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Manu Ginobili sank the Boston Celtics with a game-winning dagger

dj dunson


News that the San Antonio Spurs may have Kawhi Leonard back in the lineup as early as Saturday against the Phoenix Suns is cause for celebration. On Friday night, Manu Ginobili gave the Spurs another morale boost in the final seconds of their 105-102 win over the Boston Celtics.

Lamarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 27 points, including a jump hook that knotted the score at 102. However, Ginobili’s meager 11 points was topped off by his clutch, high arcing shot that halted a standoff between the Spurs and Celtics. Ginobili broke the tie by draining a clutch three on with five seconds left in regulation.

Whenever San Antonio has needed an emergency rescue over the years, they’ve often turned to their Argentinian Bat-man. Ginobili’s other 3-pointer of the night was a halftime buzzer-beating, catch, turnaround shot with a high-degree of difficulty.

More importantly, Ginobili’s game-winning three wouldn’t have been possible if he hadn’t secured the offensive rebound that allowed San Antonio to run another 20 seconds off the game clock. Gregg Popovich and Brad Stevens praised Ginobili’s equanimity in another pressure situation, per ESPN.

“Like he told me a lot of years ago, `This is what I do,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s amazing. He loves those moments and he’s come through an awful lot and he did it again tonight. At age 40.”

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“I mean, the two plays Manu made at the end of the half and the end of the game were vintage Manu,” Stevens said. “I said before the game he’s one of the best players at the end of quarters I’ve ever seen, and now I wish I wouldn’t have said it.”

Ginobili’s moonshot nullified Kyrie Irving’s 36 points on 13-of-21 shooting. Even after Ginobili’s halo shot, Irving was given a final opportunity to knot it up. Irving managed to wiggle free, catch the ensuing inbounds pass in the right corner and pump faked Rudy Gay into the rafters, but his shot rimmed out, prompting the Spurs broadcast team to crack on how its “flat” trajectory caused the miss.

The win kept the Spurs firmly locked into the third seed out West and served as reminder that despite Ginobili’s diminishing athleticism and vanishing hair follicles, the 40-year-old legend can still don a cape and swoop in when Popovich dials his number.