Teams, players, journalists and other basketball-related folks are beginning to descend on Las Vegas, where the larger Summer League officially starts today at 2 PM local time (I think? What is that, Mountain Time?). Today's also the last day of the Orlando league, and at some point this weekend we'll have a look back at some players who stood out. For now, though, let's keep taking the games one at a time.
Utah Jazz 92, Orlando Magic 84
This was the second Summer League game to go into overtime, if that matters. Ryan Anderson continued to be the breakout star, again, if that matters. It likely matters to the Magic, particularly the fact that he's getting it done in a variety of ways. Yesterday Anderson shot 5-11 on three-pointers and 4-6 on the rest of his field goals, and he also pulled down 9 rebounds and blocked four shots. He had 8 fouls, though, but from this looks of it there were a lot of fouls called in this game. Goran Suton "rebounded" (sorry...you'll see why in a minute) from his poor performance a few days ago with 10 rebounds (see?), though he's still not hitting a lot of his three-point attempts. Bobcats second-rounder Derrick Brown had a very good game, the first that I've noticed, with 10-15 shooting and five rebounds. He missed all of his three-pointers but shot 5-7 from the free-throw line.
Kasib Powell continued to show why he should be on an NBA roster this year. Even though he struggled with his shot (4-12), he made things happen in other ways by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Kevin Kruger played a good game in relief of Eric Maynor, who didn't fare quite as well. Kruger, though, made half his shots and went 5-6 from the free-throw line, though his three-point shot wasn't falling quite as well. Cedric Bozeman played a pretty good game himself, getting four rebounds, four assists and a steal to go with 8 points in 22 minutes. Richard Hendrix didn't have a great game, with 7 fouls, 4 turnovers and only 2 points in just under 26 minutes, but on the positive side of the ledger he also grabbed 8 rebounds.
As usual, the other two games are after the jump.
Indiana Pacers 91, Boston Celtics 88
Tyler Hansbrough continues to do an excellent job of getting to the free-throw line, with 12 attempts, though I have no idea whether that will continue on to the regular season. He's a rookie, so I kind of doubt it. Roy Hibbert was his usual (for this week anyway) efficient low-post scoring self, with 28 points on 10 shots, and he also had 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals, but also 5 turnovers. Bill Walker had a good game, one that I don't have to qualify with his turnover or foul number. Walker shot 6-10 and had five rebounds, three steals and two assists. JR Giddens continues to put up turnover numbers that are a bit high, with four in 25 minutes, though he's still an efficient scorer (since he gets most of his points inside) and he had five rebounds.
Trey Johnson had probably his first all-around solid game this week, with 13 points on 8 shots, 2 assists and 2 steals, and, while I'm not sure if this is a positive sign or no indicator at all, he's been getting starts and a lot of playing time. The other non-guaranteed guys didn't really stand out in this one, and Derrick Byars didn't even play (nor did Mike Sweetney, who's missed the last few games with a hamstring injury). Robert Swift was better on the offensive end than he's been, making all five of his shots, and he also had four rebounds. He's still Robert Swift, though, and had three turnovers and six fouls as well.
Oklahoma City Thunder 82, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins
Guess what? Russell Westbrook is good. 6-10 shooting, 9 assists and four rebounds. He still hasn't figured out the turnover conundrum, though, and he had seven yesterday. Kyle Weaver is never going to be an offensive giant, but he had five rebounds, two blocks and two steals yesterday. James Harden continues to be fairly impressive, with efficient offense and a solid all-around game. Marreese Speights has struggled the last few days, and while he had nine rebounds yesterday he also had six fouls and six turnovers. in about 24 and a half minutes. Terrence Williams finally found some offense yesterday, making just under half his field goals and finishing with 14 points along with 5 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. BJ Mullins played a decent game as well, shooting 9-12 and grabbing five rebounds.
Jason Ellis finally showed his rebounding talent, with five in about 26 minutes along with 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. Blake Ahearn is unfortunately still struggling with his shot, though, and Gary Forbes didn't fare much better yesterday. Neither Shaun Livingston nor DJ White played, but Moses Ehambe finally got into a game where he, uh, didn't play all that well either. Both of these teams played their starters the bulk of the minutes for some reason. I mean, does Kyle Weaver really need to play 31 minutes in Summer League?
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