Grades: San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets – Game #22
Devin Vassell and the Spurs lost for a 17th straight time (Photo via Twitter)
The San Antonio Spurs played some of their best defense of the season by holding the Houston Rockets to 93 points on Monday night. Unfortunately, the Spurs hit only 5-of-41 shots from three-point land. The end result was a 93-82 loss to the Rockets. San Antonio has now lost a franchise record 17 consecutive games.
The Spurs kept pace with the Rockets for the first two quarters. In the second half, Houston was able to get a lead and the good guys couldn’t shoot straight enough to climb back into it.
Overall, the losing streak is sad but at least San Antonio’s porous defense is showing signs of turning the corner.
Stats: Spurs at Rockets
Spurs at Rockets – Final Grades
Victor Wembanyama
The good: Wembanyama’s interior defense was dominant in the first half. He had all five of his blocks before halftime. Rebounding-wise, he’s learning how to use his size to be unstoppable in that facet of the game. His finishing ability in the paint was really good. The bad: Wembanyama was too sloppy with his decision-making. He has to value the basketball more. His three-point shooting doesn’t look smooth right now. He’s thinking too much, which is resulting in a robotic release. The Frenchman’s defense got less tenacious as the game progressed.
Grade: B
Devin Vassell
Vassell looked good when he took his time, particularly when working inside of the three-point line. Unfortunately, he rushed a lot of three-pointers — and that really damaged his efficiency. He also didn’t do much playmaking but, to his credit, he also took care of the ball. On the other end of the court, I was mostly pleased with Vassell’s defense.
Grade: C+
Keldon Johnson
Johnson had an odd outing. He looked great when taking the ball hard to the basket but spent most of his time firing contested three-pointers. He ended up missing all nine of his attempts from deep. Defensively, while he got credited with four steals, I was underwhelmed with Johnson’s work on that end. He wasn’t terrible but he was mediocre at best.
Grade: C-
Jeremy Sochan
Sochan had two late meaningless baskets that camouflage how bad he really was against the Rockets. He’s no longer player point guard — but now he can’t figure out how to fit in. His three-point shot has been extra stiff the last couple games. While he’s not handling much of the playmaking duties, he’s not able to successfully call his own number either. Sochan was able to salvage some of his value by playing above average defense.
Grade: C-
Malaki Branham
In the first half, Branham was excellent. It might have been his best half of his career, in fact. Playing at point guard, he had team-highs in points (11) and assists (4) at intermission. Branham was playing with confidence and picking his shots exceedingly well. Sadly, he unraveled a bit in the second half. He was only 1-for-5 from the floor and was deferring way too much. His passing was still decent but not nearly as good as it was in the first half. Defensively, I thought Branham held up well overall. All in all, his first half was good enough to classify this performance as a step forward.
Grade: B+
Tre Jones
It was a strangely quiet game for Jones. He shot five free throws but otherwise didn’t do much on the offensive end. He was 0-for-1 from the floor and his playmaking was muted. Defensively, he hustled and pressured the ball well for stretches at a time — but he was inconsistent in this area as well.
Grade: C
Doug McDermott
McDermott was the only Spurs player who looked like he shot a basketball for a living. While his 2-for-5 showing from three-point range wouldn’t be very notable in most circumstances, McDermott’s marksmanship was a breath of fresh air on Monday night. Defensively, he was slightly above par.
Grade: B
Zach Collins
Collins’ second game coming off the bench didn’t go nearly as well as his first. He missed shots, turned the ball over and got in early foul trouble. His effort on defense and on the boards was pretty good, though. He had room for improvement on that end but his sturdiness level was acceptable.
Grade: C+
Cedi Osman
With a team full of guys looking to launch difficult three-point attempts, Osman added value by looking for success inside of the arc. He ran hard in transition and attacked the rim with gusto. His effort on both ends was contagious. His defense was better than usual, primarily due to his effort.
Grade: B+
Julian Champagnie
Champagnie missed a three-pointer in his eight minutes of action. He was trying on D but he was more of a liability than an asset.
Grade: C
Sandro Mamukelashvili
When Wembanyama and Collins were in foul trouble, Mamukelashvili got some minutes. He looked okay-ish but didn’t really move the needle.
Grade: Inc.
Pop
The rotation made sense. I liked that Pop gave Branham extra minutes. I thought the playcalling was mostly fine despite the 82 points. Pop can’t do anything about terrible three-point shooting. The defense seems to be improving. Now if San Antonio can play good defense and good offense at the same time, they might be on to something.
Grade: B