Hornets Fall to Spurs In First Summer League Game

The Hornets completed their first game of the 2009 Las Vegas Summer League with a 92-86 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

New Orleansl got strong performances from the three big-name players on the roster.

The Hornets two new additions via the NBA Draft—LSU’s Marcus Thornton and UCLA’s Darren Collison—had big games in their first taste of NBA action.

Thornton poured in 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting. The Rookie also grabbed six rebounds.  Collison threw in 19 points, six assists and five rebounds.

TrueHoop Network writer David Thorpe was very impressed with both performances.

“Collison can run a team (and he) does a nice job of attacking the ballscreen,” Thorpe tweeted while at the game.  “Marcus Thornton is playing well, defending and playmaking.”

The Hornets much maligned first-round pick of the 2007 draft Julian Wright also played in Sunday’s game.  The former Kansas Jayhawk finished with 15 points, on 7-of-13 shooting, and grabbed seven boards.

Thorpe wasn’t as impressed with Wright.

“Julian Wright has horrible shot selection.  At this point in his career, that's disappointing,” Thorpe tweeted.

The Spurs major addition from the draft, former Pitt Panther DeJuan Blair, had 13 points and 10 rebounds.  George Hill, the Spurs backup point guard from last season, was the game’s leading scorer with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting and made all 11 of his free throw attempts.