Ginobili suffers broken hand,

Manu Ginobili suffers broken hand, out indefinitely
Brett Pollakoff - Jan 3, 2012

Manu Ginobil broke a bone in his left hand during the Spurs’ 106-96 loss to the Timberwolves on Monday, and there is no timetable set for his return according to a team release. Just as a reminder, Ginobili is left handed, so this is his shooting hand.

Ginobili suffered the injury on a defensive play, reaching in on a drive from the Wolves’ Anthony Tolliver.

It didn’t look too bad initially, but the hit caused a fracture to the fifth metacarpal, which is the bone just below the pinky finger. Ginobili will be examined further in San Antonio on Tuesday.

This is a severe blow to the 3-2 Spurs, as Ginobili leads the team in multiple offensive categories, including scoring at 17.2 points per game, field goal percentage (.592) and three-point field goal percentage (.519). When you add in the fact that Ginobili is fantastic at creating for himself or his teammates off the dribble with the ball in his hands, his contributions will be sorely missed, no matter how long he’s out.

ace3g wrote:Coach Pop said at shoot around that Manu Ginobili will undergo surgery on his fractured fifth metacarpal. More info to come later today.

per @spurs twitter; out 6-8 weeks

txstr1986 wrote:

ace3g wrote:Coach Pop said at shoot around that Manu Ginobili will undergo surgery on his fractured fifth metacarpal. More info to come later today.

per @spurs twitter; out 6-8 weeks

So, what is y'all's prognosis for the rest of the season?

I still can't decide how much a silver lining there is here. On one hand, this injury will give Anderson, Neal, Green, and Leonard a lot of burn and it will be good to see those guys develop. On the other hand, 2 months is basically the whole season - can we make the playoffs without Manu?

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said that Manu Ginobili will undergo surgery after breaking the fifth metacarpal on his left hand.

The procedure will be performed by Dr. Mark Bagg in San Antonio on Thursday morning.

Ginobili tweeted that the surgery will include a plate and screws being inserted on his “beloved left hand.”

Ginobili said the recovery would take between six to eight weeks.

“They have to put it back together again,” Popovich said. “I don’t know what they are going to do, but he’s going to have surgery.”

Popovich said that Ginobili’s injury, which occurred in the second quarter of the Spurs’ loss at Minnesota Monday night, caused Gary Neal to be activated quicker than normal.

“If Manu was healthy, Gary would have played a couple of games in Austin without a doubt,” Popovich said. “With Manu’s injury since he has been cleared to go five-on-five, we figured we might just go ahead and throw him in the fire with that situation.”

Popovich said that Neal is ready to go and would play tonight against Golden State.

“He’s not early in the sense of ready to go,” Popovich said. “But he would have played two or three games in Austin, I’m sure.”

ace3g wrote:Thanks for the info, Dripping, I don't want him rushed back anyway, if the Spurs don't make the playoffs so be it. I want the hand to heal properly before he is back on the court.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs today announced that guard Manu Ginobili underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured fifth metacarpal in his left hand this morning in San Antonio. He is expected to miss approximately six weeks.

The procedure was performed by Dr. Mark Bagg. During the surgery screws and a plate were inserted into Ginobili's hand. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Monday night's Spurs-Timberwolves game in Minnesota.

Blondie wrote:Manu posted this on twitter