Ginobili bounces back at right time for Spurs

SAN ANTONIO -- Left reeling from two frustrating Western Conference finals games, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili started performing as he had done throughout the regular season by wheeling and dealing.

He scored eight points in the second half. Not much of a footnote as the Spurs had already pulled away by then in Sunday’s Game 3.

It was the first half in which Ginobili, who has taken on a bigger scoring load for the Spurs this season, did his real damage.

With one three-point basket after another.

Ginobili made five three-pointers en route to 22 points in the first half before finishing with 30 points.

One came with the Lakers’ Sasha Vujacic in his usual place during much of the first two games -- so close, it would be hard to slide a piece of paper between the two.

This time, the outcome was different with Ginobili pump-faking, fading backward and making the shot.

All this, after Ginobili scored only 17 points in the first two games of the series, playing passively and making only five of 21 shots.

He was -- and is -- playing through a jammed ankle and torn fingernail. But Ginobili declined to make excuses, instead relaying that he played poorly.

So, what changed Sunday?

Not much, according to Ginobili.

“I mean, I’m not that good [where] I can’t play bad for a game or two,” he said.

Before Game 3, Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said he expected a better effort from Ginobili.

In return, Ginobili joked that Popovich did not want him to think about his performances and did not want him to be asked about them either.

“He puts so much on his shoulders, he fights through a lot of things,” Popovich said. “And so, when he has these games, it really doesn’t surprise anyone.”

Least of all, the Lakers.

“He bounced back the way I thought he would,” said Kobe Bryant, adding that Ginobili’s fingernail was rather “nasty looking.”

Ginobili still says he has lost some explosiveness since a couple months ago, but his performance was something the Lakers will realize and remember come Tuesday’s Game 4.

“He played the game he’s capable of playing,” the Lakers’ Derek Fisher said. “It really made the difference in the game, in terms of the energy with which they were playing.”

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Maybe the first sign that things were improving for the Spurs came with their plane ride back to San Antonio.

They did not sleep on a tarmac in Los Angeles, as was the case in New Orleans when their plane experienced mechanical problems.

After that debacle, New York Knicks President Donnie Walsh lent the Spurs their plane for the remainder of the playoffs. “It was on time, it was comfortable,” Popovich said. “It was great to get home.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com