With the San Antonio Spurs trailing the Denver Nuggets by three points with 6.5 seconds left.  After a very smart and savvy movie by Gregg Popovich to get the basketball to the side (originally the ball needed to be inbounded in the deep corner, but after calling a second timeout he was allowed to advance it to the side).  With Popovich operating from the side, everyone was expecting the Spurs to get a decent look.  The result left us all scratching our head as Manu Ginobili caught the ball in the backcourt, dribbled up to the three point line, and took a challenged three pointer.

With the late game plays that we have seen in the past from the San Antonio Spurs, it was a surprise to see the Spurs run an ISO play late.  Rewatching the play, I noticed that the Spurs actually ran a play, but Ginobili broke it off:

As the ball goes to the trigger man, George Hill, Matt Bonner and Manu Ginobili criss-cross, with Bonner going to the opposite block and Ginobili going to the opposite elbow.

As the two Spurs cross, Ginobili is actually getting a screen set for him by DeJuan Blair.  The Nuggets switch the screen, forcing Ginobili to alter his route to the basketball.  Instead of heading straight toward it, Ginobili is forced to go towards the backcourt.

With Ginobili going towards the backcourt, the Spurs do the safe thing and throw the basketball in the backcourt.  This prevents Manu/the Spurs from getting in trouble with the backcourt line and avoiding the backcourt violation.

As soon as Ginobili makes the catch, the Spurs get into their final set.  Gary Neal, who is sitting in the corner starts to head towards the opposite corner as Ginobili starts to dribble towards him.

The play was designed for Ginobili to hit Neal, who was coming off of an Antonio McDyess pindown screen with Neal curling off of it behind the three point line.  However, instead of following the play, Ginobili crosses over and takes the ball to the opposite side of the court.

As Ginobili gets close to the three point line he starts his patented step back move.  As this happens, Neal is coming off of his pindown screen with plenty of space.

As Ginobili pulls up for the three over the bigger Kenyon Martin, Neal is still pretty open.  Ginobili misses the three, and the Spurs end up losing the game.  Here is the play in real time:

As you can see, the play was definitely designed for Neal to get the three pointer on the right side of the court.  The Spurs are even patient enough to wait until Ginobili to makes the catch before getting into their set, so it was timed perfectly.  The only problem is that Ginobili takes the basketball to the opposite side of the court, for whatever reason.  The only reason I can think of is because Ginobili sees the bigger defender and thinks he can get a step on Martin and use that step to get a clean look.  Martin does a great job of staying with him and forcing him into a tough shot and the miss.