CLEVELAND — Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs weren’t perfect Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, but they were pretty darn close when it mattered most.
Ginobili made his last nine shots and the Spurs scored on 17 of their 19 possessions in the final period to beat the Cavaliers 112-105 in the last game before the All-Star break.
“He’s a bad boy,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said of Ginobili. “He had a night tonight.”
Ginobili finished with a season-high 46 points, five rebounds and eight assists. In one of the best shooting performances ever seen at The Q, he was 15-of-20 from the field, including 8-of-11 from behind the arc, and 8-of-9 at the line. Eighteen of the left-hander’s points came in San Antonio’s 41-point fourth quarter, when the Spurs were 14-of-18 from the field (.778).
“He shot step-back threes, he shot pull-up threes, he circled around and got it back and shot it,” said LeBron James, who led the Cavaliers with 39 points, six rebounds and nine assists. “It was a great performance.”
This game was everything ABC had hoped the NBA Finals would be a year ago, as the lead changed hands on a remarkable nine straight possessions in the fourth quarter, four of them on 3-pointers.
In the end, the Cavaliers simply had no answer for Ginobili, just as they didn’t in June, when he scored 27 points in Game 4 to help the Spurs complete their finals sweep.
 The Argentinean, who has now scored 80 points over his last two games, hit almost nothing but net on all his shots, none of which were easy down the stretch.
 “There’s nothing you can do,” said James, who also had 18 points in the fourth quarter. “The guy was in the zone.”
Larry Hughes added 26 points for Cleveland, but didn’t attempt a shot in the final quarter. No other Cleveland player scored in double figures.
The problem for the Cavaliers (29-23), who scored 30 points in the fourth period while shooting .550 from the field (11-of-20), wasn’t their offense. The Spurs (34-17) scored an incredible 26 points on their last 11 possessions and were 7-of-8 from behind the arc in the final quarter.
“We scored 30 points in the fourth,” Brown said. “I’m not worried if this guy or that guy takes the shot. … That’s not why we lost. We gave up 41. That’s the ballgame right there.”
The Spurs, who were completing a nine-game road trip and playing without point guard Tony Parker (left ankle inflammation), also got 23 points and 13 rebounds from Tim Duncan, 12 points from Ime Udoka and 10 points from Bruce Bowen while ending a four-game, regular-season losing streak against the Cavaliers.
“It’s always a great game between the two of us,” James said. “They made more plays than we did down the stretch.”
It looked like the Spurs were taking control when they went on a 17-4 run to go up 67-64 late in the third period, but the Cavaliers came right back in the seesaw game.
It wasn’t always pretty. At one point, Hughes airballed a 3-point attempt from the right corner, only to have the ball end up back in his hands with the shot clock winding down. With no other choice, Hughes launched a bomb from the right wing that banked in, leading the elated St. Louis native to signal his own successful 3-pointer as he ran back down the floor.
It turned out to be his last points of the night, giving him 66 over the last two games on 23-of-38 shooting. Ginobili, meanwhile, had another great quarter left in him.
“I’m going to Vegas,” Ginobili quipped. “It was a special game. I felt like every shot was going to go in. I felt great.”
Added San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich: “Manu is Manu. He’s one of the most unbelievable competitors I’ve ever been around. … That’s why he has NBA championships and European championships. He’s a pretty special guy.”
Behind Hughes, who made his first four shots and had nine points midway through the first quarter, the Cavaliers dominated for most of the first half but had just a one-point lead to show for it.
Cleveland led by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but lost its focus in the final moments and got outscored 15-4 to end the half, giving it just a 47-46 lead at intermission.
James picked up his second and third personals trying to block Duncan’s shot late in the second period, then got a technical for arguing the latter call.
A frustrated Zydrunas Ilgauskas (six points, four rebounds) also had three fouls at halftime. After getting his third with 10:39 to go in the second period, he kicked an empty water bottle and pile of towels before storming through the tunnel that leads to the locker room. He returned to the bench a few minutes later.
The Spurs finished the night 26-of-30 at the line compared to the Cavaliers’ 12-of-16, with Drew Gooden (seven points, 11 rebounds) also getting whistled for a technical in the second half.
“We allowed the referees to get to us,” Brown said. “We allowed the no-calls and some of the things that were going on on the floor to get to us. That’s usually not us.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

Spurs 112, Cavs 105

SAN ANTONIO (112): Bowen 4-4 0-0 10, Duncan 8-21 7-9 23, Oberto 1-3 2-2 4, Vaughn 1-8 0-0 2, Ginobili 15-20 8-9 46, Stoudamire 0-4 0-0 0, Horry 2-4 3-3 7, Finley 2-8 3-4 8, Udoka 4-4 3-3 12. Totals 37-76 26-30 112.
CLEVELAND (105): James 17-31 4-7 39, Gooden 2-8 3-3 7, Ilgauskas 3-6 0-0 6, Hughes 11-19 0-1 26, Newble 0-1 0-0 0, Dw.Jones 0-0 0-0 0, D.Brown 3-6 2-2 9, Marshall 2-3 3-3 9, Da.Jones 3-6 0-0 9. Totals 41-80 12-16 105.
San Antonio     18    28    25    41    —    112
Cleveland         24    23    28    30    —    105
3-Point Goals—San Antonio 12-20 (Ginobili 8-11, Bowen 2-2, Udoka 1-1, Finley 1-3, Horry 0-1, Stoudamire 0-2), Cleveland 11-22 (Hughes 4-7, Da.Jones 3-5, Marshall 2-3, D.Brown 1-2, James 1-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—San Antonio 40 (Duncan 13), Cleveland 46 (Gooden 11). Assists—San Antonio 23 (Ginobili 8), Cleveland 24 (James 9). Total Fouls—San Antonio 15, Cleveland 23. Technicals—Finley, Horry, Gooden, James, Cleveland defensive three second. A—20,562 (20,562).

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