After the San Antonio Spurs had an instant classic with the Cleveland Cavaliers they had a less difficult task at home on Sunday night when they hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves.
San Antonio went into the game with relative full health but ended up with a few injuries, most notably to their always reliable sixth man, Manu Ginobili. Ginobili left the game against the Timberwolves with a right ankle sprain.
Following from Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News.
per Popovich, Ginobili will be out 'a good week to 10 days'
— Mike Monroe (@Monroe_SA) March 16, 2015
per Duncan, Spurs players relieved to hear that Ginobili ankle sprain not as bad as feared
— Mike Monroe (@Monroe_SA) March 16, 2015
Immediately this elevates the value of both Danny Green and Marco Belinelli. Green will still be the usual guy getting the heavy minutes but Belinelli will have to play more of that sixth man role that Manu plays for the Spurs. Green has played 63 games, averaging 12 points per game on 43 percent shooting in 29 minutes per game. Belinelli has missed some time himself with an injury, playing in 45 games but he averages 9.4 points per game on 44 percent shooting in 22 minutes per game.
The main issue going forward though is the Spurs next 10 games. Their next game is against the New York Knicks but then after that, there are 8 straight games against teams fighting for the playoffs and then they play the feisty Orlando Magic. Looking beyond that, out of their remaining 17 games, 14 of them are against teams in the playoff picture, so it’s not an easy road ahead for San Antonio going into the home stretch of the season.
