Manu Ginobli To Miss Miami Heat Rematch, Still Recovering From Hamstring Injury

Manu Ginobili will sit out tonights rematch against the Miami Heat. Ginobili is still recovering from a hamstring injury following Friday’s win over the Clippers. Ginobili’s return date has not yet been announced.

You may recall that head coach Gregg Popovich sent Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Danny Green home before his team’s 105-100 loss at Miami. That decision resulted in a $250,000 fine raised against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Heat (57-15) are currently two games ahead of the Spurs (55-17) in the NBA standings. If the Heat pull off a win tonight, they will have a four-game cushion with only nine games remaining in the regular season. The Heat would also control a potential head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio.

The Miami Heat have been nearly untouchable in the last two months, winning 28 of its last 29 games. The Heat’s winning streak was snapped on Wednesday by the Chicago Bulls.

The Spurs have a similar record at home, winning 28 of their last 30 games in front of hometown fans. The Spurs have most recently been on a streak of their own, winning six of seven games. However, the Spurs won just one of its last six outings with a double digit victory, an 11-point sleeper against Golden State.

The Spurs won their six games with an average victory of just 3.4 points. The Spurs lost their only game in the last seven by one-point to Houston.

Speaking about his teams tough challenge ahead, Parker said:

“It’s great challenges, good preparation for us for the playoffs. Denver is a great team, Clippers a great team and now we’ve got Miami. They’re the best in the league. They went on the unbelievable run and it’s going to be another great game.”

Do you think the San Antonio Spurs have what it takes to slow the Miami Heat?