The San Antonio Spurs defeated the New Orleans Hornets on Monday by a score of 91-82. With the victory, the Spurs will advance to the Conference Finals round of the NBA playoffs, while the Hornets will go home swallowing the bitter pill of defeat.

One of many reasons that the Spurs were able to pull the victory off was the clutch performance of Manu Ginobli. Ginobli scored 26 points in Monday night’s game, dishing out five assists and nabbing five rebounds in the process. Manu was also effective from beyond the three point line; he sank three long distance 3 pointers in the game.

“We knew the shots were going to be there. It happened today that we just made more,” said Ginobli. “We just let it fly.”

Although Spurs all star Tim Duncan only scored 16 points in the game, he was picked up by teammates Tony Parker (who scored 16 points with five assists), Fabricio Oberto (who came up with nine rebounds), and Robert Horry (who came off the bench to score six points with four rebounds).

“We really believed we had a chance to win on the road here,” said Duncan after the victory. “It’s just a lot of confidence. A lot of games under our belt.”

After the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich paid respect to the Hornets, who were able to force a game seven against a Spurs team that has made the playoffs in each of their last eleven seasons.

“I’m glad that’s over,” Popovich said afterward. “The Hornets are an unbelievably tough team in every way you could imagine, and they had a fantastic year. I don’t think there’s any doubt their time will come.”