Surprise! Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili Questionable Tonight Versus Warriors

The reigning champs versus the league’s most impressive team of the young season. Tuesday basketball on NBATV! Except that the San Antonio Spurs almost surely won’t be the San Antonio Spurs. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are listed as questionable for tonight’s showdown against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.

Tiago Splitter and Marco Belinelli, actually suffering from injuries, will miss tonight’s game. Via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News:

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are both questionable for tonight’s game at Golden State (9:30 p.m.) following the Spurs’ tight victory over the Clippers on Monday.

They are listed as rest possibilities after playing 36 and 25 minutes, respectively, in that game, an 89-85 victory in which the Spurs scored 14 of the final 17 points. Coach Gregg Popovich will speak to the media roughly 90 minutes before tipoff, at which point he should provide the final decision on their status.

The Spurs also officially ruled out Tiago Splitter (calf) and Marco Belinelli (groin) for the third straight game. Specific targets for their return have not been provided.

The Warriors’ Klay Thompson is also listed as questionable after missing the team’s first loss of the season on Sunday.

If Gregg Popovich stays true to form, Duncan and Ginobili will miss a nationally televised road game against a quality opponent for the second time in a week. They sat out against the Houston Rockets last Thursday.

This is a brutal back-to-back for San Antonio – it doesn’t get much more difficult than facing the Clippers and Warriors on successive nights as the road team. Having stolen a victory in Los Angeles on Monday, Popovich and company are likely content splitting this daunting pair of matchups.

Playing without the two future Hall-of-Famers would also provide Kawhi Leonard a rare opportunity to shoulder the offensive responsibility of a go-to scorer. The Spurs called his number frequently against the Clippers, and the 23 year-old answered the bell with aplomb. And as Leonard says, the chance to take on a bigger burden is important given the age of San Antonio’s stars:

But that’s just a happy byproduct of the Spurs’ time-honored strategy with regard to rest. There’s a long-term goal in place for San Antonio, and achieving it involves limiting wear and tear on Duncan and Ginobili.

Though the injury report leaves open the possibility that both will play, let’s just say we’d be very surprised if either appeared against the Warriors.

What do you think?

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