Vegas Summer League: The Diary – Day II

Julian Wright kicks off his career with a traveling violation. Always a terrible way to start a basketball game on any level. Especially when you’re getting paid for it.

Azubuike with a three for the Warriors. He seems like someone who would kill in a summer league game. He is like the next Qyntel Woods.

And he is killing. 7 of their first 9 points. Too bad he is buried on that Warrior bench behind BD and Monta.

Patrick O’Bryant sighting!!!! I didn’t know he still played basketball. And he just fouled someone. Way to go man.

Holuska’s first NBA foul. Uh-oh. I can hear the scouts furiously writing on their notepads ‘THE WHITE BOY CAN’T PLAY D’. Or something like that.

Oh lord…I thought San Antonio/Philly was bad, this atmosphere is simply non-existant. These guys aren’t even trying to be enthusiastic.

There is nothing even resembling defense in this one. 15-10 Golden State with 5:44 left in the first quarter. Or for those who care Hornets 10 – Azubuike 9. Summer league legend in the making. And by the way this is the 12th time I’ve heard “Last Night” by Diddy during a timeout. I am almost thinking about flying to Vegas and handing them a CD.

Some guy just hit a jumper for the Hornets but the PA Announcer either fell asleep (wouldn’t surprise me) or forgot the guys name. How horrible would that be? You hit a sweet jumper, you’re jogging back but you don’t even hear your name. And you know no one knows who the bleep you are. Unfortunate.

The announcer just tried to make up for it by announcing everyone on the Hornets name. Except he stumbled and only got two of them out.

Oh man he is struggling. There was a foul and he announced it halfway through the next possession. This is an interesting subplot. Really crappy PA Announcer is making it even harder on me.

I’d like to thank NBA TV for giving me a logo in the top right corner. Maybe by Wednesday I’ll have a damn scoreboard.

By the way, quick F-U to adidas for these horrendous looking practice jerseys. Is it that hard to just make a jersey. I mean do they have to go all the way out to the shoulders like the old school WNBA jerseys? I mean there is a reason you changed those, why would you make those jerseys beter than the practice jerseys. It is impossible to rock an undershirt under these jerseys. It just looks terrible.

Azubuike with an acrobatic layup and one. To say he is saving this game for me right now would be the understatement of the summer.

For Golden State it is the Azubuike/Pierre Pierce show. 22-19 GS with 2:39 left in the first. Pierre Pierce was actually really good at Iowa, but ya know after you get arrested and plead guilty to third-degree burglary, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment, and criminal mischief and then serve 332 days in jail…people tend to forget you can put a basketball in a hole.

Anthony Richardson just threw it down. My best part about summer league dunks is that they tend to come out of nowhere, and the few people that are there don’t know how to react. It is almost like they have resigned themselves to the boredom of the game, but they only hear the dunk so their reaction is always ‘oooooh’.

By the way, not sure if anyone caught the NBA Access look at the draft. You know when you just don’t like someone…sorry have to interrupt that thought cause Belinelli just stroked one in someone’s face, then Julian Wright came down and a hit a sweet jumper. And then Belinelli came down and hit a three. It was that quick. Belinelli is going to be an assassin.

Belinelli absolutely just took over the last two minutes of that quarter. Golden State is up 33-24. Of the last 11 points that the Warriors had, Belinelli had 9. He can put the ball in the bucket, anything else will be a bonus in Golden State. Unbelievable. I’d rather have him than Jason Richardson. By the way, choice of song during this break “Don’t Matter” by Akon. The crowd is going apathetic. Azubuike has 12, Belinelli has 11. For the Hornets, Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong both with 4.

Break in the action (aka Belinelli stopped going off and things went back to normal) I can go back to my thought. You know when you just don’t like someone and no matter how many tries you give them they always irritate you? That is me and Joakim Noah right now. I want to like him but he just peeves me off. I mean they showed him and Greg Oden about 5 times and everytime Noah said ‘I see you boy’ at least four times. If I hear someone say that to me I will immediately think of him and go into a fit of rage that only Beatrix Kiddo could match.

Tremendous post move by Hilton Armstrong. Jabstep, two dribbles and finished on the other side of the basket. Hubie Brown would be proud. And then he would probably yell at someone that you only throw into the post when the big guy has his hands up. He has been saying that for longer than I have been alive.

Belinelli with another three. He is going to cause some nightmares for teams. I’m trying not to read too much into this but I mean it isn’t like more than 15 people actually play defense in the NBA so he should be alright. He just hit another shot as I was typing…a fadeaway. He is trying to put a degree of difficulty on it. THIS GUY IS A FRIGGIN ASSASSIN.

38-32 Golden State wih 5:37 left in the second quarter. Song choice? “Funky Cold Medina” by Tone Loc. Unreal. By the way Belinelli has 16 and Golden State’s last 13. And of course he is out of the game now. There is a god and he is cruel.

Hilton Armstrong with a good take to the basket and he gets a chance for an and one. He has 11 and has established himself as the man. Julian Wright with a bucket.

Summer league games are good when the known players are in. Which means this game is going to get real ugly, real quick.

Belinelli with another bucket. Oh my god he HIT ANOTHER ONE. As I was typing. The crowd is into it. It is to the point where they are cheering when he touches it. You know like in that Powerade commercial where LeBron is making 97 footers. Like that. And he just stole the ball and dunked it on a breakaway. The crowd is applauding Marco. You’re special when you captivate a summer league crowd.

Hornets called a timeout…49-39 Warriors with 3:36 left in the 2nd quarter. Belinelli has 24 right now. Screw Azubuike…he and Pierce haven’t scored in forever. I just want to see Belinelli shoot the ball.

Now that Milt Palacio is shooting a free throw I can talk more shit about the PA Announcer. Before Belinelli went off for about the 4th time (he just had a sweet dish by the way) Anthony Roberson had a drive to the basket and scored. The Announcer of course said that Pierre Pierce scored. Forget they are playing against each other.

Uh oh…they trapped Marco off a pick and roll and he turned the ball over Steve Nas hstyle. That means ‘jump in the air and get your pass picked’ for the misinformed. It’s also what that one kid who never plays on your middle school team does if you play hard D on him. Everyone knows that kid..and everyone loved doing that to him.

HALFTIME – New Orleans actually came back to make it 55-54 at the half. This charge was led by Jackson Vroman, Chris Hill and Anthony Richardson. They have 8, 8 and 7 respectively. Julian Wright has 6. By the way this is Belinelli’s line at halftime. 20 minutes, 9/11 from the field, 4/5 from 3 point, 24 points. If I had a staff I would hire Ron Simmons just so he could say DAMN at times like these. Azubuike has 12 points in 11 minutes. He just couldn’t keep up with Marco.

Belinelli comes out with a stepback jumper. It goes in of course. Summer league games are officially too easy for this guy. He is constantly in control right now. He is taking what he wants when he wants. Azubuike adds a jumper so people remember him. Hilton Armstrong with a nasty two handed dunk. Well it wasn’t really nasty but any dunk i
s welcome.

Holuska does what he was drafted to do, hit a three off of a post feed. He officially justified himself right there.

Anthony Roberson with a nice drive to the bucket…I can’t tell what he looks like from the screen he is either white or light skinned…Google search…light skinned. He played for the Warriors last year. Oh. Awkward.

67-60 Hornets with 6:57 left in the third quarter. Musical selection during this timeout…”Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz and “Party Like A Rockstar” by the Shop Boys. There is not a more obnoxious song on the planet earth then Party Like A Rockstar.

I can see why Azubuike doesn’t play more…he penetrated and could have dished but decided to go through the Hornets trees. One guess what happened. If you guessed blocked shot you were correct. You now have the right to keep reading.

Anthony Roberson has 13 right now…he does realize he is the point guard right now though? He’s taken the most shots (9) and has three assists. Meanwhile Milt Palacio is going about his business…1/1 with 5 assists. And he just got another assist. One guess who is doing their job better right now. If you didn’t say Milt you’re dumb.

Belinelli hit a jumper with Palacio right in his grill. And I mean right in it. I’m not saying anything else about this guy. Anthony Richardson just got himself a highlight though with that breakway one handed dunk. That one was genuinally nasty.

Roberson has 18 against his kind of old team. It is 96-92 Hornets with…I don’t know how much time is left but things are getting tight. Don’t tell Belinelli though. He caught the ball at the top of the key, two dribbles to the left and another pull up in Milt Palacio’s eye. Poor Milt…it goes in and he gets the foul. 96-95 Hornets.

Turnover by the Hornets leads to a three by Toby Bailey for the Warriors. Somebody got their layup beat up badly but it ends up being a foul afterwards. Tied up at 96. Jackson Vroman is at the line for his 11th and 12th attempts. He hit is first six…unfortunately he is six-for-twelve on the day.

Hint to New Orleans…don’t leave Toby Bailey wide open. He hits another three and the Warriors take the lead. New Orleans clanks one while Pierre Pierce gets to the free throw line on a layup.

Timeout…2:39 left in the game, 99-96 Warriors. “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. IE…I’m crazy for doing this. Except this has actually being a genuinally interesting game thanks to offensive exploits of Belinelli, Azubuike and Pierre Pierce. They have 34,24 and 20 respectively. For the Hornets it has been a by committe approach with Julian Wright almost disappearing out there at times. He is having a typical rookie performance.

Toby Bailey somehow gets a breakway dunk off a Milt Palacion layup. I didn’t know cherrypicking existing in the L.

Belinelli with a dunk, 105-98 Warriors…there goes my hopes for a buzzer beater or overtime. But then again I’ll take two teams getting 100. It is a pretty fair trade.

Golden State wins 110-102.

Next up is Philly/Detroit. Argh. On one hand we have the debuts of Arron Afflalo and Rodney Stuckey (yay!) plus the athleticism of Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell (yay!) but they have a bunch of nobodies (BOO) and I didn’t fancy Philly too much yesterday. Oh well.