Not that this sort of thing matters, but by Day 3 of Summer League I think it's pretty clear who the top teams are - Orlando, Indiana and Oklahoma City. They're getting it done in different ways, with Oklahoma City relying on its bevy of NBA-ready (and NBA-experienced) guards, Indiana getting most of its contributions from big men Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough, and Orlando also using its frontcourt effectively, but doing bit both inside and outside with Ryan Anderson and RU contributor Kasib Powell, among others. As I said, though, and as you all well know, Summer League W-L records mean nothing. What's important is who's making a case that they can help their team - or any team, in the case of undrafted players and D-League guys - when the regular season starts. And to see who's did that yesterday, let's turn to the games themselves.
Oklahoma City Thunder 94, Boston Celtics 82
This whole week, Russell Westbrook has looked a cut above pretty much everyone else who's been in the court with him, and that's not really a surprise. As much immediate success as he had in the NBA last year, playing against someone like Jimmy Baron isn't much of a challenge. Still, despite his overall impressive numbers yesterday (22 points on 16 shots, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 5 steals), he's still turning the ball over more than I'm sure the Thunder would like. Kyle Weaver had a better game, shooting 4-5 with two blocks, though he had five fouls in a little over 20 minutes. Gabe Pruitt had a rough game, shooting 3-11 with some foul trouble besides. JR Giddens had a better shooting day than he's had so far, going 7-13 and picking up 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, but he also turned the ball over 6 times.
As for the guys just trying to make a roster, I'm not sure whether DJ White is assured of an NBA spot or whether he'll be in Tulsa again, but he turned it around from the day before, shooting 7-10 and pulling in five rebounds. DeVon Hardin also played well for the Thunder, finishing with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with his efficient 4-5 shooting. Coby Karl had another game where he didn't really put it all together, as he shot 2-6 and only had one rebound, but three assists.
The other two games after the jump.
Orlando Magic 108, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins 86
I know that I said wins and losses don't matter, but the combined team has looked pretty terrible in all three games, and it's hard to tell whether it's because the coaching staff has to try and evaluate two different rosters at the same time, or because the players themselves are just rougher than those on he other teams. At any rate, Chris Douglas-Roberts is apparently dealing criticism of his "shoot first, second and third" mentality by only attempting one field goal in 28 minutes, and while he had two blocks he also had only two assists and no rebounds, so I'm not really sure what he was doing. Terrence Williams found some semblance of an offensive game, scoring 16 points on 13 shots and making a couple of threes, but his main strengths at this point lie elsewhere, and he had 5 turnovers but also 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Ryan Anderson was again efficient and impressive, with 21 points on 15 shots, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Dionte Christmas had his best game so far, with 18 points on 9 shots, including making 4 of 6 three-pointers, though he didn't do much else in just under 16 minutes.
Kasib Powell continued his good play, and he had a better shooting day than game 2, making 4 of his 5 three-pointers and 7 of his 10 shots overall. Richard Hendrix also played very well, with 17 points on 9 shots ans 12 rebounds in about 23 and a half minutes. Lance Allred finally played double-digit minutes, though he didn't play particularly werll apart from his three assists. Blake Ahearn finally got his shot going, 2-5 on threes and making his other field goal attempt to go with four assists, though he also had three turnovers.
Indiana Pacers 95, Utah Jazz 79
Hibbert and Hansbrough were again the focal points for Indiana. Hansbrough did most of his damage at the free throw line with 14 attempts (all of which he made), and he also had 5 rebounds and a block. Hibbert mainly stayed anchored to the paint, and he finished with 8 rebounds and two blocks to go with 8-13 shooting. Eric Maynor hasn't shot the ball all that well but usually makes up for it with some combinations of assists, rebounds and steals, but those were absent yesterday. Also, I know I said I wasn't going to call out poor performances too often, I remain somewhat unimpressed with Goran Suton, who shot 2-8 with just one rebound to go with five fouls and three turnovers in 17 minutes.
Trey Johnson got a lot of playing time, 31 minutes, and he did okay, I suppose. 3-8 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, four turnovers. James Augustine played very well, making six of his seven shots and collecting five rebounds, two assists and a steal in 18 and a half minutes. Kevin Lyde also played well in limited minutes, shooting 2-5 with six rebounds in just over 7 minutes. AJ Price had a good game scoring-wise, shooting 6-9 overall and 2-3 on three-pointers, and he had four rebounds, which is pretty good for a guy his size. Kevin Kruger didn't have a great shooting day, but he finished with a game-high five assists in a little under 15 minutes.
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