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Not good“It limits me. I can’t push off that leg.
It’s not something that is painful all day; just when I push (off). It was hurting before, and I aggravated it in Game 2.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....c17744dd.html
Spurs' Ginobili still slowed by ankle pain
Web Posted: 05/02/2008 08:35 PM CDT
By Mike Monroe
[email protected]
NEW ORLEANS — Appropriately, the stripes that run up the back of Manu Ginobili’s left calf are bright baby blue, approximating perfectly the blue of the Argentine flag.
They are not there to make a patriotic statement. The hero of Argentina’s 2004 Olympic gold medal triumph in Athens need remind nobody of his love for his native land.
In fact, Ginobili is not sure what purpose the stripes — imagine an aerial view of the Interstate 10 and Loop 410 interchange, with the roadways in blue — serve. One member of the team’s medical/training staff whispered that the blue stripes had been secured from a Haitian voodoo prac ioner who promised magical results.
“Who knows?” says the Spurs’ sixth man.
He admits he is worried the pain in his injured left ankle won’t be mitigated by tipoff of Game 1 of the Spurs’ Western Conference semifinal opener against the New Orleans Hornets tonight at New Orleans Arena.
Ginobili’s left ankle has been sore for some time, but he jammed it late in the Spurs’ victory in Game 2 of the first-round series against the Phoenix Suns and has suffered increased swelling and pain.
Though he played the remaining three games, Ginobili’s productivity dipped sharply, game to game. He scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in Game 3, but had only 10 points in Game 4. In Game 5, he experienced little but frustration, missing 9 of 11 shots and scoring only eight points in 27 minutes.
If the team’s medical staff asked him to paint his entire body Argentine blue he would submit his body as a live canvas.
“Whatever it takes,” he said after the Spurs’ final practice before departing for The Big Easy. “Whatever they tell me to do, I do it. It’s just that the muscle is tight because of the angle, and (the stripes) are supposed to help keep it relaxed. I don’t know.”
What Ginobili does know is this: The pain in his ankle isn’t yet to the point that his presence on the court, even at less than 100 percent, would hurt the Spurs more than help, as the Suns determined was the case with Grant Hill during the last round.
“If I feel I am hurting the team, of course, definitely, I would tell (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich),” Ginobili said. “In situations like Game 3, 4 and 5, I thought I could still help the team. I knew I was not 100 percent, as healthy as I would want. But it’s not getting worse, and I am helping. That’s why I’m not going to say that (I should not play) at this moment.”
Accustomed to forcing the action on the offensive end, Ginobili understands he must limit his approach to be effective at all.
“I should have last game,” he said. “But with hindsight, it is easy to say it. At the moment I am just going to do and create things and get things done. Of course, if I was at the game now, I would say I should take it easy and be a decoy.
“It limits me. I can’t push off that leg. But I’ve been doing a lot of treatments, and I will keep doing them the last 36 hours before the game, and hopefully, it gets better. It’s not something that is painful all day; just when I push (off). It was hurting before, and I aggravated it in Game 2.”
Willing to do anything to return to full health, Ginobili wonders if Popovich might slip him into his starting lineup to lessen the chance that his ankle might stiffen as he sits the bench for the first five or six minutes of the game.
“It’s possible,” he said. “We didn’t talk about it. Ask the boss. He would know.”
Not good“It limits me. I can’t push off that leg.
It’s not something that is painful all day; just when I push (off). It was hurting before, and I aggravated it in Game 2.”
Tough situation. We can't afford to sit him but we can't have him forcing things out there either.
And how much hair do these things take off when you rip those pieces of blue tape of his leg?
Well, at least the main problem seems to be his ankle and not his groin. Groin injuries tend to linger longer. Hopefully he can keep it taped and keep up the therapy until it heals fully.
I don't understand why Ginobili and the Spurs are releasing this much information about his situation. The Hornets can now gameplan for a scenario in which Ginobili is unhealthy. Instead of being surprise by a gimpy Ginobili, they can now easily change midstream to pay less attention to Ginobili if need be.
CIA failed this time.
I thought it was pretty obvious already that he was gimpy. , I said it in one of the game threads...during Game 3 I think. He just doesn't look right and has no explosiveness at all. If you're a good scout you don't need someone to tell you something's wrong with the guy.
Maybe that's exactly what they want, with Pop you never know.
Given all of that, it means he is ready to go. and is going to torch them for his 40 point game, hey he's due right?
Did you imply that the Hornets will be targeting Manu's sore ankle?
why did he practice?
maybe he is much healthy then this appears
What the is with this blue tape all of a sudden?
Tiago Splitter had the same thing up and down his arm today.
Unless the ankle isn't as bad as they're letting on.
if anyone can help, i'm a little slow, is there any other sites that have a link to the practice videos that they post on spurs.com? the videos usually work for me but they're not right now and i hadn't watched them. just wondering if anyone could help a slow girl.
Karma is a !
I'm pretty sure the Hornets are going to know quickly how limited Ginobli is by his ankle. The Spurs aren't hurting themselves by being honest.
oh, i love it.
the rockets and suns have both been eliminated from the playoffs, and you're still here, whining and complaining as if you belong here.
this is very distressing
or did it?.....
Manu's going to erupt for 55 points tomorrow night!or did it?.....
I don't know what to think at this point... im worried
It sucks. Even if it isn't at 100% on Sunday, I hope that the 3 days off will allow him to be on the way to the recovery. The good news is that the injury hasn't worsen by playing with it.
Splitter had the same thing on his arm yesterday and I've seen a tennis player with that a couple of weeks ago.Appropriately, the stripes that run up the back of Manu Ginobili’s left calf are bright baby blue, approximating perfectly the blue of the Argentine flag.
I don't know if it's really work but it's a strange thing for sure.
I haven't seen any of the players wearing this "blue tape", but is sounds like kineseotape. It's supposed to provide support to damaged joints, weak muscle, ligaments and tendons.
The spurs want peja to be on manu thats why they release the info just like that. 30 points! book it!
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