The Rotation: Manu Ginobili and the Spurs reach back for something special

Welcome to The Rotation, our daily playoff wrap-up of our favorite stories, large and small, from last night’s NBA action.

Manu Ginobili reaches back

By Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg)

Deadspin ran the headline “Old-Ass Manu Ginobili Dunks; AT&T Center Goes Wild” after Manu, in a game, drove to the rim with a head start in semi-transition, went up with two hands and finished a dunk with one. For Ginobili, who started playing professional basketball in Argentina in 1995, it was freaking incredible, nearly unbelievable. It was an absolute throwback. Also, that headline was written three years ago. It belonged to a post about Manu’s dunk over Chris Bosh in the 2014 NBA Finals.

Ginobili is even older now. He’s 39. And his old ass yammed on the Rockets, after driving in semi-transition, going up with two hands and finishing with one.

Those were Manu’s fourth and fifth points in the Spurs’ Game 5 win against the Rockets. He finished with 12 after playing 32 minutes, including all of overtime. It was Manu who stepped up for the Spurs after Kawhi Leonard left the game with an ankle injury, and it was Manu who made the most important plays of the game.

“Manu reached back and gave us one of his Manu performances from past years,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said in the postgame press conference. “He was a stud. We actually went to him with Kawhi off the court, and we went to him to generate some offense and make some things happen.”

Make things happen, he did. Down by two points, Ginobili drove to the rim and, with his left hand, scooped a layup to get around the 7-foot Clint Capela. He tied the game at 101 with 34.5 seconds left and forced overtime.

In the final minute of overtime, he assisted on two of Danny Green’s shots to give the Spurs the lead. On the final play of the game, he swatted the ball out of Harden’s hands to seal the win.

Manu is old. His head his shaved. He’s not asked to be one of San Antonio’s stars anymore, that mantle has been passed on. His points are less frequent, but arguably more impactful. But he’s still capable of “reaching back” and showing flashes of the floppy-haired Argentinian who Euro-stepped his way into our hearts. Doing it in the biggest moments is what makes Manu, Manu.

Poor LaMarcus Aldridge

By Jeremy Lambert (@jeremylambert88)

I feel so bad for LaMarcus Aldridge. He’s become the scapegoat for San Antonio Spurs fans. He’s made fun of nightly by everyone on social media. Even the most diehard Spurs fans are questioning his performances and mental toughness. For an organization that gets a lot of free passes, Aldridge has plenty racked up in fines and court appearances.

I wanted Aldridge to succeed in Game 5. They needed him to be big in this game. Without Nene, he would have plenty of opportunities to prove himself. They couldn’t afford a repeat of last year when they lost Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder at home, and weren’t all that competitive in Game 6. I wanted him to turn the LMAo social media acronym into LMFA. I wanted him to become the guy that I despised and feared in the first two games against Oklahoma City last year.

Instead, he brought me to tears. I cringed every time I saw San Antonio run a play for him. I wept as he built a house with his running hook and turnaround jumper. I made awkward noises as he failed to establish any kind of dominance or position in the post. And I went through a whole box of tissues in overtime.

It’s almost like he was setup to fail in overtime. With Kawhi Leonard out, Aldridge became the go-to guy. And when Aldridge is driving the car, the engine blows when he turns the key to start it. He missed two free throws early. He shot 81 percent from the foul line in the regular season. He was 4-of-5 prior to those two shots. He’s a good free throw shooter. But he missed two big ones. Because of course he did. After a missed jumper and a turnover, he improperly tipped in a miss layup. It’s a call that never gets made. It was probably the incorrect call. But it didn’t count. Because LaMarcus.

I’m not sure he touched the ball after that. All I remember is Danny Green stepping up, James Harden gassing, and Manu Ginobili turning back the clock.

Aldridge had 18 points and 14 rebounds, including nine offensive rebounds. It’s a line above his season averages. But watching him play. I just felt so bad.

Play of the Day: Another SLOB special from Pop

By Jeff Siegel (@jgsiegel)

In a game dominated by offense in the first half and overwhelmed with fatigue in the second half and overtime, the Spurs pulled out this beauty of a sideline out-of-bounds (SLOB) to close the first half. After a Clint Capela block left them with just 4.5 seconds on the shot clock, San Antonio needed to find a shot quickly:

The play starts with Manu Ginobili inbounding the ball, Danny Green under the basket, and Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge at the elbows. When Ginobili receives the ball from the referee, Mills cuts toward the basket and feigns a screen for Green. The Rockets have to respect this screen, because Green may then come out behind another screen from Leonard for an open three at the top of the key. Mills uses that slight hesitation from Eric Gordon to get the opening to cut toward the top of the key himself, right between the elevator doors formed by Leonard and Aldridge. As Mills races through the doors, Patrick Beverley, who was defendingGinobili, shifts his positioning to deter the pass to Mills, but that’s exactly what the Spurs want to happen.

Leonard doesn’t even set the screen on his side, instead feinting toward the ball and cutting to the basket, aided by another screen from Aldridge. Trevor Ariza can’t stick with Leonard on this cut and Clint Capela doesn’t recognize it in time to stop Leonard from being wide open under the rim for an easy layup.

Next: The 20 different emotions of Gregg Popovich

Some of the best out-of-bounds plays rely on the defense reacting in a certain way to open up opportunities in unexpected places, which is exactly what the Spurs did here. Mills slipped the screen for Green but forced Gordon to hesitate, and then the false flag elevator doors drew both Capela and Ariza toward the top of the key, which opened up the back screen from Aldridge to get Leonard open. Everybody played a part, including Ginobili looking off Beverley like a quarterback to get him to move out of the way of his pass to Leonard under the basket. Yet another gorgeous inbounds play from Gregg Popovich and his staff.