NBA Summer League 2015: Scores and Highlights from Monday's Las Vegas Results
The 2015 Las Vegas Summer League continued Monday with eight games on the schedule. A number of the recent draft's top picks are in action during the prime-time hour, but fans eager for pro basketball could still tune in to see how their teams' young players are managing.
Headlining the action were showdowns between the Miami Heat's Justise Winslow and the Denver Nuggets' Emmanuel Mudiay along with a New York Knicks-Los Angeles Lakers clash. The teams flipped projected slots in the draft lottery, only adding to the intrigue of their matchup.
Read on below to see how every game played out, with a recap of the notable highlights from each contest.
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| Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Milwaukee Bucks | Cavaliers def. Bucks, 94-87 (OT) |
| New Orleans Pelicans vs. Brooklyn Nets | Pelicans def. Nets, 89-83 |
| D-League Select vs. Atlanta Hawks | D-League Select def. Hawks, 84-74 |
| Golden State Warriors vs. Sacramento Kings | Kings def. Warriors, 90-71 |
| Miami Heat vs. Denver Nuggets | Nuggets def. Heat, 86-83 |
| Los Angeles Lakers vs. New York Knicks | Knicks def. Lakers, 76-66 |
| Toronto Raptors vs. Houston Rockets | Raptors def. Rockets, 95-87 |
| Utah Jazz vs. Minnesota Timberwolves | Jazz def. Timberwolves, 91-82 |
Cavaliers def. Bucks, 94-87 (OT)
On Monday, the Cleveland Cavaliers carried over the resilience their A-team showed in getting to the NBA Finals, rallying to force overtime with a 37-24 fourth quarter.
A couple of late three-pointers by Joe Harris helped extend the action for the Cavs, and Harris also hit a go-ahead trey to break an 87-all tie. The victors trailed by as many as 21 points, but Cleveland wouldn't be denied in its rally.
CBSSports.com's Zach Harper had an appropriate tweet to describe the tremendous comeback:
D.J. White and Sir'Dominic Pointer matched Harris with 14 points, but D.J. Seeley led the Cavs with 14. Rookie second-round draft pick Rakeem Christmas nearly had a double-double in scoring eight and pulling down 11 rebounds.
One of the best plays of the game came when Pointer took it hard to the rim—a great sign from a player known more for his defense:
The Milwaukee Bucks have to be disappointed for letting such a massive lead slip, but there was a silver lining. Rashad Vaughn was the draft's No. 17 overall pick and flashed nicely for Milwaukee, netting a team-high 18 points.
This marks Cleveland's first summer league win and could be a springboard for what's been a struggling squad. Harris' late leadership has to please the Cavs brass, who hope to see him develop and contribute more to a potential championship run in his second season.
Pelicans def. Nets, 89-83
After Vaughn got hot in Monday's Vegas opener, another local product in Bryce Dejean-Jones filled it up for the New Orleans Pelicans with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting that included four threes.
Summer star Seth Curry continued a strong showing with 20 points of his own. Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com supplied context for Curry's recent form and how he set the tone early:
Curry and his teammates benefited greatly from the distributing prowess of Larry Drew II. The Pelicans floor general dished out 16 assists and nabbed five steals to help keep the Brooklyn Nets in check.
New Orleans' summer league head coach, Darren Erman, praised the way his backcourt was playing prior to Monday's game.
"I think the guards have done a great job, (Curry) and (point guard) Larry Drew," said Erman, per Pelicans.com. "Drew has done a great job of putting guys in the right position and making the right plays."
The Nets had Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Markel Brown score 18 and 14 points, respectively. After a nice recovery from an eight-point first-quarter deficit, though, Brooklyn was outscored 22-15 in the third and didn't put a dent in New Orleans' lead in the final eight minutes.
On the strength of Curry's scoring and others stepping up as well, New Orleans is now 3-0 in Vegas and has to be feeling good about how its fringe NBA players are coming along.
If Curry keeps this up, the brother of the NBA's reigning MVP may well find his own spot in the Association soon enough.
D-League Select def. Hawks, 84-74
The D-League Select team picked up its second win of the summer league after defeating the Hawks, 84-74.
Scotty Hopson put together another strong game, scoring 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting while adding eight rebounds and three assists. As much as summer league can be deceiving regarding a player's talent, Hopson is making the most of his opportunity and surely getting on the radar of a few NBA teams.
Justin Dentmon led the team with 15 points, while Hasheem Thabeet rebounded from his rather ignominious exit in Sunday's game. Thabeet had seven rebounds and three blocks to go along with six points.
For the Hawks, Lamar Patterson had a strong game, filling up the box score with 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Patterson also accounted for both of Atlanta's made three-pointers. The rest of the team shot 0-of-10 from behind the arc.
Glenn Robinson III had the highlight of the night, picking up a steal in the third quarter and registering the breakaway 360 dunk:
Unfortunately for Robinson, his team was still down 13 points at that stage of the game.
Kings def. Warriors, 90-71
Willie Cauley-Stein continues to be the highlight of the summer league for the Sacramento Kings. In the Kings' 90-71 win over the Golden State Warriors, Cauley-Stein finished with 13 points, eight boards and five blocks.
The rookie big man also shot 5-of-10 from the field, which will be an encouraging development.
Although the Kings have rightfully been mocked for a few different developments this offseason, they have done some things right that will move the franchise forward.
Even if Cauley-Stein never improves to a marked degree on the offensive end, the presence of DeMarcus Cousins will help cover for those deficiencies. And considering Cousins has never been known for his defense, having Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos as well will give Sacramento a great frontcourt for the future.
On the other side, James Michael McAdoo was a bit of a disappointment. After scoring 37 points over his first two Vegas summer league games, McAdoo went just 1-of-6 from the field for nine points.
Nuggets def. Heat, 86-83
With just 1.4 seconds remaining in the game, Ian Clark hit a three-pointer that proved to be the difference for the Denver Nuggets in an 86-83 victory over the Miami Heat. Clark made it 84-83 before Erick Green hit two free throws to put the game out of reach for good:
Clark certainly had the hot hand, going 5-of-8 from behind the arc for the game.
Emmanuel Mudiay, on the other hand, had a little more trouble. The first-round draft pick was just 4-of-13 from the floor and 1-of-5 from deep. Mudiay's eight assists did provide him a bit of reprieve for his poor shooting.
After the game, he thanked his teammate for saving the day:
Gary Harris continued to struggle with his shooting as well. The sophomore guard is now just 2-of-15 from long range in the Vegas summer league. He finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals.
The Heat limited Justise Winslow to a little over 12 minutes of action. He knocked down his only field-goal attempt to wind up with three points. He also picked up a rebound and an assist.
Shabazz Napier, meanwhile, went off to the tune of 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals in what was by far his best game of the summer league so far.
Knicks def. Lakers, 76-66
In what will surely be a preview of the 2015 NBA Finals, the New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 76-66.
Four Knicks players scored in double figures, including Jerian Grant and Cleanthony Early. Early also finished one rebound shy of a double-double, while Grant was two assists away from doing the same.
As a team, New York held the Lakers to 30.5 percent from the field and forced Los Angeles to make 20 turnovers to just six assists. Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal wasn't sure what was going on, with the Knicks playing defense and all:
The Lakers fans, meanwhile, were growing restless after Los Angeles put just five points on the board in the first quarter, per NBCSports.com's Kurt Helin:
Julius Randle had seven points and six rebounds in a solid if unspectacular game. LA really struggled in the backcourt, though, with the combination of Jordan Clarkson and D'Angelo Russell shooting 6-of-21 for 21 points. Russell also turned the ball over eight times.
Maybe it's a bit early to start construction on that D'Angelo Russell statue outside Staples Center.
Raptors def. Rockets, 95-87
The Toronto Raptors remain perfect in the Vegas summer league following a 95-87 win over the Houston Rockets.
Lucas Nogueira might have only scored six points but grabbed 10-plus boards for the second night in a row. It was impossible to ignore his effect on the glass after he snagged 13 rebounds, rounding out his performance with three blocks.
Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun believes "Bebe" is playing with a chip on his shoulder this summer:
Norman Powell also continued his strong summer league by dropping 19 points and five rebounds. Sportsnet's Holly MacKenzie was more enamored with Powell's prolific dunking ability:
It's still very early in the process, but the Raptors might have gotten a nice steal in the 2015 draft by selecting the 22-year-old in the second round.
While it came in defeat, Glen Rice's 28 points on 7-of-18 shooting can't go unnoticed. It's the third straight game he has scored at least 20 points. The Rockets can never have too many shooters, so you wonder if he might be able to carve out a regular role in Houston's rotation next year.
Jazz def. Timberwolves, 91-82
In arguably the most anticipated summer league game of the day, the Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 91-82.
Trey Lyles and J.J. O'Brien both chipped in 13 points apiece, with Lyles' nine rebounds nearly putting him in line for a double-double.
Jared Cunningham also found his stroke, scoring 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
The bigger story, though, was the Timberwolves' frontcourt duo of Adreian Payne and Karl-Anthony Towns combining for 32 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots. Towns, however, did miss 11 of his 15 field-goal attempts.
One thing to continue watching with Towns is his fouling. He picked up a whopping nine Monday, which brings his summer league total to 22. It's also the second time in three games he's registered nine fouls.
Unless the league relaxed the standard on the number of fouls allowed before you foul out, Towns probably can't reasonably keep up this pace and still have much of a basketball career.
He'll probably figure it out before basketball starts getting serious.
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