Spurs G Ginobili has successful ankle surgery

Sep 4, 2008 - 1:00 AM SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili had successful arthroscopic surgery to correct a posterior impingement of his left ankle.

The surgery, which was performed in Los Angeles by Dr. Richard Ferkel, will put Ginobili in a posterior splint and on crutches for three weeks.

At the end of that period, Ginobili - who will return to San Antonio on Thursday - will be re-evaluated and begin his rehabilitation process.

Ginobili originally suffered the injury against the Phoenix Suns in first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. For the remainder of the postseason, he was hampered but was cleared to play for Argentina in the 2008 Olympics, where he re-aggravated the injury against the United States in the semifinals on August 22.

The 6-6 Ginobili, who watched from the sideline as Argentina won a bronze medal in Beijing, had an MRI last week, which confirmed that there was no additional damage to the ankle or the ligament.

Ginobili's long-term absence certainly would hurt the Spurs, who went 56-26 in the regular season but looked old and slow against the Lakers in the conference finals.

The reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Ginobili averaged career highs of 19.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season.

But after playing brilliantly in leading San Antonio past upstart New Orleans in the conference semifinals, Ginobili clearly was affected by the ankle injury in the Western finals, as he averaged just 12.6 points while shooting 36 percent from the floor during the series. He recovered to lead the Olympic tournament in scoring until tweaking his bothersome ankle.