Tag: Manu Ginobili

Contused Ginobili uncertain for Portland game

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Manu Ginobili left the locker room at the FedEx Forum on Sunday night and headed down a corridor toward the team bus, dragging his sore left leg behind him like luggage.

With Tim Duncan already on the shelf with a sprained left ankle, it was a sight the Spurs did not want to see.

Ginobili, the team’s leading scorer, suffered a left quadriceps contusion in the first half of the Spurs’ 111-104 loss to Memphis. The injury occurred in a collision with Grizzlies forward Marc Gasol.

Officially, Ginobili’s status for tonight’s rematch with Portland at the ATT Center is uncertain. Hobbling out of Memphis, however, he didn’t look like an NBA player less than 24 hours from his next game.

“I’ll get some rest and some treatment, and then we’ll see how it feels,” Ginobili said.

With less than 2 1/2 minutes to go in the second quarter, Gasol ambushed Ginobili on a trap. Unaware of the charging defender, Ginobili whirled, and Gasol’s knee caught him just above his own left knee.

Ginobili immediately collapsed in pain, then left for the locker room. He tried to return for the second half but lasted just 5:50 of the third quarter before leaving the game for good.

“At first, when I came to the bench, I thought I was going to be OK,” Ginobili said. “Then it stiffened up. I can’t put my full weight on it.”

The injury is not considered serious but is painful. Leaving the arena Sunday, Ginobili was hoping — perhaps against hope — that compression machines would provide adequate healing powers to allow him to play against Portland.

Hill’s 30: A silver lining in the cloud that seemed to follow the Spurs to Memphis was the play of reserve guard George Hill.

Afforded 32:02 of playing time with Ginobili out, Hill scored 30 points to equal a career high set against Houston on March 31 of last season.

It was a significant turnabout for Hill, who had 24 points in the three previous games combined and hadn’t enjoyed a 20-point game since March 2.

He said Sunday’s breakout did not occur because of Ginobili’s absence, but because of a recent conversation with coach Gregg Popovich.

“He just wanted me to play basketball and stop thinking so much, just have fun out there,” Hill said.

Popovich was pleased with a performance from Hill that included 12 free throw tries, of which he made 11, a testament to the guard’s assertiveness.

“I want George to continue to play with that kind of scoring mentality, because he’s good at it,” Popovich said.

Guess who?: With the Trail Blazers visiting the ATT Center tonight, the Spurs did watch film of their epic collapse in Portland on Friday, including Nicolas Batum’s game-winning alley-oop from Andre Miller.

Hill said it wasn’t the horror show people might assume.

“You always watch film to try to get better,” Hill said. “But it’s nothing we harped on.”

Asked if tonight were too soon to exact revenge for Friday’s heartbreak, Hill called it “just another game on the schedule.”

Spurs won’t strain for NBA’s top mark

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

Goal No. 1 for the Spurs this season has been accomplished: securing the best record in the Western Conference and the corresponding home-court advantage through rounds one, two and three of the playoffs.

With three regular-season games to be played, goal No. 1-A — the best regular-season record in the league — remains reachable, but with slightly less urgency.

The team’s top scorer, guard Manu Ginobili, understands that coach Gregg Popovich now will practice prudence with the workloads of some of the team’s key players now that the West’s top record has been secured. That starts with today’s game against the Jazz at the ATT Center.

“The most important thing was clinching No. 1 in the West,” Ginobili said. “You never know, first, if you are going to make it to the Finals and then if the other (No. 1 Eastern seed) will make it to the Finals. We usually don’t care what happens in the East.

“Now that we are so close, of course we want to get it. The best way to do it is just to concentrate on the next opponent. Just concentrate on Utah. Then we’ll see.”

Point guard Tony Parker won’t fight Popovich if he wants to scale back the playing time for key players, just as long as all players get to suit up and maintain a modicum of pre-playoff rhythm.

He thinks the Spurs would rue losing the home-court edge over presumed Eastern No. 1 seed Chicago were both teams to advance to the NBA Finals.

“I think we should play, all of us,” he said. “We worked hard all season long to have the best record and we still have one game up on Chicago, so I think we should play all three and make sure we have home-court advantage for all the playoffs.

“I just think it helps, especially if you have a Game 7. We went through that in 2005. It’s better to have that game at home, not on the road. You saw what happened last year with the Lakers. It helps when you’re at home.”

The Spurs secured their third NBA title in 2005 by beating the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 at the ATT Center.

The Lakers defeated the Celtics in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

THIN MARGIN: The final three games will determine which of the starting guards will finish as the Spurs’ leading scorer. Ginobili and Parker go into tonight’s game separated by just hundredths of a point.

Officially, both players average 17.7 points per game. Ginobili is listed first because his average actually is 17.705, while Parker’s is 17.671 points per game.

MONEY WHISPERS: Though each Spurs player stands to get a substantial cut of the $346,105 the team would get from the NBA playoff pool if they finish with the best record in the league, Ginobili said money won’t be an overriding factor in the final three games.

“Of course, it’s important,” he said, “but when you are so close to accomplishing something that big, I think it’s more important for the main guys to rest and have your legs ready than getting extra money.

“The important thing is to be ready for the playoffs. We’ll see what Pop decides on how we approach the next games.”

Spurs can take foot off gas, but when?

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Now that the Spurs have locked up the top seed in the Western Conference, rendering the final three games of the season close to meaningless, coach Gregg Popovich has decisions to make about how soon to start resting some of his older players.

Thirty-something starters like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Antonio McDyess might anticipate a night off before the end of the regular season, but perhaps not right away.

“If there’s a chance to give somebody a break, we’d probably do it,” said Popovich, whose team next plays Saturday at home against Utah. “At the same time, we watch everybody’s minutes all year long. We don’t have anybody that’s been overplayed, so it’s not really a huge concern.”

The question of when to take the foot off the gas will certainly be a topic of conversation in coaches’ meetings for the next few days.

At the heart of the issue is the old question of rest vs. rust. In the past, Popovich has preferred to give his older players ample time to recharge at the end of the season, and almost certainly will again at some point this year.

Still, with 10 days between clinching the West on Wednesday and the possible start of the first round April 16, there is a danger in squandering some of the momentum accumulated during the three-game winning streak, should they downshift too quickly.

“This is the time of year where everybody who is going to be in the playoffs wants to go in with momentum,” Popovich said.

Duncan, who turns 35 on April 25, remains a particularly interesting case. Normally, Popovich would jump to give his captain as much rest as possible entering the postseason.

But with Duncan coming off a sprained ankle that cost him four games in late March and early April, he could probably use some time to maintain the groove he’s been working on since returning.

In the past five games, Duncan has averaged 16 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting 64.6 percent (31 of 48). In the three games Duncan played more than 30 minutes, he averaged 20 points and 10.7 rebounds.

“I think his rhythm is coming back,” Popovich said. “He’s making some jumpers. I think he’s doing OK.”

NEW MEANING TO GREEN WEEK: Locking up best record in the Western Conference put quite a few extra dollars in the players’ pockets.

From the league’s $12 million playoff pool, $302,841 goes to the teams that compile the best records in each conference. The second-place teams in both conferences get $243,411 apiece.

The Spurs’ seventh-place finish last season got them just $179,092. Beating the Mavericks in the first round earned them another $213,095.

There is a significant financial incentive for the Spurs to lock up best record in the league in their final three games. Should they finish with a better record than the Chicago Bulls, the only Eastern team that can surpass their 60 victories, another $346,105 will go into their playoff kitty, for a total of $648,946 before a single playoff game is played.

Express-News staff writer Mike Monroe contributed to this report.