El Conclusión: Memphis Grizzlies 117, San Antonio Spurs 116

I will always put on a cape for Matty B, but that stat line: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 turnover, 2 personal fouls … in 15 minutes. I’m sorry. I’m just … I’m sorry.

What do you do with this one? On one hand, those free throws, man — 5-of-15 from the line is just brutal, and 9-of-22 from the floor ain’t great either. But the dude played 48 minutes, and his shot at the end of the second overtime was straight out of the Spurs-Lakers .4 game in 2004. That was one of the more up-and-down Timmy nights I can remember, so let’s find a happy medium grade.

Got the start in place of Kawhi Leonard but logged only 13 minutes in a 63-minute game. Pop’s not ready to just let him go, and it’s tough to find much fault in that. Perhaps his nice game on Monday night earned him the starting nod, but he was unremarkable in this one. Not really sure how to grade a guy who starts the game but basically doesn’t play the important later minutes.

Cory Joseph is a solid starting point guard in this league, but Patty Mills spoiled us last season to the point where you almost forget Joseph is on the floor at times. CoJo takes care of the ball, he’s a serviceable shooter, he’s a good rebounder for a point guard, and he plays tough defense. But he rarely changes the course of games, and the pace really starts to grind when he’s on the floor. Last night was sort of the prototypical CoJo game, where he low-key contributes across the board. I stress the term “low-key” though. I mean, 8-6-5 is fine for Joseph, but you hope for more than that in 38 minutes from your starting point guard.

Monster game. Timmy’s shot to end the second OT was one for the memory banks, but Danny’s consistent sharpshooting throughout the latter stages of the contest kept the Spurs alive. And honestly, on these kind of nights, I’d be totally fine if he launched 20 3-point attempts. Oh, and without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup, he blocked five shots and is now the team’s second-leading shot-swatter at 1.3 per game. That’s good for 28th in the NBA. Only Philly’s human pogo-stick K.J. McDaniels blocks more shots per game as a guard than Green.

A nice stat line, but inflated by the high minute totals. Similar to Duncan, however, he did hit some big shots down the stretch and played a big role in the Spurs hanging around late. If you get three 3-pointers from Bobo, it’s always a big plus. Still, that turnover he had toward the end of regulation, up three with the ball and 13 seconds left … what are you thinking? We obviously know Diaw is as smart as it gets in terms of basketball IQ, but that’s what made that turnover so much more confounding. Hang onto the ball, waste a few seconds, and either head to the line or take your time getting it to the right guy. Spurs had some serious WTF moments last night.

He’s definitely not back in game shape yet, as one would expect. The development of Tiago Splitter has been a major factor in the Spurs’ dominance over the Grizzlies since being dumped by Memphis in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, and last night he wasn’t much of a presence against those bigs. Give it time. I know he played 24 minutes, but it’s tough to grade a dude who’s nowhere near ready to play significant minutes in a triple-overtime game.

He was basically on the floor for one of the 63 possible minutes in the game. That’s a good thing.

The Manu Experience was in full effect last night, but not in the ideal way. He had some brilliant moments that helped rescue San Antonio from an awful, awful start to the game, but some of his blunders, particularly that lob pass that almost got Danny Green killed and the miserable 3-point attempt to end the game… I mean, that pass was the NBA’s equivalent to a quarterback leading his receiver over the middle of the field straight into the middle linebacker’s zone. Great stat line, and again, his good contributions were a MAJOR plus, but man he made some really bad decisions late in that game. To be fair, he’s not made to play 41 minutes at this point of his career. As long as everyone came out of last night healthy, you just learn from it and move on. I don’t know what grade you guys feel is right, but despite those late blunders, the Spurs aren’t even in that position without Manu’s shot-making last night.

I thought Belinelli was really good last night. He hit some timely shots, was very efficient, and even played well on the defensive end. Sure, you’ll take the nights when Marco blows up for 28 points when you can get them, but these are the steady performances you want regularly on the crazy cheap contract under which he currently plays. It was nothing spectacular last night, but that’s not what you need from Belinelli.