New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for 98-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs

New Orleans Pelicans vs. San Antonio Spurs: Player Grades for the shooting guards

Shooting Guards

Eric Bledsoe did not shoot the ball well against the Spurs, which makes two games in a row.

He did have some shots rattle in and out before finally hitting a 3-pointer as a look of disgust shot across his face.

But Bledsoe played good defense for most of the night and made some nice passes that didn’t get him assists but still set up a hoop.

He also made one of the defensive plays of the game when he blocked the Spurs’ attempt to tie the game at the last second:

Fans should relax about Bledsoe’s shooting, as we knew he wasn’t a great shooter coming in. They should also stop worrying about whether he starts, as right now Josh Hart is getting more minutes and finishing the games, which is more important.

Yikes.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Redick have back-to-back games when he couldn’t make a bucket.

Redick did take some high degree of difficulty 3-pointers off the bounce and was able to convert one into yet another four-point-play attempt, but he was just 1-of-8 overall and exposed a big weakness.

If Redick is not hitting shots, the Pelicans bench struggles to score. This is going be something to watch as the season progresses.

Stan Van Gundy will have to do his best to stagger Ingram and Ball so that one of them is always on the floor because the bench offense has been awful.

The one bench player who has played well is Josh Hart, who notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Spurs.

Hart has not played well offensively but his defense, hustle and effort more than make up for it and have earned SVG’s trust early on.

Hart stays on the floor with the starters in crunch time and has been a versatile defender who Stan Van Gundy can rely on.

It would be nice to see Hart get a few more looks from 3-point range, as he knocked down 1-of-2 and looked smooth doing it.