The collective basketball world screamed in glee and disbelief when Manu Ginobili buried the game-winning 3-pointer against the Boston Celtics on Friday.
It was a shot the type of shot Ginobili has made plenty of times in his career, the type of shot head coach Gregg Popovich entrusts him to take.
And yet when it saw the bottom of the net, it was the type of shot not many 40-year-old NBA players make, making all the more astonishing.
Even Ginobili couldn't believe it went in when he saw the play after the game, per Tom Osborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
Manu on his game-winner: “I just saw the replay and Horford
contested great. I just gave it a little more air, shot it higher and it went in. I got a little lucky because it’s not my usual shot. I had to shoot it higher.”— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) December 9, 2017
“Lucky” might seem like an overstatement from Ginobili, but he's not entirely wrong.
Al Horford is a tall, long player and he played just about as good a defense that a player can to contest that shot. Ginobili's extra arc on the shot was just to get it over the outstretched arm of Horford.
It's one of those shots that pickup basketball players shoot for fun, just to see if it'll go in. And even in those instances, they're surprised if it does.
Ginobili may be in the twilight of his career. It may even be his last season playing NBA basketball.
But the guy can still electrify basketball fans as if he were 15 years younger, and it he proved it with that shot.
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