OLE! Manu Ginobili, who erupted for 24 points after struggling for much of the Finals, drives past Chris Bosh as LeBron James looks on during the Spurs’ Game 5 win over the Heat last night. (Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO — It took him five games, but Manu Ginobili finally arrived at the NBA Finals last night.
Ginobili always has had a flair for the dramatic, but even he couldn’t have predicted he would deliver a season-high 24 points with 10 assists to lead the Spurs to a 114-104 win over the Heat in Game 5 and move them within a win of a fifth championship in the Tim Duncan Era.
LeBron James and the Heat — favorites all season to win their second straight title — are now a loss from getting kicked off their throne. The ouster can come as soon tomorrow night in Game 6 back on South Beach.
“I really didn’t expect a 24-point game,” Ginobili said with a shrug. “It didn’t happen all season long.”
Ginobili had finished with as many as 20 points just once previously this postseason, in Game 4 of the Spurs’ second round win over the Warriors. He was averaging 7.5 points on 34.5 percent from the field through four games and had a dreadful performance in a Game 4 loss.
But Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to insert Ginobili into the starting lineup — countering Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s decision to go small in Game 4 by starting Mike Miller — paid dividends as the Argentinian legend looked like a different player right from the opening tip.
“I was happy when [Popovich] put him in the starting five,” said Tony Parker, who finished with a game-high 26 points, “because you can get in a rhythm.
“When he’s playing with [the starters] and they’re still going to trap me and still going to pay attention to Timmy, Manu is going to get opportunities. And tonight, he was great.”
Ginobili opened the game with a long jumper from the corner — a much-needed confidence booster after going 1-for-5 from the field in Game 4 — and never looked back. He looked nothing like the player who finished with a game-worst minus-22 rating a game earlier. He looked more like the player who was a cornerstone of three Spurs title teams over the past decade — and potentially a fourth this week.
That was never more evident than late in the third quarter, when the Heat — who never led — got within 75-74 with 3:05 remaining on a free throw by Shane Battier. Led by Ginobili, the Spurs launched into a 21-2 run over the next six-plus minutes of game action, including a 12-1 run to end the third.
After Gary Neal hit a 3-pointer, Ginobili scored or assisted on the final nine points of the third for the Spurs. He capped the quarter with a short bank shot that sent the Spurs into the fourth with an 87-75 lead and sent the capacity crowd inside AT&T Center into a “Ma-nu! Ma-nu!” chant. It was a cheer few would have expected considering his disappearing act through much of the playoffs and the Finals.
“I needed it,” Ginobili said. “I was having a tough time scoring, and I needed to feel like the game was coming to me and I was being able to attack the rim, get to the free-throw line and make a couple shots.
“So it felt great when I heard that. To feel that I really helped the team … it was a much-needed moment in the series. I was glad to see it happen.”
While James and Dwyane Wade were terrific once again for the Heat, each finishing with 25 points, the Spurs’ balanced attack won the day.
All five San Antonio starters scored at least 16 points, including Danny Green setting a Finals record for 3-point makes in a series with 25 after going 6-for-10 from deep and scoring 24 points.
But the focus of the Spurs’ performance was understandably on Ginobili, who has been adored in San Antonio since he arrived in 2002 playing with a swashbuckling style and showing the kind of emotion his fellow Spurs stars Duncan (17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots) and Parker rarely do.
“We know Manu is a big part of what we do,” Parker said, “and we needed a game like that from him.”