Manu Ginobili injury: Strained hamstring fells Spurs guard

San Antonio didn’t miss a beat without Ginobili as the bench unit ended with 55 points by the end of the game.

It’s not the first time the Spurs will be without their sixth man. Ginobili has dealt with three other noted injuries this season, including a foot problem, back spasms and a thigh contusion. It appeared the previous problems were in the rear-view mirror.

Despite battling injuries for much of the year, Ginobili has remained effective in his bench role. The 35-year-old is averaging 12.9 points, 4.6 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 24.3 minutes. And while his shooting mark of 44.0 percent is well down from last year’s 52.6 percent, he’s still having a nice season efficiency wise. Ginobili is sporting a PER of 20.64 and is in the top-10 in true shooting percentage for shooting guards.

Ginobili started limping and grabbed his left leg. There wasn’t any contact or nasty fall that led to the injury; he just kind of got hurt on his own. The Spurs announced that the injury was a left hamstring strain and that Ginobili would not return to the game.