Stephon Castle record the first triple-double of his career (Photo via X)
The San Antonio Spurs dropped a game against the Golden State Warriors by a final score of 125-120. The Spurs, 8-3, dominated much of the first half but the wily Warriors were able to walk them down and close out the game with a mix of veteran know-how and 46 points from Stephen Curry. Add in the fact that Golden State shot 20 more free throws and the Spurs turned it over 20 times and this is a game that should be classified as a learning opportunity for the young San Antonio squad.
Stats: Spurs vs. Warriors
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Spurs vs. Warriors – Final Grades
Victor Wembanyama
The good: Wembanyama posted a triple-double of 31 points, 15 rebounds and ten assists. That production is obviously applause-worthy, especially considering he shot well from all distances. When he was decisive offensively, good things happened. Defensively, he shut down the paint and was a monster on the boards. The bad: Truth be told, Wembanyama wasn’t as good as those numbers appear at first glance. He had eight turnovers, which just can’t happen against a quality opponent. He too often tried to do too much and got himself in trouble. Defensively, as good as he was on the interior, his perimeter defense and perimeter switching left a lot to be desired. He efforted out near the three-point line, don’t get me wrong, but his execution on the perimeter was lacking.
Grade: B+
De’Aaron Fox
Ouch. Fox was pretty damn terrible. His stats don’t look terrible but he was bad. Defensively, he was the weakest link on the court for the Spurs. His size was an issue on the ball and he fell asleep all the time off the ball. He has to get a lot better defensively off the ball to not be a liability. Offensively against the Warriors, it was ugly for Fox. He turned the ball over six times and that doesn’t even begin to tell the tale of his discombobulation. Fox was throwing terrible passes, struggled to dribble in traffic and couldn’t really do anything other than go one-on-one. I don’t know what it was but something was amiss and it was like Fox had never played with any of his teammates before. Let’s hope for a recovery ASAP.
Grade: D-
Stephon Castle
Castle was the best player on the court for the Spurs. When he sat on the bench, you could almost hear the Benny Hill music start playing. Castle made the Spurs look like a real basketball team, which was sometimes a difficult task on this night. He took smart shots, made brilliant passes and played at a winning pace. Castle is running the offense great right now and seeing the court very well. Defensively, he was doing really good … until foul trouble slowed him up. In fact, foul trouble was the limiting factor on Castle’s value on this night. The Spurs needed him to stay out of foul trouble to keep things humming on both ends — and that didn’t happen. Otherwise, this triple-double performance by Castle (23 points, ten rebounds, ten assists) was one of the better showings of his young career.
Grade: A
Devin Vassell
This was an interesting outing for Vassell on the defensive end. After Castle got in foul trouble, Vassell got the job of trying to slow Curry. That … didn’t really happen. But to Vassell’s credit, he gave good effort and was mentally engaged when trying to complete that task. It was some of the best defensive effort that Vassell has given since his rookie season. But, yeah, the outcome was mostly poor — mostly due to Curry’s greatness. Offensively, I didn’t love Vassell’s shot-selection but he made enough shots to justify his attempts. He also took care of the ball better than usual.
Grade: B
Harrison Barnes
Barnes did his job for the most part. Defensively, he was really active both on the inside and outside. He was making plays on that end, although better rebounding would have really been helpful. Offensively, he hit half of his six three-point attempts but one or two more made shots could have shifted the momentum. Barnes was getting open so he could have had a big game if his shot was just a little bit more automatic.
Grade: B
Keldon Johnson
The good: Johnson was a beast on the boards once again. He’s having the best rebounding season of his career, particularly on the offensive end. Johnson played physically on both ends. The bad: Johnson missed both of his three-point attempts and failed to get to the free throw line. His rotations on defense were sometimes a step slow.
Grade: B-
Luke Kornet
For the second consecutive outing, Kornet was 6-for-6 from the field. He’s proving to be a deadly lob threat. He has very good hands and processes the game quickly. Defensively, Kornet didn’t look too hot. He had trouble against Golden State’s quickness. To make matters worse, he managed to not grab a rebound in 22 minutes of play.
Grade: C+
Julian Champagnie
Champagnie was decent enough. In 20 minutes off the bench, he hit a pair of three-pointers, played better than average defense and hustled all over the court. He didn’t move the needle a bunch but Champagnie played his role well.
Grade: B
Jeremy Sochan
Sochan got six minutes and I thought he did pretty good. He hit a three-pointer, grabbed three rebounds and made smart decisions. With Barnes shooting well, Kornet playing well next to Wembanyama, KJ making the most of his time and Champagnie spacing the court, where does Sochan get minutes? I … I don’t really know. He was doing good against the Warriors but he’ll need to carve out a niche to get more than sporadic minutes.
Grade: B
Lindy Waters III
Waters played four minutes against his former team and didn’t do much. He missed a three but his defense was a little bit better than expected.
Grade: Inc.
Mitch Johnson
The good: Wembanyama got a lot of quality touches. Castle is being put in a position to thrive. The gameplans on both ends were good enough to win. The bad: Fox is totally out of sync — and some of that blame should be on the coaches. He doesn’t seem to know what he should be doing out there. The rotation was fine but Johnson failed to push the correct buttons to slow down Golden State’s attack.
Grade: C+