Oh Boy Oberto!!!!!

Great minds think alike VMWold. This is exactly the title I gave to my post game blog on Oberto. I guess we don't have to be too original to think that one up, but he had a hell of a game.

http://projectspurs.com/blog/2006/11/08/oh-boy-oberto/

Check it out, Oberto even made the USA Today.

West notes: Spurs finding new center of attention in Oberto

Fabricio Oberto, left, leads the NBA in field
goal percentage in his first season as the
Spurs' starting center alongside Tim Duncan.

By David DuPree, USA TODAY

His game has been described as anything but pretty, but Fabricio Oberto has developed into the perfect complement for All-Star power forward Tim Duncan in Oberto's role as the San Antonio Spurs' new center.
Oberto beat out Francisco Elson for the starting job this season after the Spurs traded Rasho Nesterovic to the Toronto Raptors and then let Nazr Mohammed go to the Detroit Pistons as a free agent.

Oberto was 11-for-11 from the field in Wednesday's 111-106 overtime win against Phoenix. But Oberto was pretty good before then — he was 11-for-14 from the field going into the game. He leads the league in field goal percentage at 88% (22-for-25). At 6-10, 245, Oberto, who teamed with Spurs teammate Manu Ginobili on Argentina's 2004 Olympic gold-medal-winning team, is comfortable inside or out and can also go on the perimeter to guard people.

"He's the ugliest, most productive player I've ever been around," coach Gregg Popovich said, referring to Oberto's style. "He looks like a bull in a china shop out there."

Duncan is perhaps the best low post player in the league, and Oberto does a good job of staying out of his way, going inside when Duncan is outside and going outside when Duncan goes inside.

"He's very easy to play with," Duncan said.

"We're knowing more of each other every game we play," Oberto said of teaming with Duncan.

Oberto is also very fundamentally sound. He is seldom out of position, is adept at setting screens and will take a charge.

He did have trouble adjusting to the NBA last season as a 30-year-old rookie, and played only 8.3 minutes an outing in 59 games, averaging 1.7 points and 2.1 rebounds and often looking lost. This season, he is playing 23.6 minutes a game and averaging 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketba ... otes_x.htm

Buck Harvey: Perfect next to Duncan: Grunge rocks
Web Posted: 11/09/2006 12:20 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News

The guys at ESPN came to see Amare.

They got Fab, instead.


They got a guy with Steve Nash's old haircut playing David Robinson's old position. They got The Other Argentine of the Spurs, as well as someone other than the Argentine the Spurs were expected to sign a year ago.

Luis Scola was supposed to be the perfect addition.

Fabricio Oberto was, instead, perfect. He was perfect from the field, setting a franchise record, and he was perfect for a night next to Tim Duncan. Oberto set picks and grabbed double-digit rebounds and threw a pass that should have been enough in regulation.

Pressed to play overtime — as well as more minutes than he ever has in San Antonio — Oberto came up with the kind of play that is, well, perfect for him.



Barry says they "struggle to play chords," which is why their music has been a running joke in the locker room. The two have yet to strum together this season, though they played enough last year.

Sean Marks, now with the Suns, says that. Asked the genre of music they play, Marks deadpanned, "Work in progress."

Oberto's game has gone through the same. He watched most of last season, playing less than 500 minutes.

But those who had seen him play professionally in Spain and with the Argentina national team knew something was there, and Manu Ginobili always believed. He said privately, after the Spurs signed Oberto, his friend would be better than Nazr Mohammed.

Their salaries don't suggest that, nor do their appearances. Gregg Popovich repeated a recent line again Wednesday night, saying, "He's the ugliest, most productive player I've ever been around."

Marks heard that and laughed. He played against Oberto last season in practice and he understood what Popovich meant. "He's like Manu," said Marks, "because he sees the game a different way. He knows where to go and how to play. That goes a long way in any league."

Spurs 111, Suns 106 (OT)
Oberto shoots 11 of 11; Spurs top Suns in OT
Buck Harvey: Perfect next to Duncan: Grunge rocks
Duncan atones for missed FTs
Spurs notebook: Popovich happy for Stoudemire
Box: Spurs 111, Suns 106 (OT)
Shout out: Give your thoughts on the Spurs-Suns game
KENS postgame video
Popovich: It's hard not to be impressed by Oberto
Oberto: It's great to be on team
Oberto: Most important thing for him is to help team
Parker: Always watching Pop's reaction
Spurs-Suns game photos
Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Kurt Thomas
Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire
Evander Holyfield
Gregg Popovich
Fabricio Oberto
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker
Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, Raja Bell




That goes a long way for the Spurs, who have thus far seen versatility and production from both Oberto and Francisco Elson this season. Wednesday night, with so many others struggling, the Spurs needed all of it.

Oberto's perfect shooting was just part of it. He moved well in space, and he seemingly caught everything he touched. Asked about this talent, he came back with his own facetious question.

"You think from playing the guitar?" he asked.

That's Fab, who might be the best-liked Spur. He was always a favorite of the Argentina media, and it's a quality that helps a locker room, too.

The personality plays well on the court, too. He does the dirty work, setting picks and rebounding, and that's an ideal complement for Duncan.

He's not a shotblocker, and he looks closer to 6-foot-8 than his 6-foot-10 listed height. But he also started on Amare Stoudemire, his physical opposite, and competed.

It's his sense of the game, however, that separates him from others, and a play with about 20 seconds left in regulation highlighted that. Then, with the Spurs ahead by a point, Ginobili swung him the ball. As defenders closed, he saw the floor as Marks says he does, and threw a simple yet slick pass to Duncan for a three-point play.

Should he and Ginobili make Duncan an honorary Argentine? "We could get him a passport," Oberto said.

An accurate free-throw stroke would be a better gift. Duncan followed by missing two. Had Raja Bell not missed one himself with 1.5 seconds left, the Spurs would have lost.

Oberto instead got his 11th basket without a miss in overtime. But it was another play in OT that said more about him, and how he can ultimately help the Spurs, and why he can be perfect at times for this team. Then Duncan missed, and Oberto read the bounce and worked to get in position.

With fingers that play a guitar — with a style ESPN would rather not highlight — Oberto swatted the ball to a teammate.