Old-Ass Manu Ginobili Has One More Ride in Him

The San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets finally gave us what we were all asking for Tuesday night: a competitive NBA playoff game. Tucked inside that game is something we never thought we'd see: Manu freaking Ginobili dunking. The dunk was just one small part of a standout performance from Ginobili, who got the call when Kawhi Leonard came up gimpy with knee and ankle injuries.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that Ginobili decided to do things like dunk and euro-step his way to the basket in Game 5 against Houston, just as he rose from the ashes in Game 5 against the Memphis Grizzlies. But there was something more authoritative about this Game 5 than his ten points in 17 minutes against the Griz, even though he played twice as many minutes and only scored two more points against the Rockets.

Did I mention that he dunked???

After tying it up with a vintage, wily Ginobili layup at the end of the fourth quarter, Manu found himself matched up against MVP candidate James Harden—a man 12 years his junior with go-go gadget limbs anytime a defender gets within five feet of him—in the final seconds of overtime, and came out on top.

He bumped with Harden as he tried to make some space for what would be a game-tying three, but then Harden slipped past him. Ginobili was fine with it, though, because he knew he had the easiest chase-down block in the history of chase-down blocks. Harden must have thought Ginobili was toast because he calmly took a three only to find himself getting swatted from behind. Ball game.

The Spurs now lead the series 3-2, and they are very fortunate to be there. They got some help from Houston's offense down the stretch—it was the sort of disaster you'd expect to see in an NCAA tournament game: sit around, let the shot clock go down, chuck up a terrible three. San Antonio also did not seem to miss Leonard, who is an MVP candidate himself, all that much, but all signs point to his return for Game 6. We'll see how that plays out on Thursday, but if he can't go, or go the way San Antonio is used to him going, it seems crazy to expect Ginobili to fill in again like he did Tuesday night.

Here's the thing, though: on Monday, it seemed to crazy to expect Manu to dunk in a playoff game, so…