Summer League Game 3: 76ers Lose 89-80

The 76ers played their third summer league game today against the Oklahoma City Thunder.  The Thunder have an extremely talented team, led by the third overall pick of last years draft, James Harden.  While the 76ers didn’t pull out the win, key players showed some extremely good things.

Jrue Holliday, Marreese Speights, and Jodie Meeks led the way for Philadelphia.  Jrue Holliday, my choice for player of the game, showed confidence everywhere on the floor; whether it be on defense (3 steals), on offense (25 points, 5 assists) or shooting the trey (3-5 from behind the arc).   Speights had 20 points and nine boards, showing off his upgraded shooting ability from mid range and his quality post moves.  At one point, he was on his own 8-2 run.  Jodie Meeks continues to play well, and has been extremely consistent throughout the summer.  He scored 16 points while grabbing six boards.  He’s a high-energy guy that could do wonders for this team coming off the bench as a combo guard.

Evan Turner struggled today, scoring four points and shooting only 1-6 from the field.  He did do a good job rebounding however, collecting 8 of them.  He’s definitely having trouble playing off the ball, and will need to learn to play that way.  He has the potential to do it, but must go straight to the film room to learn where he could improve. 

The game started off a struggle, as the 76ers were down 17.  The team eventually went on a monster run to bring themselves back into the game, but it wasn’t enough to pull out the victory.