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Count Ginoibli among those hoping Parker can beat the four weeks the medical staff originally predicted he’d be out. “The team knew that even though we won the first two without him, it didn’t mean anything,” Ginobili said. “That’s usually what happens when you have a player down: Other players step up and there’s the emotion. But in the long term it is going to hurt you.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Injuries 

Manu Ginobili: Happy 40th birthday to my good friend @Michael Finley. Great player, teammate and person! (One day late). Twitter @manuginobili

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley 

Of all the injuries suffered in Manu Ginobili’s 11 seasons with the Spurs, none was more painful than what he experienced Wednesday. Dante Ginobili, one of the identical twin sons of Manu and Many Ginobili, suffered a fractured right arm in an accident at the family’s home. Ginobili explained that Dante, two months shy of his third birthday, was climbing on a couch when he fell backwards. “Nothing unusual for a 3-year-old kid,” he said, “but hard to take. It was tough to see him in such pain. He will get over it, and the doctors said it will be even stronger by the time he is 6 or 7, but at the time, it was very difficult to see him that way.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

Ginobili will be back next season, though he says there are no guarantees. At his age, he says, it’s year to year. “But ask me right now,” he said Sunday, “and I’d like to play two more years for sure.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

His fans would prefer 10 years, but at least his timeline fits with others. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, for example, currently have contracts through 2015. Ginobili’s contract ends this summer. And while he’s currently the highest-paid Spur, it’s likely a hometown compromise could be reached with him as it was with Duncan before. He acknowledged Sunday he feels the years. “Little things” that wouldn’t have physically bothered him before now do. Given that, he eats better, and he stretches more, and he says he’s “less crazy” than he was eight years ago. San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich confirmed after shootaround this morning at the Target Center that his team will open its 11th rodeo road trip without All-Star forward Tim Duncan and key sixth man Manu Ginobili. Both have been ruled out of tonight’s game in Minnesota with leg injuries and are considered day-to-day as the trip proceeds from here. Duncan, 36, suffered a sore left knee and mildly sprained right ankle in Saturday’s win over Washington, when Wizards forward Martell Webster rolled into the back of his legs. Ginobili, a 34-year-old guard, is dealing with tightness in his left hamstring, which he initially strained in a Jan. 13 victory over the Timberwolves. San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich, Injuries, Tim Duncan 

Smacked in the head by Suns guard Shannon Brown, Ginobili ended up in a heap on the court under the Spurs basket, players from both teams pushing and shoving, referees separating potential combatants. Brown was charged with a flagrant foul, penalty-2, and ejected from the game. Ginobili made both foul shots to trim Phoenix’s lead to a single point heading into the final period and thanked Suns forward Markieff Morris for awkwardly crashing into him after Brown’s hit. “I kind of got pushed into him and it was lucky he was there,” said Ginobili, who scored 18 points after going scoreless in the Spurs’ easy win in Dallas on Friday night. “I had lost my balance and hitting him put me back upright. So I was actually very lucky.” San Antonio Express-News

Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Shannon Brown, Manu Ginobili 

Ginobili never saw Brown’s forearm coming at his head because he had faked his way past the Suns defender at the top of the key and was headed to the basket for what he thought would be an easy layin. “I was going to the rim and felt a boom to my head,” he said. “I imagined it was a flagrant but I saw it only on the replay afterwards.” Ginobili’s teammates were divided on whether Brown’s play was malicious. “I thought that was very dirty,” point guard Tony Parker said. “He didn’t need to do that. I think it was a big momentum change. Definitely everybody looked at each other and said, ‘You know what, let’s finish them.’?” San Antonio Express-News

Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Shannon Brown, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili 

Jeff McDonald: Stephen Jackson says he doesn't think Shannon Brown's flagrant was dirty because "I know Shannon Brown. He doesn't play like that." Twitter @JMcDonald_SAEN

Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Shannon Brown, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson 

Manu Ginobili on Splitter: "It's not that he's improved. He's just used to the league. Different system, different way of calling fouls, defenders... Before he was a great player, and now Pop trusts thim, he understands the game, he can pass, he can finish... He's been a great addition to the team the last two years." HoopsHype

San Antonio Spurs, Tiago Splitter, Manu Ginobili 

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that Manu Ginobili underwent an MRI this morning that revealed a Grade 1 left hamstring strain. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Sunday night's game vs. Minnesota. Ginobili is expected to miss 10-to-14 days. NBA.com

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili, Injuries 

Manu Ginobili: Despite the poisoning accusations of Carlos Delfino, we have no remorse. Twitter @manuginobili

Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili, Carlos Delfino 

And yet, Ginobili continues to serve as undisputed maestro of a Spurs bench that remains among the league’s best, ranking third in scoring (41.6 points per game) and first in assists (11.6). “I think my role has changed the last couple years,” said Ginobili, who averaged 19.7 points during his Sixth Man of the Year campaign of five seasons ago. “I started taking way less shots, and playing less minutes, since we are so deep. I don’t mind it.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

Ginobili left the game and did not return. The injury was diagnosed as a contusion to the left quadriceps of the player famously nicknamed “El Contusión” by former teammate Brent Barry in 2007. Ginobili’s availability for Monday’s road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is not known, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich did not sound optimistic. “He got a thigh contusion just above his knee,” Popovich said, “and one would think he is going to be stiffer than hell tomorrow. It’s hard to believe he’d be ready day after tomorrow for Oklahoma, but I’m not sure.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili, Injuries 

A team playing without some of its best players can be a dangerous foe, something the Spurs proved when a roster missing Ginobili, Duncan, Parker and Danny Green almost defeated the Heat in Miami on Nov. 29. “I’ve had a 17-year career (in Argentina, Europe and the NBA), and I’ve seen this situation probably 100 times, or more,” Ginobili said. “A team is lacking one or two of their best players. That team comes on a roll, and they get confident, and they are playing without pressure, and everybody starts making shots. “It happens. It happened for us against Miami, and it happened today, too. It’s something that you know, and you talk about it, but it keeps happening. “We’ve got to give them credit. They played a terrific game.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

Numbers and math are long-time fascinations for Ginobili, who said in a recent mailbag at Spurs.com that he likely would have pursued a career in accounting had he not happened to be a world-class basketball player. “The last three years we’ve been doing something related to math,” he explained after Friday’s shootaround. “Sometimes I went to classes to talk about it. I brought riddles to kids to enjoy the fun of math. To me, it’s a fun topic. A lot of people are scared, whenever they hear the word math they run away. “I feel it’s not only useful and important, but it can be fun too. I just want to share my joy of doing math riddles and stuff like that together with social media. We are trying something new and see how it works. I think it’s going to be fun for them to try to solve it and having a bonus of coming to an NBA game and get to talk to me a little bit and meet.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Manu Ginobili 

Head coach Gregg Popovich said he hadn’t seen the photo when asked about it on Monday. Teammate Manu Ginobili, who attended the same party as Zorro, said the photo was “very innocent.” “If somebody dressed like Pop was there,” he said, “I probably would have done the same thing with my little sword. I think it was a joke. ” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Referees, Joey Crawford 

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who attended the Halloween party in question dressed as Zorro, said he hoped the photo would be taken for what it was — a portrayal of a light-hearted moment in the middle of a private event. “It was Halloween,” Ginobili said. “If somebody dressed like Pop was there, I probably would have done the same thing with my little sword. I think it was a joke. It was very innocent.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich, David Stern, Tim Duncan, Referees, Joey Crawford 

Manu Ginobili, who was at the party where the photo was apparently taken, said the photo should not be taken out of context. “I don’t know exactly what people are saying about it,” said Ginobili, who went dressed as Zorro. “What I know is, it was Halloween. If somebody dressed like Pop was there, I probably would have done the same with my little sword. I think it was a joke. It was very innocent. They were just probably kidding. I didn’t see it at the time, but nothing to be serious about.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Referees, Joey Crawford 

Ginobili said he did not know who the man dressed as Crawford was, describing him as a random attendee at the party. “He was somebody without hair, he decided to dress like a ref,” he said. “He was part of the party. It was a big party, a lot of people. It just happened.” Ginobili said he does not think the action deserves action from the league office. “Why would I?” he said. “I’m not concerned. I don’t think it’s something to take so serious. But who knows what’s going to happen?” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Referees, Joey Crawford