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The best Manu Ginobili assists of the playoffs

Part five of the "best of" series, featuring one of the most inventive passers in the game.

Andy Lyons

Be sure to check out the first four parts of the series.

Best of Cory Joseph.

Best of Aron Baynes.

The Best Boris Diaw passes of the playoffs.

The best of Matt Bonner.

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We've come to the beloved Manu Ginobili. He's many Spurs fans favorite player, including our editor J.R. Wilco. There is a large contingent of Argentine Pounders who came to be fans of the Spurs because of him. My favorite part of his game is his passing, so here are his top-12 passes from the championship run.

Number Twelve:

Manu is very good at placing the ball on entry passes to bigs who have been fronted. This is just great passing from Gino who hits Boris for a score.

Manu_bobo

Number Eleven:

It's not just entry passes that Manu has mastered. Check out the perfect outlet pass he makes to Tiago in the closeout game of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Manu_outlet

Number Ten:

Leave it to Manu and Tim to make this look easy. Gino tosses a 30+ foot entry pass that leads Tim just a little bit to where Dalambert can do nothing to stop the big man from scoring.

10_manu

Number Nine:

The best part of this is the Tim Duncan head chop of Gino after the play. The pass that led to that head chop is a beauty, with Manu placing the ball so that only Duncan could get to it. Manu makes it look easy sometimes. This is one of those times.

Mg_to_td_head_chop

Number Eight:

Gino drives the lane, stops short of Vince Carter set to take a charge, and dishes to the legend. Tim, wide open, throws down a simple dunk as the Spurs grow their lead before the half in the first round.

6_timmy

Number Seven:

Gino and Timmy hook up quite often as we're seeing. Here Gino works off a high screen from Boris Diaw, drives into the lane where he draws Robin Lopez' attention, and then makes a nonchalant pass to the open Duncan.

Manu_to_tim_again

Number Six:

This is the Spurs' first offensive possession with Gino on the floor and Manu sets up at the left wing as Tim Duncan seals off Rashard Lewis in the left block. Manu moves toward the baseline, LeBron James sees the seal and the move from Manu so he leaves Kawhi Leonard alone in the corner to bring help on big Tim. It's no use as the bounce pass from Manu is pure and the GOAT PUFF gets two.

1_manu_to_timmy

Number Five:

Here we see Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan run a pick-and-roll from the right wing. Manu darts through the lane with Timmy diving to his right while Dirk has to account for Matt Bonner in the corner. Devin Harris is beat as he goes over the screen and Samuel Dalembert leaves Timmy as he picks up Gino in the lane. The always wily Manu sees this and feeds Tim with an incredible wraparound pass that Duncan handles and puts up an easy deuce.

Manu_tim

Number Four:

The Spurs are in transition with Manu at the wing with Jeremy Lamb on him. Steven Adams sees a threat and brings a double-team, which leaves Tim Duncan with no one between him and the hoop. Gino hits Big Fun with a bounce-pass between the two defenders and that's an easy score. If only they could all have been so easy.

4_manu

Number Three:

It's a sign that a player is doing something right when they draw three defenders. Getting two of them to fully bite on a fake is outstanding, and the pass he makes to Kawhi shows his excellent court vision.

Manu_in_lane

Number Two:

Manu is such a great creator and improviser. He runs a pick-and-roll with Tiago Splitter, takes a minute to figure out a plan of action, slightly loses control of the ball, kind of fakes a pass into the stands and when Dirk doesn't really bite on the fake he somehow squeezes an awesome shovel pass to the wide open Brazilian between the two Dallas defenders who are about a foot away from each other. Bonus: Monta Ellis' reaction.

Manu_to_tiago_


Number One:

This is probably the longest pass the Spurs have executed on a hammer as it goes almost the full width of the court! The Spurs ran a variation of it against Portland with Boris making the baseline pass out of the post to Patty Mills. This is a great pass from Manu Ginobili, a big hammer from Timmy to free Danny, and a pure stroke from Danny. Beautiful stuff.

5_manu_hammer


Bonus Pass:

This isn't an assist exactly, but the no-look pass from Ginobili to Patty Mills that led to the Boris Diaw triple in Game Six of the WCF has to be mentioned and seen.

Manu_no_look

Stay tuned for part six.