San Antonio Spurs: Player Grades in Win Over Memphis Grizzlies

The San Antonio Spurs rebounded from their Wednesday 95-93 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 107-101 on Friday night.

The Spurs came out like gangbusters, racing to a 58-46 lead at the half. The Grizzlies ended up climbing back into the game, cutting the lead down to four at one point in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell short in their comeback effort.

While the win was great for San Antonio, there was some bad news around it. The Spurs lost yet another player to injury. This time it was Tony Parker going down with a mild hamstring strain.

Although the mood was dampened because of the injury, Tim Duncan did his best to better it by having possibly one of his top performances of the season. Duncan showed up big time in this win, registering his fourth career triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

For the Grizzlies, it was all about the efforts of Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. Conley finished with a 23 point, 10 assist double-double while Gasol finished with a 28 point, 12 rebound double-double.

Now that the game is over, we have post-game grades for key Spurs players in the San Antonio Memphis game!

Check out our player grades below!

--. It’s just not fair to give Tony Parker a grade for this game since the point guard left the game in the third quarter following a mild hamstring strain. Parker only played a little over 22 minutes so it’s tough to judge what his true impact would have been had he been available for the entire game. For what it’s worth, on the time Parker was on the floor, he played solid, putting in 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field.. PG. San Antonio Spurs. TONY PARKER

A-. Danny Green was only on the floor for about 26 minutes, but, it was a very efficient 26 minutes. Green finished the game as the Spurs second leading scorer with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He also played his role as floor-spacer well, hitting three three-pointers in the game. Green did a great job locking down the Grizzlies’ two-guards as well, helping to limit Courtney Lee to eight points and Vince Carter to zero points. The only place we could ask more from Green is in the ball control department. He committed three of those against Memphis.. SG. San Antonio Spurs. DANNY GREEN

F. Where to start on Kawhi Leonard’s horrible, horrible night. Leonard was atrocious for the Spurs against the Grizzlies, finishing with nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. While he did grab six rebounds and dish out three assists, the focus from those positives were drawn away by the fact Leonard was blocked three, yes three, times. Throw in the fact the 34-year-old Tayshaun Prince burned the young forward on a few occasions and you have a night to forget for Leonard. Let’s just hope his downward spiral these last two games stops tomorrow when San Antonio plays Minnesota.. SF. San Antonio Spurs. KAWHI LEONARD

A+. Tim Duncan, 38-years-old, 38-years-strong. Duncan was back at it Friday night, taking down “Father Time” for what seems like the hundredth time. Duncan recorded his fourth career triple-double against the Grizzlies, registering 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. By doing so, Duncan becomes the second oldest player to record a triple-double, the first being Karl Malone at 40 years of age. Not only did Duncan record that outrageous final stat line, he also shut down the Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph, limiting him to only 10 points on a poor 4-of-11 shooting. Duncan will probably get some much deserved rest tomorrow following this performance.. PF. San Antonio Spurs. TIM DUNCAN

B-. Matt Bonner picked up the start at center tonight for the Spurs and did everything you would expect out of a solid game from Matt Bonner. That means three-pointers, three to be exact on this night. Bonner used the long ball to help him score nine points. Unfortunately, his defense was not as on point as his offense. Marc Gasol exposed Bonner’s defense several times on Friday. Still, that can be forgiven since Bonner is not really known for his stellar defense. C. San Antonio Spurs. MATT BONNER

A+. The San Antonio Spurs bench put on a clinic tonight, outscoring the Memphis Grizzlies reserves 45-28. That offensive barrage from the bench was led by no other than Manu Ginobili who finished the game with 17 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Cory Joseph also contributed to the attack from the bench, scoring 12 points. The only place to knock this second unit would be in Marco Belinelli’s game. The Italian only shot 2-of-9 from the field. That poor performance is not enough to affect the Spurs reserves’ grade, however, especially since everything else was outstanding.. . . SAN ANTONIO SPURS BENCH

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