San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili had an emotional run in his final Olympic journey with Argentina's national team, receiving outpouring support and respect from fans and players alike.
The journey of Ginobili along with the Argentinian national team had come to an end when they fell short against the super team of the U.S. in a bout which ended in a 105-78 loss for the San Antonio star's country. The U.S. will be taking the next step in the Rio Olympics at the semi-finals when they face Spain, which is represented by Ginobili's teammate in the NBA, namely Pau Gasol, who has been traded to the San Antonio Spurs this summer.
Argentina has been a noteworthy national basketball team when they came out victorious during the 2004 Olympics in Athens, in which they had ended the streak of the US's super team ever since the 1992 dream team has been formed. They won the hearts of the Argentinians by winning the Olympic title and had ever since been a threat to all the teams present in the Olympics.
But now their journey has ended in Rio, which marks Ginobili's final Olympic game, according to ESPN Sports. Immediately after the game had ended, US's Carmelo Anthony, who plays for the New York Knicks, gave the San Antonio all-star a hug as a display of utter respect.
Anthony stated that he thanked Ginobili for making Argentina proud and by exerting a lot of effort in representing them greatly. Ginobili was humbled down with Anthony's kind words and said that he was very thankful Anthony gave the time to say those, instead of just focusing on Spain for the next round.
Ginobili is considered to be Argentina's proudest achievement when it comes to basketball, so the fans were quite emotional upon his last game and had cheered for him. Ginobili of course acknowledged everything and is completely proud of having stayed healthy all throughout the years of his career and being a consistent player for his national team.
The end of Ginobili's international career has been marked, and he has stolen the limelight despite the US coming out as victorious over Argentina. The US team were in complete awe of the fans who had shown complete, outrageous support for the basketball veteran, according to news.com.au.