San Antonio Spurs: Player Grades in Loss to Utah Jazz

C. Cory Joseph picked up the start for the injured Tony Parker but did not really do much with it. The point guard finished with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting but failed to register a single assist. That’s fine if you are coming off the bench, but not okay in a starting role. While the Spurs did record 23 assists on the night, a few dimes from Joseph could have helped the cause and potentially put San Antonio over Utah in the final tally. Joseph did play solid defense on Jazz point guard Trey Burke which does help his grade a little. The former University of Texas player helped limit Burke to only eight points, two assists, and 3-of-9 shooting.. PG. San Antonio Spurs. CORY JOSEPH

DANNY GREEN. C+. Danny Green was one of three starters to finish in double figures scoring -wise on Tuesday, finishing with 13 points. His scoring was all that was notable on the night as Green only registered one rebound and one assist. He also failed to contain Alec Burks, allowing the Jazz two-guard to go for 14 points, three rebounds, and four assists. Green did shoot well from the field, 6-of-10, however, it would have been nice to see him connect on more three-pointers, only 1-of-5 on the night.. SG. San Antonio Spurs

A-. Kawhi Leonard caused a good amount of havoc on Tuesday night agaist the Jazz, even though it was in a losing effort. Leonard contributed 16 points, five rebounds, five assists, and tied a career high in steals with five. He also shot 7-of-13 from the field. Although Leonard’s own stats were quite good, he struggled to contain Utah forward Gordon Hayward. Hayward had a good night himself, 20 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Still, in a game of a lot of bads for the Spurs, this was one of the good.. SF. San Antonio Spurs. KAWHI LEONARD

A-. Tim Duncan tried everything he could to save San Antonio from an embarrassing loss to the Utah Jazz. His 23 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks, were just not enough unfortunately as the Spurs still dropped the game. Duncan even shot the ball efficiently, 10-of-16 from the field. A little more defense on the Jazz big men would have been nice though. Utah’s Derrick Favors finished with 21 points and eight rebounds while Enes Kanter registered a 12 point 15 rebound double-double.. PF. San Antonio Spurs. TIM DUNCAN

B-. Matt Bonner had a game to forget on in Tuesday night’s loss to the Jazz. “The Red Mamba” played an inefficient 20 minutes, contributing only five points and three rebounds. Even worse, Bonner finished the game with an abysmal 2-of-7 performance from the field, 1-of-3 from deep. Bonner also could not contain the Utah big men, being beat dominated several times both on offense and on defense. Gregg Popovich’s idea to pull the Jazz big men out of the paint to guard the stretch big Bonner ultimately back fired, but, fortunately for the Spurs they were still able to keep the game close at the end. Here’s to hoping Bonner has a better game tomorrow.. C. San Antonio Spurs. MATT BONNER

. . SAN ANTONIO SPURS BENCH. C+. The San Antonio Spurs bench outscored the Utah Jazz reserves 32-25, but, that does not mean they had the better night. The Spurs bench was very inefficient, only shooting 11-of-32 from the field. That was due in large part to Manu Ginobili’s worst shooting night in a long time. Ginobili, while putting up 10 points and eight assists, only converted 3-of-17 field goals. The only San Antonio reserve that really played well was Marco Belinelli, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds. There was also a head-scratcher tonight as Aron Baynes, who has been tearing it up this season, only played a little over 12 minutes. Oh well, you win some you lose some.