There is a longstanding NBA argument in which one side calls the San Antonio Spurs boring and the other contends that there is beauty to be found in a higher form of basketball craft. Yet this disagreement often seems to miss one pretty obvious point — that Manu Ginobili, four-time champion, plays with the sort of creativity and verve that entertainment-minded fans crave. He's the guy who everyone can (or should) agree on.
Ginobili was up to his usual tricks in Monday's contest against the Los Angeles Clippers. The best came fairly late, with four minutes remaining in regulation and the Spurs up just 112-106 after leading by 12 at the half. Taking the ball from Danny Green in the early offense, Manu threw a wonderful over-and-behind-the-head pass to get Green a wide-open three-pointer:
That play came three quarters after another classic Ginobili move in which he sent elite shot-blocker DeAndre Jordan flying with a quasi-Dream Shake and got around Jordan for a second time with a double-clutch lay-up:
Manu ended up with a very efficient 19 points (7-of-11 FG) and 10 assists in only 27 minutes, playing his usual role as bench star as the Spurs ended up with a 125-118 win to end a four-game losing streak. San Antonio shot an absurd 63.6 percent from the field (including 13-of-23 from deep) in one of their customary offensive displays.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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