The headaches and sore sinuses that robbed Manu Ginobili of a decent night's sleep during the Spurs' road trip to Washington and Toronto were gone by the time Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons tipped off at the AT&T Center.
It was the Pistons who felt the pain of Ginobili's restored health.
Ginobili took two charges and had a steal during an 11-0 fourth-quarter run that turned an air-tight game into a blowout victory for the Spurs. His defensive aggression, often applied full-court, keyed one of the most lopsided single quarters of the season for the Spurs.
“Oh, yeah, that felt good,” Ginobili said. “It looked like we were more energetic. We hustled more, played with more edge. It's great to see the team playing playoff-style, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The nasal congestion and headaches Ginobili had suffered on the Spurs' Eastern trip were cured he said by home cooking and lots of bed rest.
“The last three games were really tough for me, but I think you could tell I played with much more energy. I felt really good.”
Hairston guaranteed: Wednesday was an important day for second-year Spur Malik Hairston.
The 6-foot-7 swingman from Oregon was among a large group of players whose contracts became fully guaranteed at the end of Wednesday's business day.
The league's collective bargaining agreement specifies all contracts are guaranteed, as of Jan. 10 of each season. Because Jan. 10 this year falls on a Sunday and the league office is closed all weekend, players had to be waived by Wednesday in order to clear waivers by the end of Friday's business day.
Hairston will make $736,420.
Backing Stern: Roger Mason Jr., a former teammate of suspended Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, said he agreed with commissioner David Stern's decision to suspend Arenas indefinitely for recent actions around an incident involving guns in the Wizards' locker room.
Stern's announcement included a statement that the player “is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game.”
“I think those words from commissioner Stern speak for themselves,” Mason said. “That's not something that you make light of.
“It's unfortunate. Nobody wants to see anybody suspended. You don't want to see anybody lose money. At the same time, I think that was obviously poor judgment on his part. It's serious.”
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