Bernucca: Spurs must man up without Manu

In recent years, we have gotten extended looks at the San Antonio Spurs without Manu Ginobili. And what we have seen is a contender reduced to a pretender.

In 2009, Ginobili suffered an ankle injury in early April that cost him the final six games of the regular season and the postseason, which ended abruptly with a five-game exit vs. Dallas.

As my colleague Jan Hubbard pointed out some time ago, the Spurs were the best regular-season team in the NBA last season – until the final game, when Ginobili suffered a serious elbow injury.

Ginobili sat out the playoff opener vs. Memphis, which San Antonio lost at home. Despite Ginobili’s return in Game 2 wearing a protective brace on his elbow that would have made Barry Bonds envious, the Spurs never regained home-court advantage and became the fourth top seed to lose to a first-round series.

Since reaching the Western Conference finals as defending NBA champions in 2008, the Spurs haven’t made much noise in the postseason, the primary reason why the whispers that they are growing old have become clearly audible.

Their struggles are even more pronounced without Ginobili. Over the last three postseasons, San Antonio is 6-9 with Ginobili in the lineup and 1-5 without him.

Now Ginobili is out again, breaking a bone in his left (shooting) hand in Monday’s loss to Minnesota. He tweeted later that night that he likely would miss a couple of weeks, but team doctors are saying it will be more like a couple of months.

“Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said in typical understated fashion. “We’ll just have to deal with it.”

Here is what Popovich and the Spurs have to deal with: The absence of their leading scorer, best shooter and top perimeter threat for a month that brings 18 games, including 10 games against 2011 playoff teams and five back-to-back sets.

Before Wednesday’s win over Golden State, Ginobili was one of just two Spurs to score 20 points in a game this season. The other, believe it or not, was DeJuan Blair, who had DNP-CDs in the final two games vs. Memphis last April.

Noticeably absent from that short list were Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Both have been somewhat impacted by Popovich’s desire to manage minutes throughout this compacted season and have his team playoff-ready. But their numbers are still way off what we’ve come to expect.

Parker is averaging 7.2 assists, which would be a career high. But he also is averaging just 14.5 points, 3 ppg off last season and nearly 8 ppg off his fantastic 2008-09 campaign. Parker also is shooting just 40 percent, way down from his perennial 50 percent mark.

Duncan’s dropoff has been even more disturbing. He is averaging just 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds, which represented about half a game’s work for the first 11 years of his career. Another 50 percent shooter, he is at 43 percent. And he was benched for the entire second half of a loss to Houston after San Antonio was outscored by 28 with him on the floor.

Without Duncan’s presence in the paint, the Spurs have become somewhat one-dimensional. They are ninth in the league in 3-pointers attempted (11th in percentage) and 22nd in free throws per shot attempt. Even after a recent win over Utah, Popovich lamented his team’s lack of an inside game.

“We didn’t do anything that well paint-wise or inside-out wise,” he said. “We just lived on the perimeter. We did that in Houston and lost by 20. We need to have a little bit more varied game.”

Richard Jefferson has joined Matt Bonner as a spot-up shooter, and the rest of the rotation is youngsters Blair, Gary Neal (who returned this week from an appendectomy), Tiago Splitter, James Anderson and rookie Kawhi Leonard, who have shown flashes but not the sort of consistency synonymous with the Spurs.

Popovich has a tough decision to make. While Ginobili is out, does he stay the course, continue to provide Parker and Duncan with the rest they need, play the kids to build their experience and confidence, and give away wins and seeding in the loaded West? Or does he scrap his plan for up to two months, increase the minutes for his meal tickets and remain in the hunt, with the possibility that Parker and Duncan will be gassed in the postseason?

On Wednesday, it was a little of both. Parker scored a season-high 21 points in 34 minutes and Duncan played 31 minutes. The Spurs still trailed by eight points midway through the fourth quarter when Popovich turned into Bobby Fischer, playing Parker alongside T.J. Ford in the backcourt, keeping Danny Green on the floor down the stretch and intentionally fouling Kwame Brown. It was enough to steal a 101-95 win.

“It was good for our confidence,” Parker said. “We’re going to play a long time without Manu.”

We’ve all been watching this league long enough to know that you dismiss the Spurs at your own peril. Under Popovich, they have been smart, tough and determined, exhibiting a will to survive normally seen more on Animal Planet than NBA-TV.

But those characteristics all come in part from Ginobili, who is best described as the Derek Jeter of the NBA. While not the game’s best player, he is a damn good one, completely consumed by winning and entirely in control when the lights are brightest and the stakes are highest.

On Wednesday, Anderson got the first chance at replacing Ginobili, and Parker and Neal played some minutes at shooting guard. But as Popovich already knows, Manu Ginobili is irreplaceable.

TRIVIA: Who is the highest-paid player yet to make an All-Star Game? Answer below.

THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: The New York Post’s Page Six – where we get all of our NBA news – reported this week that Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is going to form and coach a basketball team of topless dancers from Headquarters Gentleman Club and hopes to line up a charity game vs. girls from Rick’s Cabaret, another men’s club.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, on why he didn’t attend LeBron James’ birthday party in South Beach, where James announced his engagement:

“Two or three years ago, I would probably be right there. But my car doesn’t even go across the causeway very much anymore. I got a LoJack or something if I cross the causeway. My car stops.”

LINE OF THE WEEK: Kevin Love, Minnesota vs. Dallas, Jan. 1: 38 minutes, 9-16 FGs, 5-6 3-pointers, 2-2 FTs, 17 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal, 25 points in a 99-82 win. Dwight Howard had a pair of 20-20 games and LeBron James had two 30-10 outings, but consider this: Love is now the only player in NBA history with three games of at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and five 3-pointers.

LINE OF THE WEAK: Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers at Denver, Dec. 31: 37 minutes, 6-28 FGs, 1-8 3-pointers, 3-4 FTs, two rebounds, four assists, six turnovers, 16 points in a 99-90 loss. Bryant missed nine of his first 10 shots and decided he was going to shoot his way out of his funk. He eclipsed 28,000 career points along the way but also established a league season high for misses in a game.

TRILLION WATCH: We were ready to let down our guard until Wednesday, when rookies Dennis Horner of New Jersey had a 4 trilion and Boston’s JaJuan Johnson upstaged him with a 5 trillion. However, the leader in the clubhouse remains Josh Childress, who had a 6 trillion on Dec. 28 and now is collecting DNP-CDs.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Miami at LA Clippers, Jan. 11. There should be no shortage of highlights, and the game will be another good test for the Clippers, who will be coming off a trip to Portland the previous night.

GAME OF THE WEAK: Washington vs. Toronto, Jan. 10. That’s the Washington Wizards, not the Washington Generals. …

TWO MINUTES: The biggest reason why the Kings should hold onto DeMarcus Cousins and see if they can fix him is financial. No one denies Cousins is extremely talented and easily could become an eight-figure player if he ever gets his head on straight. But right now, he makes $3.6 million, which makes it almost impossible for Sacramento to get back similar value in a big man. A long-time NBA axiom is you never trade big for small, and the Kings are loaded with youth in the backcourt anyway as Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and Jimmer Fredette all are 24 or less. The most the Kings could receive in return in a straight-up deal for Cousins is $5.4 million, which limits the big-man candidates to guys like JaVale McGee ($2.5 million), Greg Monroe ($3 million), Roy Hibbert ($2.6 million), Derrick Favors ($4.4 million), Ryan Anderson ($2.2 million), Tyler Hansbrough ($2.1 million), Tristan Thompson ($3.7 million) and Serge Ibaka ($1.3 million). When imagining the ceilings of all of those players, none seems to have a higher one than Cousins. The Kings do have some toss-ins to sweeten the pot in J.J. Hickson ($2.3 million) and Donte Greene ($1.7 million). …
During Monday’s highlights on NBA TV, Brent Barry called Nuggets center Chris Andersen “the guy with the dragon tattoo.” … Two teams – Indiana and Portland – have six All-Stars on the ballot. Five teams have five and 10 have just three, including the Knicks and Spurs. Brandon Bass, Gerald Henderson, Jonas Jerebko, Joel Anthony and Anthony Morrow all are somehow on the East ballot. By the way, feel free to stuff the ballot box for your favorite player – and wreck your team’s salary cap in the process. … One of the criticisms of Russell Westbrook is his shoot-first mentality, which detracts from his ability to run Oklahoma City’s offense. “That’s the type of guy he is, that’s his mindset, that’s how he plays,” Portland point guard Raymond Felton told The Oregonian after the Blazers defeated the Thunder. “He’s always in a 1-on-1 battle with all the point guards. I’m not really into that. I’m into winning. If you win, everybody gets the praises. We are not wearing ‘Felton’ on the front of our jerseys; it says Blazers. I care about the Blazers winning.” Westbrook is averaging nearly 17 shots per game while shooting 39 percent with a poor assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.2. And with the Thunder suddenly on a two-game skid, teammates are starting to notice. “It seems like we’re 40 feet from the basket trying to create something a lot,” Nick Collison said. “Our overall offense needs to get better.” … In Chicago’s 104-64 destruction of Memphis on Sunday, the Bulls had at least twice as many points as the Grizzlies on eight different occasions totaling 14:33 and still were doubling Memphis’ total as late as 1:09 left in the third quarter. … There were two inexcusable technical fouls last week. Nets rookie MarShon Brooks called a timeout his team didn’t have at the tail end of a loss to Atlanta when he could not get the ball inbounds. And Wizards coach Flip Saunders inserted Roger Mason into Friday’s game vs. Milwaukee even though Mason was not among Washington’s listed active players. Mason actually scored before being disqualified for entering the game as an inactive player. The Nets have four assistant coaches; the Wizards have five. How does stuff like this get past all of those guys? … The Bucks were last in the NBA in offense last season, averaging 91.9 points and missing the playoffs. So they went out and acquired Stephen Jackson and Mike Dunleavy, both of whom can put the ball in the basket. But Jackson is off to a 22-of-68 start from the field, Dunleavy is injured after making just 8-of-25 shots, and the Bucks are averaging 90.8 points. … The last team to play a home game is the Sixers, who finally debut in their own building Friday vs. Detroit. If you think that makes their remaining schedule much more favorable, think again. Philadelphia also has a stretch of seven road games over eight contests across the All-Star break and plays nine of its last 11 games on the road, including its final five. The Sixers do have a seven-game homestand beginning Jan. 23. But their schedule is very bipolar. … In his first two seasons, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan was 9-of-68 from 3-point range. This season, he is 10-of-16. … Gilbert Arenas remains unemployed, and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy shouldered some of the blame for that. “You ask a guy who had been an All-Star and one of the big scorers in the league to come off the bench – a tough role,” the coach said. “If anything, if people are unhappy with the way Gilbert performed here, I think you’ve got to lay that on me and the role I gave him.” …

Trivia Answer: Andrew Bynum. … Happy 48th Birthday, Dwayne “Pearl” Washington. … There are more than a few fans that would have rather seen LeBron James become engaged in the fourth quarter of big games.

Chris Bernucca is a regular contributor to SheridanHoops.com. His column appears every Thursday. You can follow him on Twitter.