The San Antonio Spurs will have to navigate the stretch run of the regular season without Manu Ginobili, as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Sunday that the veteran will likely miss several weeks with a strained right hamstring.
Manu Ginobili injury: Spurs guard out indefinitely with strained hamstring
Ginobili’s status for the rest of the regular season is up in the air due to a strained right hamstring.
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Popovich told Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation that there’s still a possibility Ginobili will not be ready for the start of the postseason, which begins on April 20. While the Spurs have played well without Ginobili this season, Popovich lamented losing such a key contributor with the postseason rapidly approaching:
“It’s a huge blow for us,” he said, “because he’s the guy that allows our second team to do what they’ve been doing all year long.
“It’s a huge loss for that group, and in game situations it’s a tough one because he’s one of two guys, he and Tony (Parker), are the creators who make things happen for everybody else on the court. It’s an unfortunate loss at this point of the season.”
Ginobili injured the hamstring in the first quarter of Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers. He missed San Antonio’s 88-86 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, a game in which LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both sat out.
The 35-year-old Ginobili has missed 14 games this season due to various injuries, with the Spurs going 10-4 in those games. He has struggled of late, shooting just 31.6 percent in his last 10 games. On the season, Ginobili is averaging 11.9 points, the lowest mark since his rookie year.
San Antonio has nine games remaining, and they currently sit 1½ games ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference.
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