Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 4

Not really much of an intro this week (which I'm sure you're glad about), as I plan to spend some extra time/space on the first game recap (...and you're sad now).  So let's get into it.

D-League Select 96, Minnesota Timberwolves 91

That's right, a team of guys who couldn't get Vegas invites beat a team that started first-round picks.  Sorry Minnesota, but you just made a fool of yourself in front of T-Bone. (That's my new/stolen catchphrase for when one of these NBA teams lose to the D-Leaguers.)  It's hard to pinpoint just a few good performances from this one since so many of the D-League guys played well.  Othyus Jeffers scored 20 points on 13 shots and had seven rebounds, and shot 80 percent from the free-throw line.  Coleman Collins couldn't find consistent playing time in Fort Wayne last year, but yesterday he showed why he should with 15 points on nine shots, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.  Gary Forbes didn't make much of a mark in Orlando, but here he had 20 points on 16 shots, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block in a little over 21 minutes.  Curtis Stinson didn't score, but had six rebounds from the point guard position.  Walker Russell picked up five assists along with nine points, three rebounds and a block, and Russell and Stinson combined for just four turnovers.  Kurt Looby took only two shots and made one, but he also had five rebounds in a little over 14 minutes.

Look, it's one thing to beat the Japanese national team pretty soundly, and it's another thing to outscore some NBA guys 30-10 in a quarter.  And not everything went wrong for Minnesota.  Jonny Flynn had a better shooting day, 4-9, and he also had 14 assists and generally looked pretty good running an offense.  Wayne Ellington had 22 points on 14 shots and made four of his seven three-pointers.  Oleksiy Pecherov had 15 points on 11 shots, including shooting 3-4 on three-pointers, and he also grabbed 10 rebounds.  Garrett Siler grabbed seven rebounds in 13 minutes.  That third quarter was really what did it in this game, though.  Minnesota actually outscored the D-League in the first, second and fourth, but once the Select team took the lead they didn't look back.  Even if a guy on the D-League team struggled in one area, like Will Frisby's seven fouls or Marcus Hubbard going 0-2, they still made up for it elsewhere - in Frisby's case he shot 4-8 and grabbed five rebounds; Hubbard got three boards in ten minutes.  As Ais put it to me, it was the castoffs of the castoffs beating some pretty good NBA talent.  Yeah, yeah, it's Summer League, and the Timberwolves also had guys like Adam Parada and Bobby Brown.  But don't think that this D-League Select team isn't playing its collective ass off, because they know they have to show all of the NBA teams that they can outperform these draft picks and guys coming back from Europe on a regular basis

The rest of the games are after the jump.

Phoenix Suns 95, Dallas Mavericks 90

Robin Lopez played well (at least one brother did), with 24 points on 10 shots, 16 rebounds and two shots.  Rodrique (they're calling him "Roddy" now, which is fine with me so long as it's preceded by "Rowdy") Beaubois was having a pretty good game, 16 points on 11 shots, three assists, two steals and a block, but then he went down with a possible knee injury.  Alando Tucker also played decently, with 15 points on 11 shots and five rebounds, though he could do better on his free-throw shooting.

Herbert Hill did well in his limited playing time, shooting 3-4 and grabbing five rebounds in 11 minutes.  Zabian Dowdell wasn't really considered to be a "true point guard" coming out of college a few years ago, but he led the Suns team in assists with five, and also had 15 points on eight shots and four rebounds.  Carlos Powell didn't get the ringing-est endorsement after his D-League play a few season ago but the talent's there, and he had 13 points on eight shots and four rebounds.

Toronto Raptors 92, Portland Trail Blazers 87

Full disclosure: I'm a "free Jerryd Bayless" guy, and he played pretty well yesterday with 22 points on 17 shots and seven assists, though he also had six turnovers.  DeMar DeRozan's been fairly impressive so far, and against Portland he had 15 points and six rebounds, and only one turnover.  Quincy Douby played well off the bench with 20 points on 14 shots and a team-high five assists.  Dante Cunningham played well for Portland, with 21 points on 17 shots and nine rebounds, four on the offensive end.

Brent Petway's been playing really well for the Raptors, and yesterday he shot 5-7 with four rebounds and a steal.  Pooh Jeter has spent the last few years playing overseas but I think he'd be a decent NBA bench guy, and yesterday he had 10 points on six shots and three steals

Los Angeles Clippers 93, Los Angeles Lakers 82

The Clippers beat the Lakers, and I'm sure Lakers fans everywhere are hanging their heads in shame.  What's that, it's only Summer League?  Still, this never would've happened if the Lakers hadn't cut Luke Schenscher and Daniel Artest.  Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon did most of the damage for the Clippers.  Griffin looked impressive in his first NBA action with 27 points on 15 shots and 12 rebounds, though he also had five turnovers.  Gordon did most of his damage at the free-throw line, and he ended up with 21 points on 11 shots and three steals.  DeAndre Jordan finished with some nice numbers as well, making eight of his nine shots and grabbing five rebounds.  Adam Morrison continues to pretend like he's an NBA player, with 20 points on 18 shots and six rebounds.

David Monds played very well for the Lakers team, with 16 points on 13 shots and eight rebounds, four each on the offensive and defensive ends, in just over 25 minutes.  He also had only two fouls and zero turnovers.  Nik Caner-Medley showed something as well, with 12 points on five shots and 11 rebounds.  Someone asked in an earlier recap thread about Tony Rochestie, and while he's getting some playing time (18 minutes yesterday), he's not doing a whole lot.  He picked up three assists and a steal, but also shot 0-3, two of which were three-pointers.

Golden State Warriors 97, Detroit Pistons 69

The Warriors were all over this one.  Anthony Randolph had 21 points on 12 shots and had 10 rebounds and three blocks.  Stephen Curry's definitely a shooter (he took 19 yesterday, got 23 points out of it), but I've been fairly impressed with his rebounding so far, and he had seven yesterday along with five steals, four assists and a block.  Jonas Jerebko finally had a solid game in all areas, scoring 16 points on nine shots and picking up four rebounds and two steals.  Austin Daye had a decent rebounding day with 11, but wasn't great otherwise, needing 14 shots to get 11 points, missing all three of his shots from behind the arc and picking up eight fouls and eight turnovers.

Even though Cartier Martin didn't have a great shooting day (4-10, missed all four of his three-pointers), he got to the line and made 10 of his 12 free throws and grabbed five rebounds.  Dwayne Jones played a little under six minutes, which is U-N-A-C-C-E-P-T-A-B-L-E.

Milwaukee Bucks 91, Sacramento Kings 86

Brandon Jennings is undoubtedly talented, and he's been distributing the ball very well so far in Vegas.  He had 14 assists yesterday to go along with 13 points and seven steals.  Someone asked me on Twitter yesterday (okay, they asked the joint RU account but I answered) what I thought of Tyreke Evans, and my answer was along the lines of "don't like the shooting or turnovers, but those can improve, and love the rebounding."  Evans continues to be an excellent rebounder for his position, grabbing nine yesterday along with seven steals, and while the turnovers were still high (seven) he improved his shooting to score 33 points on 17 shots.  Joe Alexander also improved his shooting efficiency, scoring 24 points on 13 shots and grabbing seven rebounds.  Jon Brockman's a terrific rebounder, and he had 12 boards in just over 22 minutes.  Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of D-League guys on either of these teams (or any any of the teams that have been playing this first week in Vegas), but maybe Salim Stoudamire will start getting more playing time and we can talk about him.