by Sports Xchange

He's already had a mild hamstring strain and a groin strain, the latter of which kept him out of his second consecutive game Saturday night. Ginobili is the team's undisputed spark plug. He can create his own shot, and he creates havoc on both ends of the court.

Without him, the Spurs are not the same team, evidenced by last season's 4-1 loss to Dallas in the first round of the playoffs.

"I'd be disingenuous if I said I wasn't disappointed that he's been hurt in different ways since he did rest this summer," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I'm surprised by it and didn't expect it, but we still have to deal with it."

--The Spurs bulked up their bench during the offseason, and it's showing in the early going. A weakness last season, San Antonio's bench entered Saturday's game ranked third in the NBA in scoring (41.3 points a game), first in rebounds (18.4) and first in assists 8.9).

Saturday against the Wizards, seven reserve Spurs combined to score 45 points to Washington's 34.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'm a little paranoid. I don't want to miss any more games." -- G Manu Ginobili, on dealing with the surprise of an early-season injury that's kept him out of the past two games.