Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 9

Denver Nuggets 94, D-League Select 90

Jasper Johnson led the Select team with 21 points on 7-13 shooting.  He shot 3-7 on threes, which means he actually shot 66 percent inside the arc.  He also had four rebounds.  Kurt Looby still has some work to do on the offensive end, as he shot 3-7 from the field and 4-7 from the free-throw line, but he also had 11 rebounds and three blocks in 23 minutes.  Only one rebound and one turnover, too, which is a positive.  Gary Forbes has played very well the last few games, and yesterday he finished with a solid line of 19 points on 5-9 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and a steal.  Coleman Collins didn't have a great shooting night (3-8), but he had seven rebounds in just under 17 minutes.

One could argue, though, that with so many D-League players on Denver's roster this was a win for them anyway.  Ronald Dupree was excellent for the Nuggets team, shooting 10-15 and scoring 23 points, with four rebounds and only one turnover.  Coby Karl wasn't bad in Orlando, but to me it feels like he's improved since then, or at least put together some all-around solid games.  Yesterday was one of those, as he shot 5-9 and added nine rebounds, four assists and only one turnover.  Richard Hendrix played only six minutes (anyone out there know why?),  but he had four rebounds in those six minutes along with four points.

The rest of the games are after the jump.

New Orleans Hornets 100, Minnesota Timberwolves 96

Anthony Tolliver shot 100 percent in this game.  For serious.  He made all of his threes, all of the rest of his field goals and all of his free throws.  Yet another Anthony (in addition to Randolph and Morrow) who's had a scoring achievement in Vegas.  He ended the game with 20 points on five shots, four rebounds and two assists.  Jonny Flynn's been playing well for awhile, and he had 24 points on 10 shots, including shooting 4-5 from behind the arc, and he had four rebounds and four assists, though also six turnovers.  Julian Wright had a solid game with 19 points on 12 shots, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.  Darren Collison also played well, with 18 points on eight shots (in a little under 16 minutes), though he only picked up one assist.  Devin Green didn't have a great shooting night, going 2-5 (for seven points), but he had six rebounds in 20 and a half minutes, which is decent for a guard.

Washington Wizards 74, Los Angeles Clippers 64

JaVale McGee was fantastic in this game, particularly on defense against DeAndre Jordan.  McGee never bit on pump fakes and ended up with seven blocks, along with 19 points on 9-11 shooting, though only four rebounds.  Dominic McGuire did most of the rebounding for the Wizards with 11, and he added three steals, two assists and a block of his own.  Blake Griffin's final line looks okay, with 19 points on 16 shots, 10 rebounds and four steals, though Washington essentially made it their business to stop him, and Griffin got most of his points in transition and off of broken plays.  Nik Caner-Medley played fairly well once again (it's happened a few times in Vegas), with 13 points on eight shots, eight rebounds two steals and a block.  Nick Young had an okay day, with 19 points on 14 shots, though he made only two of his eight three-pointers

Chicago Bulls 90, New York Knicks 84

Brandon Costner had a good game off the bench, with 21 points on 11 shots, including going 3-5 from behind the arc, and he had three rebounds as well.  DeMarcus Nelson had a nice game of his own 14 points on 5-8 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Jordan Hill has struggled with his shot in Summer League, but yesterday he straightened it out somewhat and scored 14 points on eight shots,.  He had nine rebounds and two blocks as well, but also nine fouls.  Nikoloz Tskitishvili had a game that was mostly positive, with 14 points on eight shots, seven rebounds and two blocks, though he also missed all four of his three-pointers.  Ron Howard had a rough game a few days ago, though his scoring improved in this one with 11 points on seven shots.

Memphis Grizzlies 97, Phoenix Suns 60

Sam Young's had an up-and-down Summer League, but he was up yesterday with 20 points on 7-12 shooting.  Trey Gilder had a nice game, shooting 4-5 for 10 points and grabbing four rebounds in 16 and a half minutes.  Hamed Haddadi grabbed six rebounds in 10 minutes.  Goran Dragic hasn't been very consistent, and some have even said that Zabian Dowdell may have made a case to usurp his backup role once the season starts (though Dowdell hasn't shot the ball particularly well), but yesterday Dragic had 17 points on 6-11 shooting.  Only two assists, though.  Marcus Williams didn't have a great game scoring-wise, though he picked up nine assists and six rebounds.  Jiri Hubalek came down to earth a little bit from the other day shooting-wise, though he did have seven rebounds in 17 minutes.  Erik Daniels finally got some Summer League run, and he shot 2-3 for four points with three rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes.

Portland Trail Blazers 91, San Antonio Spurs 74

Jeff Pendergraph ended the game with 14 points on six shots, 10 rebounds and three assists, and he played fairly solid defense throughout, particularly on DeJuan Blair.  Blair, by the way, grabbed 11 rebounds in 25 and a half minutes, though he shot only 6-16.  Pooh Jeter played solidly again, with 19 points on 8-13 shooting, four assists, three rebounds and only one turnover.  Jerryd Bayless had 18 points on nine shots and five assists, though he also turned the ball over seven times.  San Antonio's problem in this game (or one of them, anyway) was that they didn't share the ball.  George Hill's three assists were a team high.

Dallas Mavericks 73, Oklahoma City Thunder 54

Roddy Beaubois hasn't played very well the last few games for Dallas, but he bounced back yesterday with 23 points on 9-12 shooting, including 4-6 on threes.  Ahmad Nivins shot a perfect 4-4 from the field and added a free throw for nine points, and he also had four rebounds and two blocks.  Oklahoma City has been scuffling in Vegas.  I believe it may be fatigue from playing in both Summer Leagues (and the absence of Russell Westbrook), but I haven't been watching the games so there may be something else going on.  They had only two players score in double figures yesterday.  The best performance on the team was probably DeVon Hardin's, with 10 points on four shots, eight assists, two steals, an assist and a rebound.