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Both are shooting under 40 percent this season. Both are watching teammates soar. Both are part of a new generation of players who seem to be older than their age.
Tracy McGrady and Manu Ginobili, at last, have something in common.
The Spurs argue the season is too young to be worrying about who has gotten old. Besides, McGrady and Ginobili come with their own sets of details. McGrady missed 34 games last year with lower-back issues, and there's nothing like a bad back to make a guy feel old.
The Spurs aren't as concerned about Ginobili. They dismiss media observations that Ginobili has lost a step, preferring to see him as they always have. Ginobili could look tired when he was a rookie, too, because he expends so much energy.
So perhaps Ginobili is simply starting slowly while adjusting to the rise of Tony Parker. McGrady has the same dynamic going on, with Yao Ming powering the Rockets' success.
But McGrady isn't as diplomatic when evaluating himself. "I'm young," he recently told ESPN.com, "but I'm old."
He's only 27 and Ginobili is 29, and most coaches have always thought the NBA prime extends to about 32. But this is a new era, when players start heavy lifting in their teens. McGrady was drafted when he was 17, and this is his 10th season.
When David Robinson was in his 10th season, for example, he was starting to wind down as a complement to Tim Duncan.
So should all projections change? Is Parker, who is surging into elite status, really older in hoop years? He's only 24 but turned pro in France at 15.
It's a question that likely concerns NBA general managers, especially if they listen to McGrady. He can be dramatic about these things, but he's convincing when he says:
"The last six years I've been playing a lot of minutes. In Orlando I was playing 40-plus, and what I had to do for them — guarding the best players and scoring the ball — really took a toll on my body. I don't feel 27. It's not so much the years that you play in this league, it's more so the mileage and the minutes and everything that you do that takes a toll on you. It's definitely done that to me."
Ginobili isn't the same, and he never has been when compared to McGrady. Ginobili has won wherever he's gone, and McGrady has yet to win a playoff series. And whereas McGrady was a physical freak, outrageously skilled for his height, Ginobili's inner drive has been freakish.
Ginobili is different on this point, too. This is only his fifth NBA season.
But he also worked his way up through the Italian leagues when he wasn't leading the Argentina national team, and he's always wedged his body into painful positions. In doing so, has he lost some lift? The long, two-stride drives don't seem to be there anymore, nor the dunks.
McGrady says he's changed in the same way Roger Clemens has changed the way he pitches, and Sunday night displayed that. Then, McGrady had five assists in six possessions in the fourth quarter in Miami.
"When Mac is attacking, he's as good a playmaker as there is in the league," coach Jeff Van Gundy told reporters.
Ginobili has had similar flashes this season. He threw a fast-break bounce pass in New York that came with his usual snap and creativity, and against the Suns he sped baseline to take a charge in a game-turning moment.
Then there's this: As good as Parker has been, Gregg Popovich still turns to Ginobili to start the offense in key situations.
But both have too often settled for jumpers this season, and McGrady knows what has changed for him. "I had a very quick first step, and I've lost a little bit of that."
McGrady said his body has changed, adding weight, and then he said Kobe Bryant doesn't look the same, either. Bryant is a year older than McGrady and a year younger than Ginobili.
So is tonight a chance for these two to return to form, to show everyone what they still have, to set up a playoff showdown?
Or is this just another night of strain on the body?
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