NBA Summer League 2016: Scores and Highlights from Sunday's Las Vegas Results
A day after Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram gave fans a head-to-head matchup between the first and second picks of June's NBA draft, No. 3 pick Jaylen Brown and No. 4 pick Dragan Bender spearheaded an eight-pack of games in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The matchup between the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns ranked among the most interesting of the early action thus far.
In addition to Bender, the Suns have second-year guard Devin Booker and fellow rookies Tyler Ulis and Marquese Chriss leading the charge. The Celtics were hoping the likes of James Young, Terry Rozier and RJ Hunter would begin showing signs.
Elsewhere, Simmons' summer-league jaunt continued against the Chicago Bulls, and fans got their second look at Thon Maker.
Here's a look at how Sunday's action played out at the Cox Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center.
Atlanta Hawks 88, Washington Wizards 80
Bryce Cotton came off the bench to score 21 points in 16 minutes. He was one of five Atlanta Hawks players in double figures as the Hawks pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 88-80 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Hawks have won their first two games in Vegas despite the absence of No. 12 overall pick Taurean Prince. The NBA has yet to formally approve the three-way deal that sent Prince to Atlanta, Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers and George Hill to the Utah Jazz.
Atlanta's other first-round pick, DeAndre Bembry, continued to flash his all-around game on Sunday. The Saint Joseph's product finished with seven points, seven assists and six rebounds while acting as a nominal point forward at times.
Lamar Patterson (16 points), Kevin Pangos (12 points), Brandon Ashley (11 points) and Edy Tavares (10 points) were also in double figures for Atlanta.
Patterson knocked down four of his seven shots from three-point range and added six assists. The former Pittsburgh star has spent the last two seasons almost entirely in the NBA Development League.
The Hawks finished with 14 three-pointers and assisted on 24 of their 32 field goals. It was a surprisingly cogent basketball performance, given the typically thrown-together nature of summer-league teams.
The Wizards were carried almost entirely by three players. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 21 points, forcing his way to seven free-throw attempts by attacking the basket. Michael Eric added 20 points and eight rebounds, while Jarell Eddie scored 19, including three three-pointers.
But Washington's effort was an iso-heavy affair. The Wizards assisted on 10 of their 28 field goals while making only five of 24 shots from beyond the arc. The loss dropped them to 1-1 in Las Vegas.
D-League Select Team 91, Milwaukee Bucks 86
Two games in, the Thon Maker experiment has mostly been a success at the summer league. It just didn't translate into a win on Sunday.
Jabril Trawick scored a team-high 15 points as the D-League Select Team came from behind in the second half for a 91-86 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The D-League Select roster outscored Milwaukee by nine points in the last two quarters, including a 24-18 advantage in the fourth.
Talib Zanna (12 points) and Patrick Christopher (11 points) rounded out the double-figure scorers.
The D-League Select Team mostly did its damage at the free-throw line, shooting 39 shots at the charity stripe compared to 13 for Milwaukee. Trawick, who played college basketball at Georgetown, made eight of his 10 shots at the line.
It was another up-and-down game for Maker, who again showed his immense potential and jarring rawness. The No. 10 pick in 2016 scored 17 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked two shots. That's the good. He also got called for six fouls, bricked a few ugly jumpers and lacked basic understanding on defense at points.
Dakota Schmidt of Ridiculous Upside has been impressed, though:
Rashad Vaughn scored a game-high 24 points, adding six rebounds and four assists. Anything productive is promising for Vaughn, who shot 30.5 percent and was one of the worst rotation players in the NBA as a rookie.
Second-round pick Malcolm Brogdon continued to impress, posting 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. RaShad James scored 14 points off the bench to round out the double-figure scorers for Milwaukee.
Toronto Raptors 82, Minnesota Timberwolves 80
The Minnesota Timberwolves made a furious comeback in the final minute, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Toronto Raptors, who walked away with an 82-80 win on Sunday.
Norman Powell was the star of the game. He led all scorers with 29 points on 7-of-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three assists. Powell had a strong rookie season in Toronto in 2015-16, leading Raptors fans to expect big things from him in the upcoming campaign.
According to Raptors Republic's Blake Murphy, the 23-year-old wants to make a big impression in Las Vegas:
Bruno Caboclo and Delon Wright both stepped up big for Toronto as well, scoring 15 and 13 points apiece.
For the Timberwolves, Kris Dunn's performance will offer encouragement. The rookie point guard led the team with 21 points. Dunn also grabbed nine boards and dished out four assists. According to The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears, two of Dunn's teammates were in attendance to see his near-double-double:
Fellow guard Tyus Jones dropped 18 points and four assists. The Timberwolves may be winless (0-2) so far in Vegas, but Minnesota is at least getting a good glimpse at the future.
Houston Rockets 85, Sacramento Kings 73
Sam Dekker's 19 points propelled the Houston Rockets to an 85-73 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
Balance was the key for Houston, though, since every player who stepped on the court registered at least two points. The Rockets bench as a whole combined to score 35 points, with Kyle Wiltjer leading the reserves. He contributed 11 points and shot 3-of-5 from three-point range.
The Rockets also excelled on the glass, out-rebounding the Kings 47-39 and grabbing 12 of their own misses.
K.J. McDaniels only shot 3-of-11 from the field but did a little bit of everything, posting 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots. The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen thought McDaniels was improved from the Rockets' summer-league opener:
On the other side, Malachi Richardson led all scorers with 20 points and added seven rebounds.
Richardson couldn't compensate for the fact that Sacramento's offense went cold in the second half, though. The Kings scored just 32 combined points in the final two quarters.
Utah Jazz 79, New Orleans Pelicans 72
Six different players scored in double figures for the Utah Jazz as they picked up a 79-72 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Three of Tyrone Wallace's four made field goals came from beyond the arc as he led the Jazz with 15 points. Joel Bolomboy, meanwhile, posted a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), and Spencer Butterfield chipped in with 11 points of his own off the bench.
While the Pelicans couldn't match New Orleans' across-the-board production, New Orleans got strong performances from Buddy Hield and Cheick Diallo.
Diallo scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double, while Hield had a game-high 21 points. The rookie guard wasn't shy about shooting, attempting 20 shots and making seven of them.
Hield's three-point shooting will play a big role in whether the Pelicans can get back into the playoffs after a disappointing 2015-16 season. While a 5-of-14 clip from beyond the arc isn't ideal, it's good to see him having the confidence to take a high volume of threes.
"About time I get a little rhythm," Hield said, per NOLA.com's John Reid. "I've been waiting for that to happen all summer league, but I felt better today even though [I] didn't make as many shots as I wanted to."
Chicago Bulls 83, Philadelphia 76ers 70
The Bobby Portis Show took a night off, but the Chicago Bulls still came through with an 83-70 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
A night after going for 17 points and 13 rebounds in a win over the Boston Celtics, Portis only managed eight points on 4-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds.
Denzel Valentine and Cristiano Felicio stepped up in Portis' stead. Valentine went for 13 points and six rebounds, while Felicio finished with a nearly identical stat line to Portis' on Saturday (17 points, 10 rebounds). Spencer Dinwiddie's 14 points off the bench were also pivotal in the win.
Ben Simmons has given Sixers fans a taste of what's to come with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists. Summer league isn't an indicator of how a player will actually perform in the NBA, but Simmons has more than lived up to the hype so far.
More so than his contributions in the box score, the rookie forward has shown an on-court intelligence beyond his years and displayed impressive playmaking ability for a player of his size (6'10").
It's a stretch to say Philadelphia will contend next year, but in Simmons, the franchise finally looks to have the cornerstone around whom it can build for the future.
San Antonio Spurs 85, Portland Trail Blazers 69
Kyle Anderson continues to stand out from the rest of the summer-league crowd after scoring 23 points in the San Antonio Spurs' 85-69 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Anderson is well on his way to repeating as summer-league MVP. In addition to his game-high 23 points, he also posted four rebounds and two assists. The second-year forward saw his role with San Antonio grow in this past year, and based on his work in Las Vegas, he should see even more minutes in the 2016-17 season.
Jonathon Simmons had a strong game as well, pitching in with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Bryn Forbes supplemented Simmons and Anderson with 14 points of his own.
Noah Vonleh posted a double-double for the Blazers, scoring 16 points and hauling in 12 rebounds. The team shared an impressive one-handed jam from the former Indiana Hoosiers star:
Russ Smith was the only other Blazers player to finish with double figures in scoring (13 points).
Phoenix Suns 87, Boston Celtics 74
The Boston Celtics had no answer for Devin Booker, whose 24 points and seven assists were key in the Phoenix Suns' 87-74 victory Sunday.
While Booker was the game's high scorer, Marquese Chriss and Alan Williams each played major roles in the win as well. Chriss (15 points, 14 rebounds) and Williams (15 points, 12 rebounds) finished with double-doubles. Chriss also came away from the game sporting a battle wound, per the Arizona Republic's Paul Coro:
Jordan Mickey was one of three Celtics players to post double figures in scoring. He led Boston with 18 points and six rebounds, while R.J. Hunter (17 points) and Abdel Nader (13 points) each did their part to try and get the Celtics over the top.
Jaylen Brown, on the other hand, had a game to forget. While he picked up three assists and four rebounds, he missed all six of his field-goal attempts.
