Player Ratings: Summary of Mavericks vs. Spurs round 2

The Dallas Mavericks entered Saturday night’s game in a bit of a free fall. After losing four straight games by a combined 8 points, the Mavs were in desperate need of a win. After picking up a 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs to open the season, the Mavs had a strong chance for a repeat performance against their in-state opponent, who would be without Victor Wembanyama and Jeremy Sochan. The Spurs had an early 9-0 run followed almost immediately by a 7-0 run later in the first quarter, and it looked like this one was going to be a lot more competitive than it needed to be. Coming out of the half though, the Mavs kicked it in and ultimately blew the doors open and got a desperately needed win. Let’s get to the characters!

Luka Doncic: C+

16 points / 6 rebounds / 6 assists / 2 steals / 0 blocks

Luka and most of the other starters were harder than usual to grade tonight due to limited minutes in what turned out to be a blowout. Despite only playing 28 minutes, you’d expect Luka’s numbers to be better. He just didn’t look impressive tonight. His shooting percentage was poor (37.5% overall; 33.3% from three), he hit two-of-three free throws and was blown away on at least three Spurs’ drives that saw me in real time.

Kyrie Irving: A-

22 points / 8 rebounds / 6 assists / 2 steals / 0 blocks

Kyrie was teetering between B+ and A-, but I decided to foul higher because of his eight rebounds and ridiculous 60% from the field. His three turnovers are a bit too high, but his team-leading +22 plus/minus didn’t happen by accident. He has been the steady, calm leader since the season began, and the intangibles factored into his character tonight as well.

Klay Thompson: B-

9 points / 0 rebounds / 0 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Thompson is probably the hardest Mav to rate on the night. His box score is largely unimpressive, but he is a shooter who shot very well overall (57.1%), but did not contribute much else. The fact that he only played 18 minutes was certainly the primary contributing factor to the odd stat line, but you’d expect him to even accidentally record another stat in one of the Big Five categories. He played a good game and got a lot of rest, but it’s hard to say much more than that.

Naji Marshall: C+

6 points / 3 rebounds / 4 assists / 1 steal / 0 blocks

Marshall probably could have gotten a B-, but shooting 2-for-9 was very unsightly and knocked him into the C range. What kept him at the higher end was the fact that he contributed a bit of everything against Spurs, doing some nice little things that will never show up in a box score. Like Thompson, he only played 18 minutes.

Quentin Grimes: B+

5 points / 4 rebounds / 3 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Grimes had a solid night in 22 minutes, scoring a few, passing well and grabbing as many rebounds as starting center Dereck Lively. That’s probably more of an indictment of Lively than anything else, but grabbing four boards from the guard spot came with the help of Grimes’ high energy. His defensive activity on the perimeter was nice to see as he seems to be finding a groove over the last few games.

Daniel Gafford: A

22 points / 7 rebounds / 1 assist / 1 steal / 3 blocks

Gafford basically had his best game of the season with his highest point total to go with a solid rebounding night and a mini block party. I ended up not adding a “+” after his grade, reserving that for one night he goes above his usual stats in several categories, but it should be noted that Gafford is not a one-trick dunk pony (although he had a massive jam over Zach Collins). His touch and overall movement around the rim is much improved from last season. He was engaged all night and put himself in the right position for success throughout the game.

Derek Lively II: B

7 points / 4 rebounds / 2 assists / 0 steals / 4 blocks

Lively benefits from a generous touch on this character. He was 3-for-6 from the floor and should have pulled down more rebounds than he did, but his defensive presence that doesn’t show up in the stats was noticeable. He altered shots and generally discouraged drives before they started on a few occasions. His block total (and his ability to avoid fouling) gave him a slight bump tonight.

PJ Washington: B

0 points / 4 rebounds / 2 assists / 2 steals / 0 blocks

Washington lands toward the middle on his character. He’s a long way from expectations, but is also coming off a multi-game injury layoff and logged just 19 minutes in a blowout. He only attempted two shots, so on that basis his rebounds, assists and steals are actually impressive. He also made his minutes feel different because you could appreciate his length and attention to defense, which has been lacking in the games he sat out.

Jaden Hardy: A-

12 points / 3 rebounds / 1 assist / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Hardy basically gave everything we could ask for in his 18 minutes. 4-for-9 from the floor, 2-for-5 from three, 2-for-2 on free throws is the type of microwave efficiency scoring that he should bring to this team. He had a nice dunk and no turnovers, but fouled a touch too many (3). Overall, though, he did what the Mavs need him to do.