Guess who’s bizzack? Still smell the crack in his clothes. (via Slam)
The Spurs guard, who missed the team’s first 12 games while recovering from September ankle surgery, will make his season debut tonight at Memphis, Popovich confirmed after this morning’s shootaround.
It was welcome news for Ginobili, who last week had targeted this very game for his return.
“It’s great to hear,” Ginobili said. “It’s been enough time.”
The world obviously needs more Manu in its life, so this is a great development — especially considering Pop was seemingly taking a hard line about letting the Argentine return to action before he was fully ready as recently as a few days ago.
For what it’s worth, Roger Mason has played admirably in Ginobli’s absence with scoring totals of 29, 26, 21, 18 and 18 in five of his last nine games, plus, ya know, drilling a game-winning three on November 17 against the Clippers. Honestly, other than the unrelenting brilliance of Tim Duncan, it has been Roger’s inspired play that has allowed San Antonio to tread water to the tune of a 6-6 record while missing Manu and Tony Parker for most of the year.
And Roger will continue to be leaned on as Manu plays his way into shape — something even he admits will take some time.
“I’m going to be out of shape, a little slower,” said Ginobili. “But those are things you only get from playing. I feel like it works better for me getting 10 minutes of playing time than [spending] 20 minutes on a treadmill.”
With preseason Western Conference darlings Utah, New Orleans and Portland all failing to impress thus far, the return of Manu — along with Tony presumably coming back before too long — could mean that the Spurs have another unexpected run in them, especially if Mason, George Hill and the resurgent Mike Finley can all continue providing solid perimeter play.
And since Manu’s in Tejas, you know what he’ll do right after the comeback game tonight, right? Fuck a fine ho and candy paint the ‘88.
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