NBA Summer League: Day 2
By Coup
Memphis/Milwaukee (in progress)
-OJ has shaken off that tentativeness he showed in Game 1. Still effective, still smooth. 5 points in the first quarter on 2/3 shooting.
-Arthur is still aggressive with 6 but is struggling defensively and has 4 fouls.
-Joe Alexander does have those rookie jitters. He’s aggressive but he’s 0/4
-Grizzlies are up 11 late in the third. OJ has 17 (on 14 shots) while PJ Tucker continues to impress with 11. Trey Johnson leads the Bucks with 11 while Alexander has calmed down a bit and tossed in 7 points since sruggling early.
-OJ just drilled an open corner three to get his 20th points.
-OJ with another. Memphis is up 71-53….don’t expect too many more updates from me. The only thing worse than watching a summer league blowout is watching Hannah Montana.
-Well I lied…Milwaukee is on a 19-8 run in the first six minutes as their bench have turned up the D about a million watts. Well as much as you can in summer league. 79-72 Memphis.
-Mike Conley kind of has Damon-itis he overdribbles the majority of the time. But then again it doesn’t matter when you can penetrate and kick to OJ Mayo who nails a corner 3. 82-72 Memphis.
-Matt Freije responds with a three of his own 82-75…yes a close game.
-Nope. Bucks clank two free throws and then Malick Badiane gets a three point play.
-Conley penetrates at will but then he tries to finish over players much bigger than him. Never works.
-OJ Mayo is at his best when he’s in control…not running a million miles per hour. If you speed OJ up he’s in big trouble.
Denver 99, Philly 85
-This is more than likely the last summer we’ll see Thaddeus Young playing. And I hope so. 15 points in just under 17 minutes for Thad. He’s athleticism and ability to just slash at will to the bucket and finish is just nasty. Watching Thaddeus makes me think of how sick Philly could be next year.
-Sonny Weems from Arkansas is the saving grace for an otherwise uninteresting Denver summer league team. 12 points in 9 minutes so far.
-The journeyman Bobby Jones just had a dunk that got some noise out of the crowd. Then he scored another 2 points. He’s determined to either a) stick with a team or b) break Chucky Brown’s record as the greatest journeyman in the history of the NBA.
-I’m convinced that summer league crowds will only cheer for crossovers, dunks and close games. That’s it. It’s like they watched a full season of ‘Streetball’ and then went to the arena.
-Nuggets are up 77-66 at the end of 3 thanks to a 29 point third quarter. Bobby Jones, Dahntay Jones and Keith Langford all came alive in the third while Thaddeus cooled way off. He’s scored 2 points in his last 8 minutes on the floor.
-Almost 4 minutes in and the Nuggets have outscored Philly 9-4…a Thaddeus dunk and Junior Harrington tip-in. Denver looks a lot fresher…and well they are more experienced. The Jones Gang and Langford were all very good college players who just haven’t been able to stick in the L. Meanwhile for Philly Junior Harrington looks like he wants to shoot it everytime he has the ball. And he’s the PG. And he just clanked an open three.
-Obnoxious timeout called by Philly down 93-77 with under 3 minutes left.
-Got to love the uniqueness of Summer League Ball. Guys are trapping down 15 with under a minute left. Their livelihoods are on the line so any change you get to stand out you take it.
-Denver took it 99-85
The two games in the books on Day 2 in Vegas.
Bobcats 81, Clippers 66
Jermareo Davidson led the way for the Bobcats with 15 and 8 in 22 minutes. Rookies DJ Augustin and Alexis Ajinca made their pro debuts. Augustin had 14 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 rebounds. Pay the box score no mind. Augustin showed flashes of brilliance with his ability to penetrate and pass the ball. Ajinca on the other hand…3 points, 4 rebounds, 1/7 shooting. Or pretty much a smidge worse than he did in France. I bet anyone who says the words Darrell Arthur around MJ gets a forearm shiver from Charles Oakley. And you know he wouldn’t turn down a trip to Vegas. The Clippers struggled to score (35.7%) and had the usual summer league turnovers (22). Not a good combo. The good news….Al Thornton is a beast. 22 and 7 in 29 minutes. Eric Gordon struggled shooting for the second day in a row, scoring 15 on 4/10 shooting. In 2 games he’s shooting 32.1%. I see a lot of Adam Morrison in him, in the fact that he’s going to have to rein in his shot selection to get to all of his potential. I would say Kevin Durant but people forget he figured it out in the last month and was a monster. First D-Leaguer to be drafted Mike Taylor didn’t help his cause 10 pts (4/11 shooting), 5 turnovers and 7 fouls.
Kings 93, Raptors 86
Kings regulars beasted their way through. Spencer Hawes had 23 and 9, Shelden Williams had 16 and 10 and Quincy Douby had 20. First round pick Jason Thompson struggled: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 8 fouls and 5 turnovers. And Patrick Ewing Jr. started over him, so not the best of days for the man from Rider. Then again he’s a millionaire so I doubt he cares. For Toronto, Joey Graham pulled a Qyntel Woods and at least convinced 10 Toronto fans that he should be playing more after he dropped 24 and 8. I guarantee there are some Raptor fans who are getting hyped after seeing his stat-line.