Manu Ginobili is the emperor of a very peculiar kingdom. For whatever reason, he’s developed an odd habit of producing his best performance of a playoff series in Game 5, regardless of opponent or personal circumstance. It’s the damnedest thing, and one that by now one would assume Ginobili himself and the Spurs at large have noticed.
I took the time to go through Ginobili’s game logs for every playoff series he’s participated in that have gone at least six games, logging his “game scores” via basketball-reference.com.
Ginobili game scores in long playoff series
| Year | Opponent | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6 | Game 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opponent | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6 | Game 7 |
| 2003 | Suns | 12 | 6. |