All season, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has rested his players during tough stretches of the schedule to have them healthy for the postseason.
A sound strategy, no doubt. But it may not be working.
The Spurs announced Monday that do-it-all guard Manu Ginobili – who already has missed most of the last two games with a hamstring injury – will be out three to four weeks with a strained right hamstring.
Ginobili played just three minutes before suffering the injury in Friday’s 104-102 home win over the LA Clippers and sat out Sunday’s 88-86 home loss to Miami. The timetable for his return carries into the playoffs.
The postseason begins Saturday, April 20, which is less than three weeks away. If Ginobili is out four weeks, he would miss the second weekend of the playoffs, meaning he would likely sit out four games.
Four games may not seem like a lot when you are the Spurs (55-18), who lead the Western Conference and have their sights set on playing in four postseason series. But San Antonio has not fared well when Ginobili misses playoff games.
Over the last four postseasons, the Spurs are 16-13 with Ginobili in the lineup and 1-5 without him. That includes a 2009 first-round exit vs. Dallas, which Ginobili missed entirely, and a 2011 first-round loss vs. Memphis in which Ginobili missed just one game – a loss at home in the opener, allowing the Grizzlies to steal homecourt advantage, which they never gave back.
Dubbed “El Contusion” by former teammate Brent Barry for his reckless style, Ginobili has missed 13 games this season due to injury or rest. His scoring average (11.9 ppg) and shooting (.426) are his lowest since the 2003-04 season, his second in the NBA.
But Ginobili’s numbers never tell the whole story. He is basketball’s Derek Jeter, a very good player who plays his best in the biggest moments. And the biggest moments of the season for the Spurs are less than three weeks away.
Ginobili is one of three Spurs who will miss Monday night’s game at Memphis. Starting forwards Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard both have sore left knees and will sit out.
The NBA’s best record is probably out of reach for the Spurs, who are three games in the loss column behind Miami (58-15) and were swept in the season series. San Antonio is two games ahead of Oklahoma City (54-20) for the best record in the West and visits the Thunder on Thursday.
Five of the Spurs’ nine remaining games are on the road, and all five are against teams in the West playoff chase.
And all nine will be played without Ginobili.