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Reuters
CLEVELAND - Manu Ginobili is planning a trip to Las Vegas during this weekend’s NBA All-Star break. Alert the roulette wheels, blackjack tables and pit bosses.
Watch out. This guy’s on a serious roll.
Ginobili made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a season-high 46 points as the San Antonio Spurs, back on the floor where they won the NBA title last season, beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 112-105 on Wednesday night.
Knocking down shots from every corner of the floor, Ginobili made 4-of-4 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Spurs, who began the final period down by four.
“I’m just happy he’s on my team,” Tim Duncan said. “He’s unbelievable when he gets rolling like that. The funny part is, I’ve seen him do it before.”
Following Ginobili’s hot hand, the Spurs went 7-of-8 on 3s and shot a blistering 78 percent (14-of-18) in the final 12 minutes. Even when San Antonio missed, which wasn’t too often, the Spurs outhustled the Cavaliers to loose balls.
Duncan added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who completed their annual rodeo road trip at 6-3.
LeBron James scored 39 points — 18 in the fourth — but Cleveland’s superstar again came up a little short against the Spurs, who swept the Cavaliers in last June’s finals. James added nine assists and six rebounds in 43 minutes, but walked off the floor shaking his head at Ginobili’s marksmanship.
“It was unbelievable,” James said. “There’s nothing you can do when a guy get hot like that. He shot step-back 3s. He shot pull-up 3s. It was a great performance by Manu.”
Larry Hughes added 26 points for the Cavs, who went ahead 91-89 on James’ 3-pointer with 5:57 remaining.
That’s when Ginobili, who also had eight assists and five rebounds, began taking target practice.
The Argentinean’s second 3-pointer of the period made it 92-91, and after James gave the Cavaliers their final lead at 95-94 with a layup, San Antonio defensive specialist Bruce Bowen made a 3-pointer and Ginobili drained another.
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“Manu Ginobili’s a bad boy,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said.
Ginobili, who was coming off a 34-point performance in a win over Toronto, has made 19 3-pointers in his past three games while helping the Spurs offset the absence of guard Tony Parker. The finals MVP missed his eighth straight game with a bone spur in his left heel.
With Ginobili shooting like this and running the point, Parker can take as long as he needs to get well.
It didn’t seem to matter where the smooth left-hander’s shots came from, they all hit the bottom of the net.
“It was a special game,” Ginobili said. “I was feeling good from the beginning. I felt like every shot was going to go in, and it did.”
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Rajon Rondo recorded a triple-double with 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to a 95-91 win Sunday over the Chicago Bulls, who were without star guard Derrick Rose.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
