San Antonio Spurs: Player Grades in Loss to Memphis Grizzlies

CORY JOSEPH. B-. Cory Joseph started again on Wednesday night for the injured Tony Parker and was solid. He finished with a not so bad, not so good, final line of eight points, six rebounds, and five assists. Joseph did not do anything hurtful, but, he really did not do anything great either. Do applaud Joseph on his defensive effort though. He held Grizzlies point guard to 5-of-19 shooting on the night. While it would be nice to Joseph come up with a big stat line, this will do until Tony Parker returns to the floor for the Spurs.. PG. San Antonio Spurs

A+. Danny Green was once again phenomenal for the Spurs. He finished with a team high 25 points, connecting on seven three-pointers to get there. Green also picked up three assists, a couple of steals, and five huge blocks. Talk about a show! While he did not really shut down Memphis’ two guards, that’s excusable considering how much he contributed to San Antonio’s comeback effort, including the late three he hit to give the Spurs a 92-89 lead with 2.5 seconds left in regulation. The only concern from Wednesday is that he did log almost 52 minutes. It will be interesting to see how Popovich handles his starting shooting guard on Friday against Portland.. SG. San Antonio Spurs. DANNY GREEN

C-. Kyle Anderson picked up his second start of the season on Wednesday night, but, that was about all that was notable for him in this game. Anderson only appeared in about 13 minutes against the Grizzlies, picking up three points, one rebound, one assist, and one block. Anderson did not really get torched defensively like he did in <a title=. SF. San Antonio Spurs. KYLE ANDERSON

PF. San Antonio Spurs. TIM DUNCAN. A-. Tim Duncan had another “can you believe this guy is 38-years-old?” moment on Wednesday night. Duncan recorded another double-double on the season with 23 points and 16 rebounds. He also added five assists and three blocks, making the night all the more impressive. The reason why Duncan does not get an “A+” though, is because of his work, or lack thereof, at the free throw line. Duncan finished the game 5-of-15 from the free throw line in the loss, 33.3% if you don’t want to do the math. That’s absolutely atrocious, even for a big man.Even worse, four of those misses came in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime periods. Duncan also missed numerous layups in the final minutes. More concerning though, is the fact that Duncan logged almost 48 minutes. That’s not going to make Pop happy.

F. After shutting down Zach Randolph in the last matchup between the Spurs and Grizzlies, Matt Bonner was a non-factor in this one. “The Red Mamba” only appeared on the floor for about 15 minutes and contributed nada. That’s right, not a single point, rebound, assist, steal or block. To make matters worse, Zach Randolph had himself a night with 21 points and 21 rebounds. This will definitely be a game to forget for Bonner.. C. San Antonio Spurs. MATT BONNER

SAN ANTONIO SPURS BENCH. A-. The San Antonio Spurs have been very good in games when their bench puts up 40 or more points, 8-1 in those games in fact. Tonight was against the numbers, however, as even the 57 points off the bench could not save San Antonio from losing. The Spurs reserves gave it all they had, with three players recording more than 39 minutes off the bench. Manu Ginobili was the leading scorer off the bench with 21, although on a poor 7-of-20 from the field including a missed three-pointer to win the game for San Antonio in triple overtime. Boris Diaw also played well, contributing a 17 point, 13 rebound double-double. It just was not enough, however, as the Spurs still ended up losing this heartbreaker.. .