I'm a day behind on my recaps, so I'm going to knock this one out in crazy speed-like fashion. However, at the end, for you Spurs fans, I have a mini-microscope of several of our guys from the Thunder game.
- The Pistons forwards Daye, Summers, and Jerebko were dominant again against the Knicks. Daye is the real deal and is stuffing the stat sheet. The Pistons can not be happier with their draft.
- The Bucks beat up on the Bulls. Brandon Jennings was magnificent. His court vision and ability to get easy shots for his teammates is unparalled here in Vegas. Joe Alexander got the microscope treatment in this game. Report coming shortly.
- The Raptors beat the Suns in a back and forth affair 74-73. Ekene Ibekwe had the game-winning block shot of Goran Dragic at the buzzer. He left on a stretcher in a neck brace for his efforts. He was wearing wrist braces the next day, but otherwise is reported to be fine.
- The Rockets beat the Blazers in another rugged affair. Joey Dorsey and Dante Cunningham went at it pretty hard. Some Blazer who didn't play, I think Deji Akindele, was running his mouth at Dorsey. Joey had 9 points and 11 rebounds. Chase Budinger had another good game with 17 points on 8 field goal attempts. Dante Cunningham had 22 points and 5 rebounds and showed the ability to hit the mid-range jumper similar to LaMarcus Aldridge.
- DeMar DeRozan posterized Joe Alexander in Thursday's first game, an 84-83 Raptors win that ended the Summer League for both teams. As a bonus, there is some great commentary. I think it is your George Bell guy. The game overall was great as the Raptors hit a shot to win with 1.4 seconds left. Lots of amazing plays and talent. DeRozan finished with 20 and 6. He averaged 17 for the Summer League on 49% shooting. Joe Alexander had 19 and 8. Jodie Meeks went off in the second half as he poured in 25 after the break. Brandon Jennings was very uneven. He had 13 points -- all in the first half, 7 assists, and 8 turnovers.
- The Warriors ran the Hornets out of the gym as Anthony Morrow scored a Summer League record 47 points.
- The Mavericks lost again and had to run wind sprints after the game. I was then a bit rude-ish to Luke Jackson. More on that later, but I want to apologize to Luke. He was tired and he's had a rough week.
- The Grizz routed the Clippers in a game I didn't watch.
The Spurs beat the Thunder
We trailed this one early because we were playing very sloppy basketball. We had 14 turnovers at the half and had given up 8 offensive rebounds. We cranked up the defense in the fourth quarter and ran away with it. Classic Spurs basket ball. For the Thunder, Robert Vaden was hitting from 3-point going 4 for 5 totaling 16 points. DJ White had 17 and Serge Ibake had 15.
Some Mini Microscopes
Jack McClinton - I had targeted Jack for the microscope, but had to pull an audible when he didn't get the start. All in all, I thought Jack played much better than in the first two games. He still hasn't made a shot, now at 0-8, but he was very active defensively. He fought through screens and did a really good job of working early in the possession and chasing his man.
George Hill - George had another dunk. Didn't he know that Pop was in the crowd? Outside of his turnovers he was very good. He covered Shaun Livingston for long stretches. Shaun was 2-9 from the field. Surprised? George is the obvious leader of this team. On the downside, he seems to get irritated with the officials. Almost to a distraction. He also got clocked in the head a lay on the court for a little while. He's been getting beat up pretty good in these games.
James Gist - He's almost invisible in these games. However, he really turned it on late getting 5 points and 4 rebounds in his 5 minutes of the 4th quarter. Those were his only points and rebounds.
Ian Mahinmi - Ian was much more solid defensively. I don't know how he only ended up with 2 blocked shots. He was very good about moving his feet early and getting his arms up straight as he only had 3 fouls. He had 13 points on 4 field goal attempts and 5 rebounds.
DeJuan Blair - He had 20 and 5. See the DeJuan Blair microscope piece for more.
Malik Hairston - He was pretty good again. He had 16 points and 6 rebounds. The rebounds led the team. He also had 4 turnovers. He's doing a really nice job of hitting his spot up jumpers, which is something he would have to do on the Spurs.
Donnell Taylor - The Spurs are running him as the back up point guard and I don't think he is a good enough ball handler for the job. He had 3 turnovers in 13 minutes and seemed just a bit out of control.
Other Tidbits
I asked Ian if he was going to sit out any of the remaining games and he looked at me like I was crazy. He REALLY wants to play and has missed basketball. I forget things like this. This is what he does and he loves it. Expect to see Ian in the next two games.
James Gist told me the atmosphere in the Italian League playoffs was crazy. Like nothing he'd ever seen. Since he played ball at Maryland in the ACC, I have to think that is some crazy shit indeed. I'm putting it on my list of things to do.