Ginobili’s 39 Lower Boom on SuperSonics

Manu Ginobili and Nazr Mohammed made sure the San Antonio Spurs didn’t have to sweat it out in the closing seconds of this Game 5.

Ginobili celebrated his return to the starting lineup with 39 points, the highest playoff total of his career, and Mohammed scored nine of his 19 points during a 17-3 third-quarter run, sending the Spurs past the Seattle SuperSonics, 103-90, Tuesday night and putting them ahead, 3-2, in the Western Conference semifinal series. They are within a victory of the conference finals.

It was a relief to San Antonio fans, who remembered the Spurs’ last two second-round Game 5s. Playing the Lakers both times, San Antonio won on a Laker miss at the buzzer two years ago, then lost last year on Derek Fisher’s amazing buzzer-beater with 0.4 seconds left.

The Spurs never even trailed this time. The only tie was 50-50 at halftime and it was smashed by the huge spurt that opened the second half.

“I don’t know if it was pivotal, but it was important for our team,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said.

Ray Allen led Seattle with 19 points, but he was not a factor while going scoreless in the first quarter and scoring only one point in the third.

Seattle forward Rashard Lewis missed his second straight game because of a sprained left big toe. He may return Thursday night for Game 6 in Seattle.

“We know we can play better,” Coach Nate McMillan said. “We know we didn’t execute, especially defensively.”

Starting for the first time since the playoff opener, Ginobili was 10 of 15 from the field and 15 of 17 from the line. He also had six assists and four rebounds.

“It didn’t matter if it was after six minutes or from the start,” Ginobili said. “I wanted to drive to the basket and make things happen.”

Mohammed, who had 19 points in the series coming into Game 5, was eight of 10 with seven rebounds.