Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 8

Phoenix Suns 95, D-League Select 89

So, it finally happened.  The D-League team lost, and to a team featuring Robin Lopez and Taylor Griffin.  The Select squad was actually ahead for most of the game, but were outscored by 11 in the final quarter.  The D-Leaguers were missing Othyus Jeffers and Trey Johnson due to some minor injuries, though, so I'm confident that a full squad would've won last night.  Coleman Collins and Gary Forbes held things down in their absence.  Forbes finished with 26 points on 18 shots, five rebounds and a pair of assists.  Collins had 19 points on 11 shots, six rebounds, zero fouls and only one turnover.  Jasper Johnson's final line isn't great (11 points from 12 shots), but he was pretty solid in the first half.  Kurt Looby had five rebounds in nine minutes.  He's close to being in the NBA, people.  Walker Russell and Curtis Stinson both struggled with turnovers, picking up seven apiece, though Stinson also had ten rebounds and Russell's passing was otherwise on point, and he shot 10-11 from the free-throw line.

For Phoenix, Micah Downs saw his first extended action and made it count, scoring 19 points on 8-11 shooting and picking up five rebounds, five steals and three assists.  I had never heard of Jiri Hubalek before yesterday, but he had 20 points on 11 shots, four rebounds and four blocks.  Reading about Hubalek, his game sounds a little similar to Oleksiy Pecherov, in that he's a 7'0"(-ish) guy who shoots and rebounds, and that's about it.  Former Dakota Wizard Carlos Powell played well for the Suns as well, with 10 points on five shots.

The rest of the games are after the jump, as usual.

Sacramento Kings 84, New York Knicks 71

If nothing else, Jon Brockman is a rebounding monster.  He had 15 in just under 33 minutes yesterday, which makes up for his 1-5 shooting a bit.  Nikoloz Tskitishvili has actually been really consistent in Summer League.  Three games with 12 points, and each time it came on either eight or nine shots.  The only real difference is how many threes he takes (anywhere from five to eight), and whether he blocks any shots (he had two yesterday).  The numbers are all right in line through three games, which is sort of interesting (sort of) considering how flaky he was in Denver.  Warren Carter's rebounding has been pretty good in Vegas, and he had six yesterday in under 14 minutes along with seven points on 3-5 shooting and a pair of blocks.  If he doesn't get a preseason contract out of this, he might want to spend the season in the D-League, because I think he'd do well there and get some more NBA notice.  Blake Ahearn finally had a decent shooting game, with nine points on five shots, though he also had five turnovers in 10 and a half minutes.  Sigh.

Denver Nuggets 111, Portland Trail Blazers 93

Ty Lawson played well and has generally impressed people watching these games, and he had 26 points on 16 shots, five assists and five rebounds.  Jeff Pendergraph also has gotten people talking, and while he didn't shoot the ball particularly well, nine rebounds in 23 and a half minutes is pretty solid.  Denver has a fair amount of D-Leaguers on their squad, and they all played fairly well yesterday (to varying degrees).  Sonny Weems did his thing to the tune of 24 points on 17 shots, four rebounds and two steals, and while he made only one of his five three-pointers, he was a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line.  Coby Karl was solid, shooting 5-6 and picking up four rebounds and three assists.  Richard Hendrix shot 3-3 and grabbed three rebounds in 11 minutes.  Ronald Dupree had 16 points on 10 shots and six rebounds, though he also picked up eight fouls.  I don't care what people say, I still like the way Pooh Jeter's been playing in Vegas, and he had 15 points on 10 shots and five assists with only two turnovers in 30 and a half minutes.

Minnesota Timberwolves 89, Washington Wizards 82

TrueHoop's David Thorpe commented on Twitter that Nick Young is "too good" for Summer League, and while that may be true talent-wise, he's learning a new offense this year and will have to come off of screens a lot probably for the first time in his career.  He's looked pretty good doing it, and yesterday he had 23 points on 17 shots, and he finally picked up some assists (which was worrying the Wizards fanbase) with three.  Jonny Flynn has been playing well overall here, showing some nice speed and generally good decision-making.  His shot hasn't always fallen but it did yesterday, as he had 21 points on 11 shots along with five assists and five rebounds.  Wayne Ellington also has played well.  John Edwards started off well before starting to foul a lot, and he finished with 11 points on 5-7 shooting, six rebounds and seven fouls.  Garrett Siler had what some people refer to as a "Kevin Martin game," wherein he scored 11 points on two shots by going 8-9 from the free-throw line.  Adam Parada's been rebounding really well, and he had seven in a little over 16 minutes, though he's not doing much else

Detroit Pistons 92, Cleveland Cavaliers 86

Austin Daye had another game in the point-rebound department, with 20 points on 14 shots and 10 rebounds.  He had seven fouls and four turnovers, though, so there are still things to work on.  Darnell Jackson has been pretty inconsistent this last week or so, but yesterday scored 13 points on seven shots and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Jonas Jerebko was solid as well, with 19 points on eight shots and five rebounds.  The Pistons had two players play 10 minutes each and combine for zero points and four rebounds.  I reallllly hope Dwayne Jones isn't playing because he's injured (I don't want him to be injured, but you know what I mean).  Jawad Williams has been playing fairly well, and he had 13 points on 11 shots yesterday (and made two of his three shots from behind the arc) and grabbed five rebounds, though he also had four turnovers.  I haven't mentioned David Harrison much, because he hasn't done a whole lot (though he played okay the day before last), but he got two technical fouls yesterday.  I don't know if that's an ejection, since you can't foul out of Summer League games, but he got two technicals.  In a Summer League game.  Think about that.

Chicago Bulls 80, Oklahoma City Thunder 74

James Harden has looked like a really solid pick for the Thunder, scoring efficiently along and picking up assists, rebounds and steals at a decent rate.  He shot 7-15 yesterday, including 49 on threes, and had five assists.  DJ White has had a solid Summer League of his own, and against Chicago he had 15 points on 11 shots, eight rebounds and two blocks.  James Augustine was a perfect 4-4 from the field and 1-1 from the line, and he added 10 rebounds and two steals.  Linton Johnson has apparently bulked up a bit in order to play some power forward this season, and he doesn't seem to have been too negatively affected by it.  He shot 5-8 yesterday with five rebounds.  DeVon Hardin had a "Kevin Martin game" of his own, with nine points on two shots along with four rebounds.