"As the Spurs' charter flight lifted off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport late on the night of Jan. 2, uncertainty was in the air.

In the back of the team plane, All-Star guard Manu Ginobili sat with his newly broken left hand in a splint. His fifth metacarpal had been fractured in a 106-96 loss to Minnesota hours earlier. A timetable for his return was unknown.

Meanwhile, the remaining Spurs braced for unseen turbulence ahead.

"Very pensive," is how forward Matt Bonner described that flight back to Texas. "Obviously, there was that kind of unknown question mark.""