The San Antonio Spurs may have been without both Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker for their matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday, but that didn't mean Manu Ginobili still couldn't put on a performance on the court that sees him join some elite company.

The Spurs lost 111-110 to the Trail Blazers on Sunday at the Moda Center in Portland, who were without Damian Lillard on the night, but they were in the game until the last couple of seconds of it despite the noticeable absences of Leonard and Parker. 

LaMarcus Aldridge was the top performer on the court for San Antonio on the night with 30 points, 14 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block after 35 minutes of action. However, Ginobili had a great night to keep the Spurs in the contest as well.

The 40-year-old put up a season-high 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting and 6-of-9 from 3-point range in just 27 minutes of action. He also had four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two blocks in the game.

According to Basketball-Reference, with his performance against the Trail Blazers, Ginobili became the sixth player in NBA history to drop 26 or more points in a game (regular season or playoffs) at the age of 40. The other five players are all in the Hall of Fame, as they are Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Robert Parish.

After achieving 21 points, one rebound, three assists, two steals, and one block against the Phoenix Suns last week on Friday, the Argentine is also the first 40-year-old to score 15-plus points in back-to-back games since Michael Jordan in 2002-03.

Following the loss to the Trail Blazers, Ginobili said to ESPN that the loss was hard to take because of the effort that was put in by the team, who was playing without both Leonard and Parker.

He said: "It's been a tough season. We're still hanging out, hanging in, hanging on. We're doing OK, I guess. That's why losses like this hurt more. It was such a great effort, and it just slipped away."

The 40-year-old is averaging 9.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists through 34 appearances for the Spurs so far this season. With a 27-14 record, the team sits in third in the Western Conference and 5.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors in first place.

He will look to continue his good form in the Spurs' next game when they visit Sacramento on Monday night to play against the Kings.