"Spurs guard Manu Ginobili went through his personal pregame warmup routine before Tuesday's game against the Lakers at Staples Center. Then he chatted briefly with head athletic trainer Will Sevening and presented himself to strength and conditioning coach Matt Herring. After working through a stretching routine that included some yoga-like postures, Ginobili bounced up from the court roughly 50 minutes before tipoff and made a declaration. "I am clearing myself to play," he said. "Now it is up to Pop." The final authority, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, agreed and Ginobili entered the game with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Ginobili believes he is just getting to the point where he feels like the player he has ? been through most of his 10-year NBA career. He scored a season-high 17 points in a season-high 28 minutes Saturday in Portland. "I want to play," he said as he headed to the locker room to make his case to Popovich. "We'll see how convincing I can be." Ginobili had a rocky first half, making only 1 of 5 shots and scoring only two points, with two turnovers, in 11 minutes. He finished 1 of 8 with three points. Paging Mr. Nielsen: Point guard Tony Parker gave rave reviews to the telecast of the Spurs-Trail Blazers game. Stuck in his hotel room, convalescing during a bout with a stomach virus, Parker said the excitement of the game helped him forget about how bad he felt. "It was a great game to watch on TV at the hotel," he said. "Up and down, and Portland really played well, especially (Nicolas) Batum was hot. But thankfully for us, Gary Neal was really hot, too." Neal scored a career-high 27 points, 25 in the second half of the 112-109 victory." Read more: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2012/11/13/ginobili-convinces-pop-he’s-good-to-go-in-l-a/
