Victor Wembanyama pulled out a win for the Spurs (Photo via X)
While the San Antonio Spurs hit some bumps in the road in the second half, Victor Wembanyama came up big when it mattered most in order to down the Chicago Bulls by a final score of 121-117. The win improved the Spurs to 8-2, while the Bulls dropped to 5-1 at home.
Stats: Spurs at Bulls
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Spurs at Bulls – Final Grades
Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama basically won this game for the Spurs. With the good guys trailing by three points with a minute remaining, the Frenchman hit a three-pointer to tie it. He followed that up with a stop and then another three-pointer to give San Antonio the lead for good. His fourth quarter on the whole was marvelous. Wembanyama played the entire period and had 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from deep. Defensively, he was a beast all night long. His rim protection was very good and his rotations were timely. Offensively, Wembanyama totaled 38 points with enviable efficiency and shared the ball well. Overall, it was a great game for him — and to watch him thoroughly dominate the fourth quarter was a lot of fun.
Grade: A
De’Aaron Fox
The good: Fox scored 21 points and was 7-for-8 from two-point range and 4-for-4 at the free throw line. He handed out five assists while sharing the ball unselfishly. Defensively, he was pretty good on the ball. The bad: While some of his numbers may look beautiful, I wasn’t too impressed with Fox’s outing. Offensively, he turned the ball over six times and he was 1-for-6 from three-point territory. Sure, a couple of his turnovers may have been caused by uncalled fouls but his looseness with the ball was troubling. Moreover, his defensive awareness away from the ball was really poor. The Bulls had a lot of success simply going to the player who Fox was supposed to be guarding. All in all, Fox needs to play a more disciplined style of basketball in order to contribute to winning at a high level.
Grade: C-
Stephon Castle
Damn, this kid is good. Castle totaled 19 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and three steals while turning the ball over only once. It was the sophomore’s third straight game with double-digit assists. Castle’s playmaking with the ball was outstanding. Specifically, his running of pick-and-rolls was sublime — especially when he was finding Kornet with lobs. When he called his own number, Castle had a handful of slick moves to get all the way to the rim. Add in rugged defense and he’s shattering even the loftiest of expectations. Castle needs to eventually hit three-pointers at a halfway respectable rate but otherwise he’s already a very good basketball player.
Grade: A
Devin Vassell
Vassell didn’t do much in his 21 minutes of action. He finished with four points and four rebounds. However, it must be noted that he was forced out of the game due to a migraine. For that reason, I can’t criticize him much — especially because he wasn’t doing anything too negative to begin with. Vassell could be seen going through the motions … but there turned out to be an explanation.
Grade: B-
Harrison Barnes
Barnes had a relatively muted night at the office. He hit a three-pointer, finished off a three-point play in the lane and gave good effort on defense. There wasn’t much more to his game than that . That said, his effort defensively was notable due to a heightened amount of physicality. When Barnes is really playing hard on defense, he can be an above average player on that end. Otherwise, he’s only average-ish.
Grade: B-
Julian Champagnie
Yikes, Champagnie was pretty darn bad. I don’t know how he led the bench unit in minutes. He was 0-for-5 from the field, which all came from three-point range. A couple of his attempts were the results of horrendous shot-selection. Then, to make matters worse, he turned the ball over three times in the first half. Champagnie’s offensive play couldn’t have been much worse. To his credit, though, he didn’t let his poor offensive play take away from his defensive intensity. He was actually decent to good on defense, which salvaged some of his overall value.
Grade: D
Luke Kornet
Welcome back, Luke. Kornet returned to the lineup and immediately became an important cog in the wheel. He played nine minutes alongside Wembanyama in the fourth quarter and the pairing looked fantastic. They two tall human beings shut down the lane on defense. On offense, Kornet had three dunks in the fourth, including a pair of alleyoops from Castle. Besides dunks, rebounds, rim protection and surprisingly good perimeter defense, Kornet showed off his underrated passing ability. He’s a smart player who knows where to be on both ends of the court. The front office has to feel smart right about now with how well he’s fitting in.
Grade: A-
Keldon Johnson
Johnson continues to stick to his strengths. He’s pounding the boards, scoring at the rim and playing with relentless enthusiasm. When the Spurs hit lulls in this game, Johnson came to the rescue a couple times. However, his play in the fourth quarter was below average, which definitely lowered his overall impact.
Grade: B
Jeremy Sochan
With the return of Kornet, Sochan only played ten minutes. He didn’t exactly give the coaching staff reasons to play him more. Defensively, he was active but he wasn’t doing a whole lot of good and his rebounding was poor. Offensively, Sochan mostly just got in the way and his reluctance to shoot hurt the spacing.
Grade: D+
Lindy Waters III
Waters hit a three-point, played adequate defense and ran the show when necessary. He didn’t move the needle a noticeable amount but he was solid.
Grade: B-
Carter Bryant
Bryant had a smart cut that led to a layup and flashed his athleticism here and there.
Grade: Inc.
Kelly Olynyk
Olynyk had a couple crafty passes, including a dish that led to Bryant’s only bucket.
Grade: Inc.
Mitch Johnson
There were certainly some strange decisions by Johnson. He inexplicably played 12 players in the first half. He played Champagnie more than anyone off the bench even though Champagnie was an offensive abomination. It felt like he stuck with Sochan too long when it wasn’t working. But, hey, Johnson made up for a lot of his questionable decisions by coaching a helluva fourth quarter. He got Wembanyama in advantageous positions. Going with Kornet was a game-changing decision. Keeping the ball in Castle’s hands paid immediate dividends. That fourth quarter coaching was some of the best coaching I’ve seen from Mitch in the post-Pop era.
Grade: B+