Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs underwent an MRI on Monday morning that revealed a Grade 1 left hamstring strain. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Sunday night's game vs. Minnesota. Ginobili is expected to miss 10-to-14 days.
The San Antonio Spurs have recalled guard Cory Joseph from the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. Joseph, who has been assigned to the Toros three times this season, has appeared in 14 games with Austin, averaging a team-high 20.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.29 steals in 39.2 minutes while shooting .465 (100-215) from the field, .442 (19-43) from three-point range and .780 (71-91) from the foul line.
Joseph a University of Texas product has appeared in nine games this season for the Spurs, averaging 2.1 points and 1.4 assists in 7.2 minutes.
The Spurs are currently in first place in the Southwestern Division of the Western Conference. The Spurs traveled to play the Memphis Grizzlies last week. The Spurs lost the game in overtime to 101-98. With the loss the Spurs lead in the division fell to 1.5 game head of the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies has emerged as the team will most likely be competing with the Spurs to win the divisional title. Going into the game the Grizzlies has not beaten the Spurs since ousting them in the 2011 playoffs.
Whenever these teams play it is always a very physical game. The Grizzlies have the little brother complex when they play the Spurs. The Spurs swept the Grizzlies the first two times the Grizzlies made the playoffs. These two teams have developed a nice regional rivalry.
This season has been a little less stressful on the aging Spurs. Tim Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker have all been having All-Star like numbers this season. The Spurs will not have the luxury of holding players from making road trips like they did last season.
The NBA brass fined the team for allowing the big 3 to leave early from an extended road trip. Head coach Gregg Popovich will have to be more creative in order to rest his aging veterans without drawing the ire of the executives in the NBA league offices.
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