Manu Ginobili puts Father Time on hold for the highlight
Like clockwork, the San Antonio Spurs elder statesmen Manu Ginobili rewound the hands of time to show off a nasty spin move that freed him up for one of his world famous dances to the rim. The 40 year old isn’t the athlete he once was, but his basketball IQ remains off the charts and every now and again he’ll give the generation under him an humiliating lesson in footwork.
The Argentine star’s throwback routine didn’t carry the Spurs to victory, but fortunately for the team, it didn’t have to. Behind a resurgent LaMarcus Aldridge and blossoming Dejounte Murray, San Antonio was able to send the Toronto Raptors packing and secure a 101-97 home win in their formidable AT&T Center.
For the third straight game, LaMarcus lead the Spurs in scoring looking confident as he asserted his dominance over the Raptors middling interior defense. At one point, the famously passive power forward even went toe to toe with professional shot blocker Serge Ibaka after taking exception to an elbow near his head region.
Despite the ongoing absence from two way superstar Kawhi Leonard, the team managed to come together and fill in the missing production left behind in the wake of his injury. One player who separated himself from the pack was sophomore Dejounte Murray. The second year point guard dropped 16 points, snagged a team high 14 rebounds, and found time to hand out six assists in just under 30 minutes of play.
Murray made his presence felt on defense by holding Allstar Kyle Lowry to a meager eight points thorough the contest. Though Lowry couldn’t take the lid off of the basket, his partner in crime DeMar Derozan piled up 28 points that weren’t quite enough for the task at hand.
While the Spurs are rolling without MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, Toronto continues to play out of synch despite what their 2-1 record might suggest. San Antonio heads to Miami for their next game as they search for their fourth win and look to stay undefeated on the season.
