McDonald: In A Flash, Ginobili's Season Finished

[duncan228]

In a flash, Ginobili's season finished (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/2009/04/in-a-flash-gino.html)
By Jeff McDonald

The second-to-last time I talked to Manu Ginobili, we were in the post-game locker room in Indiana.

I asked him the same question I'd asked maybe a dozen times since his second recovery from ankle surgery, the normally innocuous, "How are you feeling?"

Ginobili leaned back in his chair, propped his feet up on a box setting in front of him and, for the first time, seemed completely confident in his comeback.

"I'm happy, man," Ginobili said. "I played 36 minutes for the first time this year, and I'm feeling good. I still don't feel very confident going hard to the rim, but I'm energetic. I'm happy about it."

Four days later, out for the season. Done in by a stress fracture in his right ankle.

It's amazing how quickly the apocalypse happened, how quickly the future changed for both Ginobili and the Spurs.

The very last time I talked to Ginobili, it was in the hallway of Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Sunday . He had slipped out of the locker room without talking to reporters, which in retrospect should have been a telling sign. Ginobili always talks.

Buck Harvey, the Express-News columnist, and I bird-dogged Ginobili on the way to the bus. We talked mostly about the state of the Spurs, what needed to happen for the team to have a shot in the playoffs. Yada, yada, yada.

It was only at the end of this brief interview that Buck asked the question.

"How are you feeling?"

That's when Ginobili told us he was on his way to meet with the team's medical staff. His ankle had stiffened up on him during the game in Cleveland. He wanted to get it checked out.

Just to be safe.

"I just want to see if it's normal or not," Ginobili said.

Gauging from his tone and body language, Ginobili did not expect to get the news he eventually got. He expected to get a wink and a nod, and be cleared to play.

But the stiffness was not normal. It was the result of a stress fracture.

Had it not been for his previous history of ankle trouble, Ginobili said, he wouldn't have thought twice about the stiffness. Now, he's out for the rest of the season, and the entirety of the playoffs.

The Spurs' season is broken, too. They can't be logically considered a championship contender anymore. Not without Manu.

They might be able to win a first-round series without Ginobili. But not the whole she-bang.

For Ginobili, and for the Spurs, it is a frustrating end to a frustrating season.

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

CALL UP Hairston, and Ian. Let's give the Rookies some playoff expierience!

[Leftyventricle]

macdonald is a negative nancy. we still have the heart of a champion.
GO SPURS GO!!

[Spursfan092120]

What's up with McDonald calling our season over already? Damn..I know the odds are WAY against us, but anything can happen.

[ElNono]

Thanks for the update Duncan228!

[doldrums]

The odd number year championships have reached their end

[timvp]

McDonald pretty much nailed it.

Props :depressed

[Morg1411]

What's up with McDonald calling our season over already? Damn..I know the odds are WAY against us, but anything can happen.

:toast

Doomsayers, bandwagoners and emo fans, take note:

Shut up, and fuck off.

[EricB]

Yeah the season is pretty much toast and all u can do is hope holt let's the spurs pay out the full MLE. Problem is the mle needs to be spread throughout three spots.

[imagevo]

We can easily beat teams like the rockets without Ginobili, I don't even think he played one game against them this year. We can also beat the trailbazers even though they have speed.

[SouthTexasRancher]

:toast

Doomsayers, bandwagoners and emo fans, take note:

Shut up, and fuck off.


Oooohhh, a real tuff girlie boy we have here! Get lost, Punk!

[Morg1411]

Oooohhh, a real tuff girlie boy we have here! Get lost, Punk!

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt the whining. I'll be rooting for the Spurs while you're crying about your lost season.

[Solid D]

Interesting he reinjured his right leg playing against LeBron. He also reinjured his left ankle on a play against LeBron in the lane in the Olympics.

[mexicanjunior]

Mcdonald is just calling it like he sees it...can't blame him for pointing out reality.

[ElNono]

I actually think he thought he could play through it (I mean the pain, before learning it was a fracture). I'm glad Pop just called it quits and he sits until he heals.

[SouthTexasRancher]

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt the whining. I'll be rooting for the Spurs while you're crying about your lost season.

Ya gotta love little Big Mouths like you....you know punkass girlieboyz who think they are so tuff. Did you beat up the fat kid on your Elementary School playground today? Boy I bet you were thumping that sunken in chest of yours! ROTFFLMFAO@U!!!

[ducks]

Interesting he reinjured his right leg playing against LeBron. He also reinjured his left ankle on a play against LeBron in the lane in the Olympics.

what a fucking dirty player james

[The Truth #6]

Holy shit.

Stern would probably approve of us taking for the 9th seed, just to keep us out of the playoffs.

[mexicanjunior]

Holy shit.

Stern would probably approve of us taking for the 9th seed, just to keep us out of the playoffs.

I would approve of that also...it would mean we could get our first rounder back.

[rayray2k8]

2009 playoffs dedicated to our fallen brother..
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6383/manuhurt290120.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=manuhurt290120.jpg)http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2096/dtpspursg3parkerduncan.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dtpspursg3parkerduncan.jpg)

[iilluzioN]

Jeff McDonald is right, and I totally agree with him as far as the post season goes... The Spurs have no chance to win the title this year (unless Kobe gets hurt, or LBJ/Howard) We can still beat the Celtics!

Manu Is a big huge part of our success... He plays with heart and it carries it over to the team, Whenever we see a healthy manu with total confidence, the spurs DOMINATE.

Tim&Tony can only do so much, and the addition of Gooden helps out alot, Pop just needs to find a way to fit Gooden and Bowen back into the rotation somehow, and stop giving MINS to JV and UDOSUCKS!

And for Mr. Jeff McDonald, I enjoy reading your articles... keep up the good work! And TRY TO ASK POP WHY ISNT HE PLAYING BOWEN, AND ALSO TO ASK WHY IS HE GIVING UDOKA MINS?

If you do this, you will be EPIC.

Thanks for reading,

[Solid D]

what a ****ing dirty player james

Actually, I thought you would say Manu had just used a Windows Vista PC the very same day as both injuries.

[SouthTexasRancher]

Actually, I thought you would say Manu had just used a Windows Vista PC the very same day as both injuries.


Windows Vista ... LOL Combined with IE it really sucks. At least Mozilla Firefox makes it bearable to a degree. You'd think Billy Boy would at some point in time make a product worry of him and his ilk making the $Billion$ they've made over the years.

[ducks]

Actually, I thought you would say Manu had just used a Windows Vista PC the very same day as both injuries.

ie 8 SUCKS

ie 7 is always crashing on vista

[ancestron]

Fuck!

[E20]

Was this inevitable or could have it been avoided or maybe even prolonged if Manu came back slower? Playing 36 minutes against Indiana now seems like A LOT of minutes for an injured Manu who came back, I mean healthy Manu usually plays 28 MPG.

[GSH]

He shouldn't have been playing any 36 minutes that early in the recovery. That being said, it probably would have happened in the playoffs anyway.

I was worried from before the first announcement that the problem was down in the mortise of the ankle. The reports I read kept making it sound like it was further up on the fibula, inches above the ankle joint. And I believed them. Looking at how it has progressed, I'd make a decent wager that it really is the ankle joint. And it's compression trauma, rather than "normal" over-use stress.

I hate to be the voice of gloom and doom, but if it really is the ankle joint, it could easily be career ending. It can be a really messy recovery process, and he already has a lot of miles on him. The whole thing makes me wonder about the diagnosis of "stress reaction". I said the same thing that McDonald just wrote - that Manu looked like he believed the ankle was solid. But I have to wonder if the doctors were a little too optimistic.

Nothing to do now but wish him well, and a full recovery.

[duncan228]

Monroe's updated version.

Spurs’ Ginobili out for rest of season (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Ginobili_out_for_rest_of_season.html)
Mike Monroe

OKLAHOMA CITY — The stiffness Manu Ginobili felt in his right ankle late in Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers was not the result of normal fatigue, as the Spurs guard had hoped when he discussed the discomfort with reporters before leaving Quicken Loans Arena.

Tests conducted Monday in San Antonio revealed a stress fracture in the right distal fibula, the lower portion of one of the three bones that form the ankle joint.

As a result, Ginobili will miss the remaining six games of the regular season, beginning with tonight’s game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City, and all the playoffs.

Ginobili had returned to action March 25 in Atlanta after missing 19 games with a stress reaction in the right distal fibula, an injury that had been diagnosed in mid-February. Sunday’s game was just his sixth back in the lineup. He averaged 11.6 points in those games.

His playing time was limited to 14 minutes and 17 minutes in his first two games back, but he had played 28, 29 and 36 minutes leading up to Sunday’s game in Cleveland. There, he played only 23, sitting out the entire fourth quarter, in part because the Cavaliers had a big lead in a game they ended up winning by 20 points.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had returned Ginobili to the Spurs’ starting lineup just one week ago today against the Thunder.

Before Friday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Popovich had declared his intent to keep Ginobili in the starting lineup for the remainder of the season. Popovich said he would bring Roger Mason Jr. off the bench in the role Ginobili had played so well last season that he won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award.

Popovich reasoned that starting Ginobili would give him more time on the court with the other members of the Spurs’ “Big Three,” Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.

“I just think Manu coming off the bench has run its course,” Popovich said then. “It’s time for the three of them to play together. They’re our best three players. They’ve going to make each other better on the court.”

Mason is expected to go back into the starting lineup. The team’s key free-agent addition last summer, Mason has started 65 games this season, averaging 11.6 points. He has struggled recently, scoring only 26 points in the Spurs’ past five games. In two of those games he was scoreless.

Going into Sunday’s game, Ginobili had totaled 50 points in three previous games and had begun to show some of the explosiveness to the rim that has characterized his career with the Spurs. After tallying 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes of the victory in Indianapolis, Ginobili had declared that his ankle felt good.

“I’m happy, man,” Ginobili had said. “I played 36 minutes for the first time this year, and I’m feeling good. I still don’t feel very confident going hard to the rim, but I’m energetic. I’m happy about it.”

About 36 hours later, the stiffness belied that postgame enthusiasm.

Ginobili began the season on the injured list after left ankle surgery. He hurt the ankle playing for Argentina in the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The hero of Argentina’s 2004 Olympic gold medal triumph, Ginobili had carried Argentina’s flag into the Olympic stadium during the opening ceremonies for the 2008 games. He led his homeland to the quarterfinals but reinjured the left ankle he had jammed during the Spurs’ 2008 playoff run to the Western Conference finals.

Ginobili returned to San Antonio after the Olympics. Surgery was conducted Sept. 3, and Ginobili missed all of training camp, the preseason and the first 12 games of the regular season.

Ginobili returned to action Nov. 24, scoring 12 points in a victory at Memphis. Slowly, he began returning to the form that had made him an All-Star in 2005.

In late January and early February, he put together a string of games that appeared to show he was back to All-Star form. He averaged 24.3 points in his final six games before the All-Star break, including three games with 30 or more points.

His season high, 32 points, came in the last game before the break, in Toronto, on Feb. 11.

When the Spurs returned from the All-Star break, Ginobili complained of soreness in his right ankle, and the stress reaction was discovered.

[Dex]

I'm trying my best to not let my vocabulary get overwhelmed by F bombs.

All season long, the mantra I've stuck to is as long as the Big Three are healthy, we've got our shot. Unfortunately, this may the most banged up we've seen the Big Three since Tim was down in 2000 and Tony and Manu were still foreigners. No Manu. Tim playing at, what looks to me, maybe 50%. Tony has been spectacular, but I don't see him being enough.

It's gonna be all about Believe this year, because the odds sure as hell aren't stacked in our favor.

[porscha]

He shouldn't have been playing any 36 minutes that early in the recovery. That being said, it probably would have happened in the playoffs anyway.

I was worried from before the first announcement that the problem was down in the mortise of the ankle. The reports I read kept making it sound like it was further up on the fibula, inches above the ankle joint. And I believed them. Looking at how it has progressed, I'd make a decent wager that it really is the ankle joint. And it's compression trauma, rather than "normal" over-use stress.

I hate to be the voice of gloom and doom, but if it really is the ankle joint, it could easily be career ending. It can be a really messy recovery process, and he already has a lot of miles on him. The whole thing makes me wonder about the diagnosis of "stress reaction". I said the same thing that McDonald just wrote - that Manu looked like he believed the ankle was solid. But I have to wonder if the doctors were a little too optimistic.

Nothing to do now but wish him well, and a full recovery.

:depressed:depressed:depressed:depressed:depressed :depressed

[porscha]

why didn't we have a news conference like rocket did with yao ming? they had doctor present with pictures and drawing to explain clearly what yao's injury!!!:bang:bang:bang:bang:bang:bang:bang:bang: bang

[Thompson]

CALL UP Hairston, and Ian. Let's give the Rookies some playoff expierience!

Hell yes. Hill plays 20-25 minutes per game minimum. Let's get those jitters out this year so they're unfettered next year.

[Russ]

Monroe's updated version.

Tests conducted Monday in San Antonio revealed a stress fracture in the right distal fibula, the lower portion of one of the three bones that form the ankle joint.

As a result, Ginobili will miss the remaining six games of the regular season, beginning with tonight’s game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City, and all the playoffs.

This seems like an over-reaction. Can the Spurs really say with confidence that if (by some miracle) they were to make it into June, Manu could not play?

I just ain't buying it.

[crc21209]

All we can do guys..is Believe. Pop, TP, TD, and Bowen have all been thru the toughest and the best of times...they have too much heart, too much pride, too much fight to go down without a fight. If you're a real Spurs fan you love and believe in them no matter what.