Manu Ginobili has a message for anyone who’s confused and surprised that Kawhi Leonard missed the San Antonio Spurs’ first 27 games.
That message?
Me too.
From the San Antonio Express-News‘ Tom Orsborn:
This quote from Manu kind of sums up the entire Leonard affair: ““It was never expected we would play 20-plus games without him. It was not in our heads. It was expected with Tony, but (not Leonard).”
Here we were thinking that the Spurs were just purposely pulling at our heartstrings or being deliberately mysterious when they gave optimistic updates. And yet, all along, it just seems like they were genuinely in the dark—perplexed and in limbo, just like the rest of us.
To that point, this whole thing has been a little weird. From Leonard’s sister hinting at an early-November return that never came, to Tony Parker saying he could be back soon a few weeks ago, to Leonard saying the same only to miss another week-plus, to the Spurs scheduling and then cancelling his return this past Saturday, everything has just been plain weird.
Alas, San Antonio’s nightmare is officially over…we think.
The Spurs have listed Leonard as “probable” for Tuesday’s tilt with the Dallas Mavericks, a welcomed development given everything that has happened to date. Not that the Spurs are actually living a nightmare without Leonard or anything. Led by a career year from LaMarcus Aldridge, along with stellar performances from Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay, Kyle Anderson (prior to injury), Dejounte Murray and Ginobili himself, they’re comfortably above .500, championing a 58-win pace.
Correct: A team that’s missing one of the NBA’s five best players is on track to win 58 games. Yes, the Spurs have played one of the two easiest schedules thus far, according to Basketball-Reference, but who the hell cares? That’s still impressive—especially when, as Ginobili said, they weren’t prepared to slog through 20-something games without their best player.
