Grades: San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat – Game #41
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs came up short in Miami (Photo via X)
The San Antonio Spurs started off well but ended up getting demolished by the Miami Heat by a final count of 128-107. The win improved the Heat to 21-20, while the Spurs dropped to 19-22.
The Spurs were leading 30-20 at the end of the first quarter. A three-pointer by Tre Jones with nine minutes left in the second quarter put the good guys up 39-26. Sadly, that’s when the bottom fell out for San Antonio.
The Heat went on a 69-29 run that extended into the fourth quarter to put the game away. During that stretch, the Spurs were stuck in the mud on offense and they were even worse on defense. Overall, it was simply an ugly showing for San Antonio following what appeared to be an encouraging start.
Stats: Spurs at Heat
Spurs at Heat – Final Grades
Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama’s final stat line looks decent — but it was definitely a disappointing outing for the Frenchman. While he shot reasonably well from three, he was underwhelming inside of the arc and struggled on the line. Wembanyama wasn’t especially sloppy but his defensive effort was minimal. All in all, he seemed to be running on fumes.
Grade: D+
Devin Vassell
Vassell continues to struggle to turn his points into actual productive basketball. He led the Spurs with 23 points but most of his shot attempts were outside of the flow of the offense. I didn’t like his shot-selection, he could have passed the ball more and been more patient. Vassell had his moments against the Heat but he was more of a liability than anything else.
Grade: D
Chris Paul
While a lot of the good guys struggled in this game, Paul was reasonably okay. He scored an efficient ten points, handed out nine assists in 28 minutes and didn’t turn the ball over. Compared to others, I also thought Paul defended well.
Grade: B
Harrison Barnes
With the Spurs sputtering, Barnes tried to shoulder more of the offensive load. It didn’t really work out. He was inefficient from all around the court and held onto the ball too long at times. Defensively, he was efforting but was usually caught behind the action.
Grade: C
Stephon Castle
The good: Castle hit half of his shots from the field (and connected on his only three-point attempt) while scoring 11 points and playing solid defense. His effort on the offensive boards was commendable. The bad: Castle turned the ball over four times. The coaching staff gives the rookie a lot of leeway but Castle will find himself on the bench if he keeps turning it over in bunches.
Grade: B-
Julian Champagnie
Champagnie has hit a rough patch. When he first went to the bench, he was shooting really well. Now after a cold shooting spell, he’s shooting just 39.1% from the field as a reserve. His missed shots in Miami overshadowed any other sporadic positive moments he had.
Grade: C-
Keldon Johnson
Johnson didn’t exactly tear things up but he did lead the bench unit with eight points. The bench struggled for the most part, however they looked halfway decent when Johnson was going to the basket. He didn’t do much playmaking but he kept his mistakes to a minimum and played adequate defense.
Grade: B
Tre Jones
Well, this is basically what we’ve come to expect out of Jones. He did add a three-pointer to the mix, which was nice. On the flip side, though, his defense was worse than normal. These types of nondescript outings hopefully won’t be the new ceiling the Spurs will get from Jones.
Grade: C+
Charles Bassey
Bassey got a shot at the backup center minutes but it wasn’t an impressive showing. He had a couple mistakes on offense, a couple mistakes on defense and then his backup center minutes went elsewhere.
Grade: C
Sandro Mamukelashvili
With the Spurs looking for a spark, Mamukelashvili got some extra minutes. He did fine. He hit a three and, more importantly, played with a palpable amount of electricity. On this night, that one attribute was noteworthy.
Grade: B
Zach Collins
Collins got some of the backup center minutes — and he wasn’t bad. He had a few good passes and didn’t get in the way on offense. On defense, he looked like he knew what to do. That said, Collins didn’t do enough to really move the needle much in his battle with Bassey for the backup center gig.
Grade: B
Mitch Johnson
It was a disappointing showing — and Johnson deserves some of the blame. The playcalling lacked creativity and he failed to figure out how to get a spark from the bench. When the Heat went on their gigantic run, it didn’t seem like Johnson did much to try to stop the bleeding.
Grade: D+