Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs: Postgame Grades and Analysis
| Mario Chalmers | C |
| Shabazz Napier | C |
| Luol Deng | B |
| Chris Bosh | B- |
| Rest of Team | B- |
| Tony Paker | A- |
| Manu Ginobili | B |
| Kawhi Leonard | A+ |
| Tim Duncan | B+ |
| Rest of Team | B |
In a rematch of the previous two NBA Finals matchups, the San Antonio Spurs continued their title defense quest with a 98-85 victory over the Miami Heat at home on Friday. And considering how the new-look Heat have been going lately, it shouldn't come as all that much of a surprise. This loss dropped them out of a playoff seed in the East.
Miami was without its savior of late, Hassan Whiteside, who missed the game with an ankle injury. Dwyane Wade missed his 15th contest of the season, leaving Chris Bosh to shoulder most of the load. The combination of lousy defending and careless offense will never work against San Antonio, and the defending champs continued their steady climb towards the top of the Western standings with the W.
Miami Heat
Mario Chalmers: C
The Heat really need Mario Chalmers to pick up a decent chunk of the offense with Wade missing, and he wasn't able to put together much of anything Friday. He finished with seven points, four assists and a rebound, and cost Miami early with a pair of turnovers leading to momentum-shifting plays in the first half.
The Heat were often forced into playing at San Antonio's pace, and Chalmers was never really able to get his team back into a comfortable rhythm.
Shabazz Napier: C
Forced into a starting role, Shabazz Napier could've faired a whole lot better than he did Friday. On just two-of-seven shooting, he finished with four points. After scoring the game's first bucket, Napier only found nylon once more, failing to do much for Miami on either end.
The extents of his contributions were a handful of nifty feeds to teammates for scores. He finished with five assists, which tied Norris Cole for the team-high.
Luol Deng: B
The Heat often found themselves relying on Luol Deng with the shot clock winding down, and he produced a fairly decent stat line over his 33 minutes. He wrapped up with a team-high 17 points and six rebounds.
The three first-half turnovers he committed restricted Miami as they tried to crawl back in the second quarter. He missed a number of jumpers, but was one of the only Heat members to get into the lane against the Spurs. He was the first Miami player to reach double-digit scoring in the third quarter, and finished with the team-high on 6-of-13 shooting.
Chris Bosh: B-
It's no secret: The Heat need Chris Bosh producing like a star. And though he didn't do much to hurt the team's chances Friday, the team needed someone to step in and change the momentum of the game. Bosh is pegged to be that guy, but yet again, he couldn't fill the role.
He wrapped up with 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting, grabbing six boards and turning it over three time. He made a few nice plays with the ball but not nearly enough to have Miami competing with the defending champs. Especially along the perimeter, his shot failed him all night long. On the bright side, he was the only Heat player to finish with a positive plus-minus.
Rest of Team: B-
With Hassan Whiteside, Shawne Williams and Dwyane Wade missing, Miami was already shorthanded. Udonis Haslem logged just four minutes (in which the team was outscored by 13) before injuring his wrist and missing the remainder of the contest.
Chris Andersen started and put together some solid minutes, making a few defensive plays at the rim and finishing on a few alley-oops. Tyler Johnson, on a 10-day contract, made a number of aggressive drives to the rim, finishing with 18 points. James Ennis went for seven points, seven rebounds, a steal and a block in the loss.
San Antonio Spurs
Tony Parker: A-
Even with 13 NBA seasons under his belt, Tony Parker remains as crafty as any guard in the league. He and Kawhi Leonard led the way for San Antonio, Parker finishing with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting—including a pair of threes—and made several nifty plays to create offense both individually and for the team, finishing with four of San Antonio's 28 assists.
He and Tim Duncan combined for an unusual seven turnovers, though the good far outweighed the bad for San Antonio as a whole. Parker's shooting prowess played a key role in the win, especially from beyond the arc. Parker's three-point shooting clip remains over 50 percent—significantly better than his career 32.3 percent mark.
Manu Ginobili: B
Over his 24 minutes, Manu Ginobili went for six points on two-of-four shooting, but led the way with nine assists while grabbing four boards. On one of his two triples, he was the recipient of a slick possession in which Tiago Splitter ignited a series of passes, hitting Boris Diaw before Manu ended with the wide-open look.
Kawhi Leonard: A+
He's still far from a finished product, but that may be the most enjoyable part about watching Kawhi Leonard. The phrase "filling up the stat sheet" most definitely applies to the fourth-year forward's game. Against the Heat, the reigning Finals MVP finished with 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Both with the ball and on defense, Leonard impacted the game over and over. With deflected passes, steals and transition buckets, his performance was clearly the most impressive of the evening. Ten of his 15 shot attempts were from beyond the arc, and he connected on five of them, contributing to his 24-point total. He played a team-high 33 minutes and was a key igniter while San Antonio quickly put the game out of reach in the early going.
Tim Duncan: B+
It was the kind of quietly successful night that Tim Duncan has made the norm during his late 30s. In 25 minutes, and on just eight field-goal attempts, Duncan went for 10 points and 12 boards—four on the offensive glass.
He sank five of his attempts, plus an additional, uncharacteristically vicious one-handed dunk that was waved off after a travel. He benefited from a few nice passes from Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, and impacted the game defensively near the rim as well.
Rest of Team: B
In a fairly limited role, Marco Belinelli shot 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. His two steals and four rebounds helped fill out the stat line in the victory.
Danny Green didn't log a ton of minutes, but put together eight points, two rebounds and two blocks over his 15 minutes. Aaron Baynes strung together some productive minutes and knocked down a pair of jumpers, and Boris Diaw found teammates for easy buckets, busting Miami's zone defense a number of times.
Patty Mills shot 3-of-7 while Matt Bonner sank a three, leaving Reggie Williams as the only Spur to play without scoring at least two points.
Up Next
Now at 21-29, Miami has fallen to ninth in a brutal Eastern Conference. The loss of Dwyane Wade has obviously hurt, but the offense had been struggling well before the guard went down with a hamstring ailment.
They get a bit of a break in facing the New York Knicks on Monday before traveling to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in LeBron James' home before the All-Star break.
San Antonio entered just seventh in the West, but are now just 2.5 games off the Houston Rockets' pace for third-best in the conference. Now 32-18, the Spurs will depart for a mini-East-coast swing against the Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons before the break.
