. Which was why I wasn’t at work at 5 o’clock in the morning. I arrived almost an hour late — about 20 minutes after Manu had blocked Harden.
I was all smiles when I came into the office. And the first thing my colleague said to me was: “Ginobili, ey?” He had followed the game via the live ticker.
Now I’m asking myself: Am I only a few weeks or months away from another such moment? Well, if last night’s game against the Raptors had been a playoff game, the Wemby block on Pöltl would have been one of those moments.