NBA Vegas Summer League: July 16th, Tournament Play Games Recap

Summer League Day 7, Tournament Play Recap

Thursday brought us the next round of seeded games to determine the quarter finalists for the NBA Vegas Summer League. Teams who lost Wednesday and Thursday will play in consolation games Friday with the winners from these 2 days playing Saturday to determine the semi-finalists.

Here’s a recap of those 8 games:

Bucks vs. Suns

66. . 80. 89. 106

Game Leaders:

Bucks:

Points: Rashad Vaughn – 17 points

Rebounds: Michael Eric – 9 rebounds

Assists: Jorge Gutierrez – 6 assists

Suns:

Points: TJ Warren – 23 points

Rebounds: Alex Len – 9 rebounds

Assists: Jerel McNeal– 5 assists

Game Notes:

Rashad Vaughn scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half helping the Bucks to take the lead at half time, but shortly after the second half began Phoenix took over the lead behind a very productive effort from second year player T.J. Warren who has demonstrated major growth and will likely garner much more playing time this season. Perhaps his output is the reason we continue to hear rumblings the Suns are shopping Bledsoe. The Suns outscored the Bucks 56 – 28 in the second half, were better in all the key shooting categories and were a +12 in points in the paint.

Next Game: By virtue of the win the Suns move on to the quarter finals to face Chicago while the Bucks will play their consolation game Friday versus the Knicks.

Warriors vs. Knicks

41. 54. 27. . 76

Game Leaders:

Warriors:

Points: James Michael McAdoo – – 16 points

Rebounds: James Michael McAdoo – – 9 rebounds

Assists: Aaron Craft – 4 assists

Knicks:

Points: Jerian Grant – 14 points

Rebounds: Maurice Ndour – 6 rebounds

Assists: Jerian Grant– 3 assists

Game Notes:

Funny how a winning attitude can permeate down the lines with the Warriors summer roster carrying the confidence of their main club who won the Championship this season. The Knicks in contrast had a terrible season, but had looked okay in Summer League play with a wealth of young talent. Though the Knicks had been slowly bringing along Kristaps Porzingas he was pivotal to their win coming into this match, but on this day he was one of the few bright lights for New York. By night’s end Porzingas had filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, 4 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block. On the Golden State side the game was never really in question as the Warriors dominated after the first 5 minutes of the game. New York pounced on the Golden State going up 13 to 2, but a 20 to 2 run put the Warriors ahead to stay.

James Michael McAdoo was the key contributor for Golden State showcasing his skills to demonstrate his growth in the hopes he’ll impress coach Steve Kerr enough to give him regular minutes on the roster. In addition to holding New York to 21.7% from the field the Warriors also won the rebounding battle, fast break points and points in the paint.

Next Game: The Knicks will play in the consolation round Friday versus Milwaukee while Golden State enters the quarter finals to face the Pelicans.

Mavericks vs D-League Select

Game Leaders:

Mavericks:

Points: Justin Anderson – 23 points

Rebounds: Jeremy Tyler – 11 rebounds

Assists: Kevin Pangos – 8 assists

D-League Select:

Points: Justin Dentmon – 31 points

Rebounds: Matt Bouldin – 6 rebounds

Assists: Scotty Hopson – 4 assists

Game Notes:

One of the feel good stories of the Summer League has to be the play of Justin Anderson for the Mavericks. Though I earmarked him as a potential steal in the draft I’ve still been impressed by his performance. Likewise second year player Dwight Powell has put up solid performances throughout the tournament. Both Anderson and Powell joined teammate Maalik Wayns each posting over 20 points in the win. Though Dallas entered the second quarter trailing they turned things around to overtake the D-League Select squad in what became a rout. The Mavericks shot 50.6% from the field, were plus +13 on the boards and plus +10 in the paint.

Trying to combat the Mav’s output Justin Dentmon tried in vain to keep the D-League Select squad in the match putting up 31 points. The win was a bit of a shock given Dallas had been 0-3 through their first 3 games, but seemingly found their flow at exactly the right time.

Next Game: The loss sends the D-League select team into a Friday match versus the Nets while the Mavericks will face off against the Hawks in their quarter final match.

Nets vs. Spurs

Game Leaders:

Nets:

Points: Markel Brown – 17 points

Rebounds: Cliff Alexander – 13 rebounds

Assists: Darius Adams – 3 assists

Spurs:

Points: Kyle Anderson – 25 points

Rebounds: Kyle Anderson – 8 rebounds

Assists: Johnathan Simmons – 5 assists

Game Notes:

Another Anderson has been putting up big numbers and impressing everyone in Vegas: Kyle Anderson has been great throughout the tournament showcasing the typical player growth often seen in Spurs youngsters. He’s likely to garner more minutes this season with the free agents who’ve departed San Antonio due to the LaMarcus Aldridge signing. Anderson was once again productive versus Brooklyn in this game leading his team in scoring and in rebounds. In a relatively close game the Spurs lost several categories like rebounding, fast break points and points in the paint, however they won the key shooting stats. The Nets held a 7 point lead half way through the final frame but San Antonio pulled back to take the lead and were able to stop a final attempt by Brooklyn to hoist a 3-pointer to force overtime. The game was one of the more competitive Thursday with several lead changes.

Next Game: By winning the Spurs move on to face the top remaining seed the Boston Celtics on Saturday while the Nets play a consolation game Friday versus the D-League Select team.

Wizards vs. Pelicanss

69. . 81. 142. 97

Game Leaders:

Wizards:

Points: Scott Machado – 17 points

Rebounds: Shawn Jones – 11 rebounds

Assists: Orlando Johnson – 5 assists

Pelicans:

Points: Seph Curry – 26 points

Rebounds: Victor Rudd – 8 rebounds

Assists: Larry Drew II– 5 assists

Game Notes:

If Stephen Curry was the hero of the regular season his brother Seph may well be the MVP of the Summer League. His play has earned him a contract with the Pelicans and it’s not just scoring that got him it. In Thursday’s game he had a surprising 6 rebounds (3 offensive) to go along with his 26 points, 2 assists, 4 steals and a plus +19. Curry was joined by 4 teammates who also scored in double figures with Canadian Khem Birch once again performing well especially in the paint scoring 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting, had 8 rebounds and was a team high plus +23.

Next Game: The win sends the Pelicans into the quarter finals versus the Warriors while Washington plays a consolation match on Friday against Denver.

Hawk vs Nuggets

73. 73. . 82. 125

Game Leaders:

Hawks:

Points: Brandon Ashley – 18 points

Rebounds:Terran Petteway – 9 rebounds

Assists: Terran Petteway – 7 assists

Nuggets:

Points: Erick Green – 17 points

Rebounds: Joffrey Lauvergne– 11 rebounds

Assists: Ian Clark – 6 ssists

Game Notes:

Five Hawks scored in double figures with Brandon Ashley leading the way with 18 points. Terran Pettiway continued to be impressive in the tournament flirting with a triple-double scoring 14 points, grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 7 assists as well as 2 steals and 2 blocks. The Hawks led virtually from beginning to end though the Nuggets did get close several times to catching them. Throughout the tournament the Nuggets Rookie Emmanuel Mudiay has been extremely impressive having led his team to an unbeaten streak coming into Thursday. Unfortunately he had one of his less productive outings scoring 8 points but notably had only 1 assist, was a team low minus -18 and turned the ball over 7 times.

Next Game: With the loss Denver plays a consolation match Friday versus the Wizards while Phoenix will play a quarter final match Saturday versus the Bulls.

Bulls vs. Raptors

. 84. 24. 80. 81

Game Leaders:

Bulls:

Points: Doug McDermott – 28 points

Rebounds:Doug McDermott – 8 rebounds

Assists: Vander Blue – 4 assists

Raptors:

Points: Bruno Caboclo – 15 points

Rebounds: Lucas Nogueira – 16 rebounds

Assists: Lucas Nogueira – 4 assists

Game Notes:

Toronto entered the day unbeaten and the number one seed in the tournament and got out to a big lead early behind the ever improving Bruno Caboclo who made a couple of incredible shots early in the game. Rookie Delon Wright was sidelined again with a sore hamstring and his absence may have been part of the issue since the guards appeared to forget who had the hot hand. Caboclo ended the first half leading all players with 13 points, but barely got any touches in the second half. While the Raptors were leading by a healthy margin part way through the fourth quarter suddenly Doug McDermott got hot scoring 22 of his 28 points in the second half to lead the Bulls to victory. What stood out about Dougie McBuckets was the manner in which he scored; known as a three-point specialist he was 1 of 5 on the day driving the paint and getting to the line for the majority of his points.

Lucas “Bebe” Nogueria had another stellar outing posting a double-double of 11 points, 16 rebounds (5 offensive) a team high 4 assists, a steal and 3 blocks. The reality is Nogueria actually had closer to 5 or 6 blocks but the stat keeper inexplicably didn’t count his first 3 blocked shots. He’s matured immensely and should find himself grabbing regular minutes this season. Toronto had 4 players score in double digits (and one a point shy of joining them) while the Bulls had just 2. The Raptors dominated the boards with +15 but their 19 turnovers cost them the game.

The game came down to the wire with the Bulls literally pulling ahead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to grab the win.

Next Game: The loss sends Toronto to the consolation round versus Portland Friday while the Bulls move into the quarter finals to face Phoenix on Saturday.

Blazers vs Celtics

Blazers:

Game Leaders:

Points: Noah Vonleh – 20 points

Rebounds: Noah Vonleh – 9 rebounds

Assists: Tim Frazier – 8 assists

Celtics:

Points: Terry Rozier– 19 points

Rebounds: Jordan Mickey – 11 rebounds

Assists: R.J. Hunter – 4 assists

Game Notes:

In arguably the chippiest game of the night the Celtics entered the night sitting in the number 2 seed. Early in the match Boston was dealt a blow when point guard Marcus Smart fell and dislocated two fingers. He left the game not to return, but the Celtics built a sizable lead until the Blazers went on a late 17-2 run eventually tying the game. Rookie point guard Terry Rozier however scored the go ahead points and with less than a minute remaining and after Portland tied the game Rozier drilled a 3-point shot which proved to be the winning bucket. On a day where unbeaten teams were losing the Celtics win in spite of losing Smart was a very positive sign.

On the Blazers side of the court Noah Vonleh continues to showcase why Portland traded away a key cog in Nicolas Batum to snatch him up as he posted 20 points and 9 rebounds. Vonleh didn’t get minutes in Charlotte and perhaps never truly fit their system, but the player I called the sleeper in last year’s draft looks poised to make a mark with the Blazers this season.

Despite losing almost every key category the Celtics found a way to grind out the win and their rookies showcased some ice in their blood as they rose to the occasion just in time to halt the Blazers take over.

Next Game: The Celtics are now the top seeded team remaining and will play the Spurs Saturday in a quarter final match while the Blazers will face the Raptors in a consolation game Friday.

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