Grades: San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans Pelicans – Game #23
Keldon Johnson and the Spurs had another disappointing evening (Photo via Twitter)
The San Antonio Spurs have now lost ten straight games following a 117-99 defeat at the webbed feet of the New Orleans Pelicans. The Spurs took a 52-49 lead into halftime but, unfortunately, that advantage evaporated in the third quarter. New Orleans outscored San Antonio 32-19 in that period and cruised to the victory.
The Spurs didn’t have a full complement of personnel for this contest. Pop will miss two games following an undisclosed medical procedure that the Spurs are classifying as “minor.” Jakob Poeltl, Jeremy Sochan, Doug McDermott, Josh Richardson and Blake Wesley were the players unable to play due to injury.
The Spurs had a few bursts of inspired play but this was another in a long line of games in which the good guys were never really able to sustain a competitive brand of basketball.
Spurs vs. Pelicans – Final Grades
Keldon Johnson
Well, yes, Johnson’s slump is still ongoing. Another game, another poor shooting performance for Johnson. He finished 7-for-23 from the field and 1-for-8 from three-point range. Johnson airballed two threes and hit the top of the backboard on another … so it’s safe to say that he hasn’t rediscovered his stroke. He also had more than his share of head-down kamikaze drives to the paint that resulted in nothing but disarray. Defensively, there were moments of energy but he was mostly bad on that end.
Grade: D+
Devin Vassell
Vassell shot better than Johnson — but it wasn’t a shooting display to write home about. He shot three-pointers well (5-for-12) but he was just 4-for-11 on two-pointers. Vassell botched a couple easy shots in the lane simply due to a lack of coordination. Vassell was okay-ish on defense but he wasn’t really a notable difference-maker on either end.
Grade: B-
Tre Jones
The good: Jones passed the ball well, particularly in transition. I liked his willingness to take three-pointers. He hustled relentlessly on defense. The bad: Scoring-wise, the form on his outside shot isn’t smooth right now and he’s illustrating a minimal amount touch in the lane. Jones didn’t do much playmaking in halfcourt sets.
Grade: B-
Keita Bates-Diop
Bates-Diop exhibited sufficient aggression but he had too many head-scratching decisions on both ends of the court. Defensively, he wasn’t good individually or help-wise. Offensively, he didn’t do much right outside of knocking down a pair of threes.
Grade: C-
Zach Collins
With Poeltl out, Collins has gotten a chance to step into the starting lineup these last two games. Against the Pelicans, he was a massive disappointment, I thought. Defensively, he struggled to hold his position and reached way too often. As a result, Collins ended up fouling out in only 22 minutes. Offensively, it’s good that he launched three-point bombs but he missed all five of his attempts from deep. He had a few positive moments passing-wise but, overall, Collins didn’t do nearly enough. He has to play smarter and be more fundamentally sound if he has hopes of being a starter at some point in his career going forward.
Grade: D
Romeo Langford
Slowly but surely, Langford seems to be coming out of his shell on the offensive end. When he touched the ball tonight, he didn’t look to pass right away — which is usually the case with Langford. Defensively, he again gave effort but his impactfulness was limited against New Orleans. All in all, Langford’s growing confidence is one of the few silver linings as of late.
Grade: B
Charles Bassey
New rule: Bassey has to be sent down to play in all possible games in the G League. After returning from a short G League assignment, Bassey played like a whole new man. He was more active, more assertive and was much livelier in the paint. He finished the game with 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in only 21 minutes. That’s the kind of production he displayed earlier in the season that caught the entire city’s attention. Versus the Pelicans, he made a handful of defensive mistakes and wasn’t totally smooth offensively — but he was a lot better than he’s been at any point after his first four or five games with the Spurs.
Grade: B+
Malaki Branham
The good: Branham played backup point guard again and he displayed flashes of intriguing skill. His passing on the move is better than advertised and his court vision is vast. Branham’s patience with the ball is a plus and I thought his defense was much better than normal. The bad: The rookie’s ball-handling was iffy at times. He’s still rushing wide open shots and, as a result, hit only one of his first seven attempts from the floor.
Grade: B
Isaiah Roby
Eh, Roby was fine. In 15 minutes, he tallied crooked numbers of seven points, five rebounds and three assists. Truth be told, Roby getting more minutes might have been beneficial. Then again, his defense is raw and his decision-making is a work in progress.
Grade: B
Brett Brown
Filling in for Pop, I don’t think Brown did anything to really move the needle. Since the Spurs are so short-handed, the rotation basically handled itself. In terms of the play-calling, Brown didn’t do anything special but he also wasn’t detrimental in that regard. I thought it was a positive that he took timeouts after a couple of the more egregious defensive mistakes.
Grade: B