FanDuel<\/a>. They\u2019ll headline our player grades for the win over the Clippers.<\/p>\nAs a quick reminder, these grades are based on each player\u2019s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A \u201cB\u201d grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.<\/p>\n
33 minutes, 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls, 8-for-15 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, +5<\/p>\n
Castle went head-to-head with Kawhi Leonard and won. Leonard finished with more points, 24 of them, but Castle won the game and looked comfortable in the matchup. Leonard scored more when Castle wasn\u2019t guarding him, and Castle was still able to score efficiently against one of the league\u2019s premier perimeter defenders. He knocked down threes and hit mid-range jumpers. When those shots are falling, he becomes really hard to guard.<\/p>\n
The sophomore guard had a few bad turnovers as the Clippers made a run, but other than that, he was a real leader in the Spurs\u2019 win.<\/p>\n
29 minutes, 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, 9-for-13 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, +24<\/p>\n
Fox always seems to turn it on when Wembanyama misses a game. He\u2019s more assertive with the ball in his hands and takes more chances shooting around the rim. Not only did Fox lead the team in scoring, but he was a catalyst on the defensive end, getting into the opposing ball-handlers\u2019 space and racking up 2 steals. One was a clutch interception as the Clippers threatened to cut the lead to single digits.<\/p>\n
Fox is a stabilizing force and a leader for the team. Thursday night was an example of how his impact could be felt in a playoff series.<\/p>\n
25 minutes, 19 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 8-for-12 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, +11<\/p>\n
Harper was locked in after struggling a bit against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. As the Clippers started to come back in the third quarter, Harper shut things down with some emphatic offensive plays. He also hit one of the craziest shots of the season before halftime, catching the ball with just a second left and heaving a half-court shot that swished in.<\/p>\n
This was one of those games where it felt like Harper could get to the rim whenever he wanted to. The Clippers were too small on the perimeter to handle him. He was a big reason the Spurs outscored Los Angeles 66-56 in the paint.<\/p>\n
28 minutes, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 5-for-13 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, +17<\/p>\n
One thing that will eventually separate Champagnie from other 3&D wings in the NBA is his ability to attack a closeout. Champagnie did most of his damage inside the arc on Thursday. He struggled to hit threes, but got to the rim and scored fairly efficiently. He continues to be one of the best rebounders on the team and had an effective defensive game against LA.<\/p>\n
25 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, +14<\/p>\n
Was that Luke Kornet or baby Jokic out there on Thursday? Kornet was about halfway to a triple-double as he filled in for Wembanyama. He logged 5 assists and had some savvy plays on the offensive glass. It\u2019s so jarring to see even an above-average rim protector replace Wembanyama. You expect every shot to be impacted, but it\u2019s just not the reality for big men who aren\u2019t a once-in-a-generation defender. Still, Kornet had a solid defensive game protecting the paint.<\/p>\n
29 minutes, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 foul, 5-for-12 shooting, 3-for-8 threes, +4<\/p>\n
Devin Vassell double-double alert! With rebounds, no less! Vassell looked much more comfortable offensively, knocking down three triples. He grabbed two offensive rebounds as the Spurs pounded the Clippers on the glass 48-38.<\/p>\n
21 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, 1 block, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, +11<\/p>\n
Barnes was quiet but effective on Thursday. The team didn\u2019t struggle when he was on the floor, but he didn\u2019t make a big impact either. You love to see him knock down a three-pointer. The pressure is now on Barnes, though. He is the eighth Spurs player to average double-digits, and he now sits at 10 exactly. We\u2019ll need to see some double-digit performances in the next five games if San Antonio wants to break the record.<\/p>\n
27 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 6-for-11 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, +18<\/p>\n
KJ also got the Kawhi assignment on Thursday. He did a good job being physical with the Clippers wing, but wasn\u2019t necessarily the Kawhi stopper. Offensively, he was great at getting to the rim and scoring inside. In other words, it was a typical performance from Johnson.<\/p>\n
10 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -7<\/p>\n
The small-ball center lineup with Bryant was not as effective as it was against Golden State. He made some silly mistakes, including a bad turnover in the first quarter. He did have a great put-back after streaking to the basket on a missed shot.<\/p>\n
3 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 0-for-1 shooting, +\/- 0<\/p>\n
Olynyk got to play a bit in garbage time. He grabbed a few boards and missed a deep shot. Olynyk also did the classic move of holding the ball until the buzzer sounded, and then taking a shot to not rub it in the other team\u2019s face. He missed that shot, too.<\/p>\n
3 minutes, 2 points, 1 turnover, 1-for-1 shooting, +\/- 0<\/p>\n
It was nice to see Ingram get rewarded for his time in the G League. The sophomore has been crushing it in Austin. He had a nice driving layup in garbage time. Maybe we\u2019ll see more of Ingram on next year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
3 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 foul, +\/- 0<\/p>\n
The most Biyombo stat line of all time: 1 rebound, 1 foul. Enough said.<\/p>\n
4 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1-for-2 shooting, -2<\/p>\n
I love McLaughlin. He\u2019s such a steady fourth guard. He hit a nice-looking floater but couldn\u2019t convert on his second in garbage time.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s Inactives: Victor Wembanyama, David Jones-Garcia, Emanuel Miller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the second night of a back-to-back, the San Antonio Spurs waltzed into Los Angeles and beat a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83,20636],"class_list":{"0":"post-234707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-san-antonio","9":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","10":"tag-san-antonio-news","11":"tag-spurs-analysis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}