Grades: Spurs vs. Mavs - Mar. 19, 2024

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/2024-spurs-mavericks-grades-69/

[Fireball]

Typical game where you feel that a Mavs win was never in doubt. Spurs are not good enough to beat such a team when Kyrie and Luka can close the game out.

[Mr. Body]

Typical game where you feel that a Mavs win was never in doubt. Spurs are not good enough to beat such a team when Kyrie and Luka can close the game out.

Except it was in doubt. A couple of possessions in the stretch, Victor having a better game, and this was a victory.

This was a blowout earlier in the year. Again, just a little bit more, a better shot selection by Wembanyama or him not throwing the ball away and that's a W.

And lol at all the key players getting Cs and they almost had it anyway.

[Fireball]

Except it was in doubt. A couple of possessions in the stretch, Victor having a better game, and this was a victory.

This was a blowout earlier in the year. Again, just a little bit more, a better shot selection by Wembanyama or him not throwing the ball away and that's a W.

And lol at all the key players getting Cs and they almost had it anyway.

Sorry but I never had the feeling the Spurs would win this game. Yes it was close in the end but I have seen enough to know that they can close a game against e.g. the Nets, but not against Luka and Kyrie.
If you believed it, well good for you!

[exstatic]

Sorry but I never had the feeling the Spurs would win this game. Yes it was close in the end but I have seen enough to know that they can close a game against e.g. the Nets, but not against Luka and Kyrie.
If you believed it, well good for you!

That’s because you have a negative outlook on life in general. You probably didn’t think they’d beat Brooklyn, either.

[Mr. Body]

Sorry but I never had the feeling the Spurs would win this game. Yes it was close in the end but I have seen enough to know that they can close a game against e.g. the Nets, but not against Luka and Kyrie.
If you believed it, well good for you!

Because you're a piss-and-moaner and don't want to see what's happening right in front of your eyes.

[LeBowen]

That’s because you have a negative outlook on life in general. You probably didn’t think they’d beat Brooklyn, either.

Luka had the worst shooting night of his career and we still couldn't win.
As I wrote the other day and backed it up with stats, we literally can't win when Wemby isn't balling out.
He's averaging 25/11/4.5 with 4 blocks in our wins.

We won one game without Wemby, against Warriors without Steph.
And go get that win, shot 51% from 3pt as a team. Won't happen again.

Other than that one, Spurs have just two wins when Wemby scores less than 20.
Against Lakers without AD (13pts, 15reb) and against Pistons (16/12/10 triple double).

Every advanced metric and eye test are clear. This is literally the worst team in the history of the league without Wemby.
So yeah, you can be optimistic, but that doesn't mean there's objective reason for optimism when it comes to this roster.
We're just complete garbage aside from Wemby.

[Fireball]

That’s because you have a negative outlook on life in general. You probably didn’t think they’d beat Brooklyn, either.

yes, I am more a half-empty glass kind of guy ... but I definitely thought they could beat Brooklyn. Luka and Kyrie abused us the whole season though ...

[Fireball]

Because you're a piss-and-moaner and don't want to see what's happening right in front of your eyes.

fuck you asshole

[get_mills_out]

Jig is up on Sochan and Wesley. Teams are straight up ignoring them and challenging the Spurs to play 4-on-5.

[Mugen]

God, this team needs shooting so badly.

[MultiTroll]

:lol Jones defense
:lol Bryn Bryn n Patty all over again
:lol Pops Pets

[rjv]

spurs could have won this if just one of the other starters, besides tre, had also brought their A game.

[jjspur]

Sure its real late n the year, and even if they don't win, I look at it as the spurs are playing somewhat competitive ball. At least they aren't getting blown away by 20,30 or more points against a playoff bound team. We'll get them next year. Say, didn't we say that last year. Oh well.

[Pauleta14]

Tre with an A??

Defense doesn't matter for him I see

Great use of Victor as a decoy tho!

[SouthernFryd]

Sorry, there's something wrong with the grading system when Champagnie gets a higher grade than Wemby. It should never happen. Ever. Even if Wemby is playing his worst game and Champagnie his best. Never.

Unless your grading professional basketball players, making millions...on a high school curve. "We don't expect much from Champagnie, so if he makes a bucket, we'll give him a B, cuz that's good for him."

This ain't high school. Champagnie sucks. He shouldn't even be in the NBA. Let alone be graded higher that a generational phenom. He should never have more than an F...because, he IS that bad.

But, I enjoy the read nevertheless :)

[CorrectCrusader]

Bryn Forbes is better than Malaki man this sucks

[buttsR4rebounding]

Bryn Forbes is better than Malaki man this sucks

The game turned when after a time out with around 4 minutes left Branham came in for Wesley. The previous 5 minutes the Spurs played excellent defense with Sochan on Luka and Wesley on Kyrie. The Spurs battled back to almost to near even. Then Kyrie abused Branham several times down the floor and the game was over.

[Spurminator]

Sorry, there's something wrong with the grading system when Champagnie gets a higher grade than Wemby. It should never happen. Ever. Even if Wemby is playing his worst game and Champagnie his best. Never.

Unless your grading professional basketball players, making millions...on a high school curve. "We don't expect much from Champagnie, so if he makes a bucket, we'll give him a B, cuz that's good for him."

This ain't high school. Champagnie sucks. He shouldn't even be in the NBA. Let alone be graded higher that a generational phenom. He should never have more than an F...because, he IS that bad.

But, I enjoy the read nevertheless :)

Why would there even be grades if this was how it worked? Of course it's curved.

You're describing a player ranking system. That would get kind of boring 82 times a year. "BREAKING: for the 62nd game in a row, Wemby is the Spurs' best player!"

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I think the Mavs exposed the point even more that San Antonio needs to upgrade the shooting around Wemby. Teams can dare Sochan and Tre to beat them and focus their efforts on slowing down Wemby. Surrounding Wemby with a little more talent will give him so much room to up his game.

I’m one hoping the slow rebuild benefits from a fortuitous acquisition or two.

[Pauleta14]

^ Ime did it twice before

It'll clealy be 90% teams's game plan next season

Having a pope NBA PG is as much important in that regard

[Knoxxx]

First off, Wemby might just average 25/11/4.5 next season in which cases that becomes a moot point. Sochan got too poor of a grade because his defense was huge on Doncic. Champagnie also played strong defense on Doncic, as did Barlow and Wesley. Not sure how much the latter two were actually matched up with him, seemed liked we tried Wesley on him for a little while and Barlow was switching a lot onto him on the pick and roll which worked well. Barlow is a very versatile big and probably has a good future with the Spurs.

The biggest problem this game was Wemby and his 3-13 shooting. Sochan hitting a couple more shots could have made up for that. Overall, a nice showing against a solid playoff team and a much-needed loss ping-pong ball wise. It also very good to lose close games at this stage with Wemby playing terribly, so he can see that it's not just always his teammates dropping the ball in that regard.