Las Vegas Summer League recap, Day 8: Knicks vs Clippers and Kings vs Hawks

Consolation Day is in the books! Thank goodness. I'm not sure how much more of that I could take. It was the saddest day of basketball, because everyone playing is out of the tournament and didn't really want to be here but were obligated, so teams just rolled out bad performances. But some players had it in their hearts to keep competing, and that's all I'll talk about in the recaps.

New York Knicks 91, Los Angeles Clippers 80

I'm not sure if the Knicks won this game, or if the Clippers lost it. Los Angeles shot a horrid 34.5% from the field, while the Knicks were at 52.7%. Samardo Samuels was the only Clipper capable of making a shot consistently, going 7-10 from the field for 16 points. Jerome Randle, the waterbug point guard, only shot 2-9 from the floor, but he did end up with 8 assists. The Knicks were led by forward Jeremy Tyler. You might remember Tyler as the dominant high school prospect, who boldly chose to forgo his final year of high school and play overseas until he was eligible for the NBA draft. Tyler struggled overseas for two years, and was eventually acquired in a draft day trade by the Golden State Warriors in 2011. He struggled in his first couple years, and he ended up coming to the summer league this year trying to create a niche for himself. He was the leading scorer for the Knicks this week, and that was again the case on Friday, as he scored 20 points on 8-12 from the field. His post moves still aren't very fluid, and he brings the ball down below his waist a lot on offense, which creates opportunity for turnovers, but he's good enough offensively to merit a roster spot in this league.

Sacramento Kings 93, Atlanta Hawks 87

After having a subpar first half, Ben McLemore came out on fire in the second half, more specifically the third quarter. Really, he was literally engulfed in flames. (Don't question me, I saw it with my own eyes.) He ended up scoring 27 in the game on 10-21 shooting, but in the third quarter he was 7-8 from the field for 19 points, including a few trips to the line. He started off the quarter slow, with a turnover and a foul. But after he got to the line himself and made both, he threw down a powerful dunk which ignited his superb quarter. Another performance that was fun to watch was Atlanta's Dennis Schroeder on the Kings' Ray McCallum. Schroeder stuck to McCallum like glue all game long, and held him to 12 points on 4-12 shooting. Just another great performance from the continually impressive Schroeder.

San Antonio Spurs 90, Milwaukee Bucks 81

I recapped this game already, but here are a few snapshots. Ryan Richards, to the delight of a lot of Spurs fans, finally had a good game. Hollis Thompson, to the delight of fellow PtR writer Jesus Gomez and myself, finally had a monster day, that will hopefully lead to him being invited to training camp.

Today the tournament will kick back up again, and I'll be there to cover it. Just because the Spurs are done playing, doesn't mean there's nothing more to talk about at summer league.