El Conclusión: Heat 118, Spurs 113
San Antonio once again falters in crunch time against an experienced team, and this time we've got grades.
Introducing (or reintroducing) El Conclusión: a post-game format in which a somewhat-educated basketball writer grades the performances of highly educated NBA players right after a game without having a chance to go back and watch any film. It’s perfectly irresponsible.
An important note: “El Conclusión” is a play off one of Manu Ginóbili’s nicknames, “El Contusión.” While the article ‘El’ is incorrect here (it should be “La Conclusión,” technically) we just wanted to keep with the spirit of the name!
The Miami Heat torture you. Just ask any superstar-laden team they left in their trail on the way to the NBA Finals last season.
They are organized, disciplined, steady, and have a wild ability to make even the ugliest games close, as evidenced by their 118-113 comeback win on Sunday in San Antonio. Every season under head coach Erik Spoelstra has been a different version of what Popovich-era teams looked like before the Spurs lost their star power — first with Kawhi Leonard, then with DeMar DeRozan and Dejounte Murray (to an extent). What they do is not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the “Beautiful Game” San Antonio squads of old, and outside of those four ridiculous years of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh playing on the same team, they haven’t had the outright star power to set the league on fire.
But they play hard, smart defense, they execute on both sides of the ball, they hit big shots, and they get the most out of every player who walks in their building. They even found a way to be competitive with Dion Waiters and Hassan Whiteside for a brief time years ago (if you know, you know). That’s how you know they’re good at what they do.
Unlike the Spurs, though, they’ve never actually blown things up from a roster standpoint and gone super young. The Heat employ battle-tested veterans every season, and they rely more heavily on free agency and trades than they do the NBA Draft. In that respect, they’re entirely different than San Antonio, which prefers to almost exclusively build through the draft. That strategy has gotten Miami close to a title a couple of times in recent years, but their overall talent eventually held them back in Finals losses against the Lakers (2020) and Nuggets (2023).
So Sunday’s matchup — and every Heat-Spurs matchup, really — offered an interesting clash of organizational approaches while featuring two all-time great coaches with similar organizational principles. On one side, it’s the franchise that keeps trying to punch the clock for work no matter who they’re able to acquire and put on the floor, and doing so effectively; on the other, a franchise that still punches said clock for work every day, decided a roster reset was necessary for long-term success.
And at least for the time being, the former still has the edge until Victor Wembanyama takes the league by storm. But until then, the productive growing pains persist.
“Well, (Miami is) a championship team and I thought our guys were great. Too many mistakes, a little bit of sloppiness on some passes that created some turnovers and undisciplined fouls, and it adds up.,” Gregg Popovich said after the loss. “But the effort is there, and I can see the wheels turning. They understand different situations and who's on the court and this and that. They're learning about each other, so I was really proud of them and what they did tonight. Nobody likes to lose, but they're getting smarter with each game.”
And now for some grades:
Wemby | 18 pts, 11 reb, 7 ast, 7 TOs | 8-22 FG, 2-9 3P | +5 in 34 min.
Could not hit a perimeter shot to save his life for the most part, and many of them were open; forced some looks in close, and tried to make some passes where there weren’t any; and there was a handful of clumsy moments for a very tall kid who makes most everything look so smooth. Miami’s physicality, especially with perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Bam Adebayo playing the part of backstop, will do that to you.
But to Wembanyama’s credit, he kept working. And when he realized his shot wasn’t there, and that he was having a difficult time establishing position inside, he started whipping some beautiful passes around the perimeter to shooters. That’s gonna be the next big step in his game: taking advantage of all the attention and finding his teammates in great position to score. We’ve already seen glimpses of it throughout the season, but that vision and ability really stood out on Sunday.
Oh — and I may as well save this line in my notes app — he was also an incredible deterrent defensively. He looked a little tired late, and he kind of toned down the activity at times, but Miami didn’t even want to try to shoot the ball while he was in the vicinity for the majority of the game. The Spurs are trying to find the right speed and pace and positioning with this guy, and eventually his conditioning level will reach the point where he’s just ubiquitous on that side of the ball.
Grade: B- (There were a lot of mistakes, but without his defense the Spurs lose by a lot more.)
Keldon Johnson | 20 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast | 8-18 FG, 3-10 3P | +7 in 37 min.
Arguably Keldon’s best game of the season… until it wasn’t.
He was all over the place on the glass in this one, aggressively attacking defensive rebounds when Spurs big men were compromised. That’s been a huge issue for this team for a couple of years now, and that kind of specific energy is going to be critical in his new role. Johnson was also physical attacking the rim, looking for cuts, running out in transition and finding open teammates.
But the play people will remember is his late turnover — his only giveaway of the game — when San Antonio needed a basket badly and he forced the issue by driving into a gap that was backed up by way too much help. He then immediately fouled Jimmy Butler, and laid there face-down with his arms over his head in clear disappointment. It sort of feels like there’s a lot going on in Keldon’s head right now, and putting a ribbon on his performance with that was pretty much par for the course.
Grade B: (Played well overall, but that late mistake and some missed shots hurt, and you also have to bake in the ups and downs on the defensive end with Keldon right now. By the way, those two critical missed 3-pointers late are pretty difficult to pin solely on him, because…
Devin Vassell | 14 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast | 5-12 FG, 4-9 3P | -15 in 33 min.
With about five minutes left and the Spurs up by two points, Vassell got a switch onto Duncan Robinson — one of Miami’s worst defenders — which was exactly what San Antonio designed when Doug McDermott set the screen on the wing. Then Devin waved off Wembanyama, who was coming up to initiate a pick-and-roll, so he could clear out in isolation. But it didn’t go anywhere.
Vassell danced back and forth with Robinson before passing Johnson a grenade in the deep corner with four seconds left on the shot clock that he eventually air-balled (or it may have been tipped, I couldn’t tell) with a hand in his face.
Then, with 2:25 left in the game and the Spurs down by one point, he did a great job working his way to the rim out of a broken play — but instead of going up strong against Adebayo, who was buried inside the restricted area, he kicked it out to Johnson in the corner for another missed 3-point attempt.
It was a good pass, and Keldon had an open chance at it, and these dudes truly trust one another. But when you’re right at the rim in that situation — and I mean RIGHT at the rim — you’ve got to go up with it, especially knowing the guy you’re passing to is struggling from the outside.
Vassell is lights out from the perimeter right now, but if defenses aren’t worried about him attacking the basket they’re just going to crowd him further and further up the court. Taking zero free throws in a physical game like this when you’ve basically been given the keys to the offense is not a good thing.
Grade: C (Good shooting and solid defense keep him here. Miami was paying a ton of attention to him both on and off the ball, to the point it made me wonder if he was being used as a decoy on some possessions, or pulling his man away from certain actions. But these games where he sort of drifts off the play away from the ball confuse me a little at times. Again, without having gone back to rewatch, this is just my knee-jerk reaction. Spurs need more from him.)
Jeremy Sochan | 16 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk | 6-9 FG, 2-3 3P | -5 in 34 min.
OK, we’ll tighten things up from here.
The Sochan project continues, and I thought he was solid in this one. He also had an even bigger job to do than he normally does without Tre Jones in the lineup.
Save for a few plays where he got turned around or pump-faked into the air, he was working his ass off defensively; he had some decisive drives to the rim or into the short mid-range; his processing speed as a facilitator continues to pick up little by little with each passing game; and oh yeah, he’s confidently stepping into spot-up 3-pointers and currently hitting them at a 38.9-percent clip.
Grade: B (He was good in this game. There were times down the stretch where they were reliant on him creating shots when nothing else was available, and he largely came through. It’s still very clunky, but he’s slowly figuring some things out.)
Zach Collins | 18 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast | 6-14 FG, 1-4 3P | +5 in 33 min.
Did a lot of work early and continues to be a go-to guy in the post, where he’s been excellent, by the way. Collins has scored 1.152 points per possession on 33 post-ups this season, per Synergy data, which puts him in the 83rd percentile league-wide. He’s absolutely killing it down there, particularly when he turns over his left shoulder (1.58 points per hook shot overall).
But the 3-pointer still isn’t looking like it did even a few weeks ago during camp. He had a couple of rough/forced turnovers in this one, and when he gets buried underneath he struggles defensively. Overall, though, Collins has been a total workhorse, and it was no different against Miami.
Grade: B (I’ll have to go back and look, but I think the Spurs started to bring him up closer to the level of the screen defensively against the Heat rather than drop him back deep in coverage. If true, it might’ve been a personnel thing, or it might’ve been an actual adjustment, but it’s just a sidebar regardless. Another player who has been solid night in and night out… now if only that perimeter shot could come back online.)
Cedi Osman | 3 pts, 1 reb, 1 blk | 1-3 FG, 1-1 3P | -15 in 20 min.
This might’ve been the first time all season I’ve ever thought, ‘Where the hell was Cedi?’ I remember the big block on Jaime Jaquez Jr., and I remember the swing-swing 3-pointer in the corner that tied the game late in the third quarter. But other than that, I’ve got nothing.
Grade: D (Those two plays I recall were important, so this isn’t a failing grade. But yeah, this was Osman’s quietest game as a Spur to date without question. Also, while I generally can’t stand judging anyone off plus-minus numbers for a single game, I look at that minus-15 a little sideways all things considered.)
Malaki Branham | 13 pts, 7 ast | 4-7 FG, 4-5 3P | 0 in 20 min.
Was given the Tre Jones job off the bench in this one, and as Pop said post-game, he “warmed up to it” as the game moved along.
Branham is not a point guard, but he’s filled in admirably whenever he’s had the opportunity to do so over the course of the last year. However, the most important development of the night for him was the 3-pointer that actually started to fall.
He’s clearly been frustrated by the early season struggles from outside, but the ball looked pretty damn good off his hand Sunday.
Grade: A- (That shot coming online is a huge deal, and a 7:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in 20 minutes at backup point when that’s not your normal job is good stuff even if it wasn’t super fluid. But after finishing last season pretty strong defensively he seems to be struggling at the point of attack, and a few plays stuck out to me watching live. Still just a solid Malaki game regardless.)
Doug McDermott | 8 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast | 3-4 FG, 2-3 3P | -3 in 21 min.
Listen, Dougie McBuckets is not a dime machine. He is a rapid-fire, catch-and-shoot maestro. So to match a career high in assists, especially as teams are paying a crazy amount of attention to where he is on the floor at all times right now with that bench group, is impressive.
He had a scoop pass to Wembanyama for a big dunk off a loose ball, he had a drive-and-kick off a curl to Branham who was stepping into a 3-pointer at an angle behind him — stuff you don’t usually see from McDermott. Oh and he also had a big dunk off a cut, speaking of things that are uncommon occurrences.
Grade: A- (These things are all great, and he keeps shooting very efficiently (52.4 percent from 3!). But as is the case with Branham, we’ve gotta reserve the full A’s and A+’s for those 20-point scoring nights, or game-sealing stretches of shot-making. That’s where those two make the biggest difference. All of this is relative.)
Charles Bassey | 3 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl | 1-2 FG, 1-2 FT | -4 in 6 min.
I’m going to institute a rule here: Unless you make a serious impact on the outcome of a game, you’re getting an ‘incomplete’ if you play fewer than 10 minutes.
But I will say this about Bassey, despite the fact it seems as though he’s matchup- and flow-dependent: He looks miles ahead of where he was last year at this time. He’s springy, some of his blocks and rebounds look downright nasty — just snatching balls away from anyone in the area — he was the assist man on the aforementioned McDermott dunk (he looked off the defender before bouncing it backdoor), and he’s just one of these athletes at 6’11 that make it easy to understand why the Spurs invested.
Just keep a little side-eye on him. It might not pay off immediately, or weeks from now, or even months from now. Hell, it might not be this season, or ever, because he is a major project.
But there’s something there. You just have to pay attention to the details.
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Is it sacrilegious to request coaching staff gets a report card after every game too?