The San Antonio Spurs are off to a great start as they are 8-2 which is the second best record in the league behind the undefeated Golden State Warriors. Some Spurs players still don't believe they are playing their best basketball yet this season despite the great record but it seems like that will have to wait a little bit longer as sixth man Manu Ginobili will miss the Spurs next two games with tightness in his hip, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.
The Spurs last played on Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers and Manu Ginobili was a huge key to the win. The Spurs offense wasn't in sync the entire game but Ginobili got hot in the fourth quarter and carried the Spurs to the win as he dropped 14 points in the final frame. That performance is just a small part of how good Ginobili has been for San Antonio this season as he is second on the team in PER (25.1) just behind Kawhi Leonard and he is third on the team with 11.7 points per game.
Ginobili considered retiring before this season but decided to give it at least one more go with the Spurs and he is showing that he can still play at a high level as he is shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. Ginobili will miss the Spurs games on Wednesday night and on Friday night but based on what the team is saying it seems like he could be back for Saturday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The fact that the Spurs are only ruling him out for two games is a sign that the injury isn't serious which is great news for the Spurs as Ginobili is an essential piece to the puzzle. It is possible the Spurs could hold him out for Saturday's game too to give Ginobili a full week off, as there next game wouldn't be until Monday, but either way this doesn't seem like a long-term problem.
There was never a chance that Ginobili was going to play all 82 games on the schedule this season anyway at age 38 but instead of head coach Gregg Popovich resting him because he's old he now has an injury to attach to his name. While Ginobili is out Rasual Butler and Kyle Anderson may get a shot at more minutes as Ginobili is averaging 20.6 per game and somebody will have to fill that role temporarily.
