Spurs' Stephon Castle: Solid outputs in limited minutes

Castle (hip) registered 18 points (5-15 FG, 1-2 3Pt, 7-8 FT), five rebounds and five assists across 23 minutes Monday in the Spurs' 135-132 overtime win over the Pelicans.

Though a rough shooting performance from two-point range took some luster off his overall stat line, Castle staged an impressive all-around performance in his return from a nine-game absence due to a left hip flexor strain. Coming into Monday, Castle had been averaging 31.9 minutes per game on the season, so he seemed to be operating with a playing-time restriction in place in his first appearance since Nov. 16. Expect that restriction to be loosened a bit when the Spurs travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday for a matchup with the Lakers in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.