Orlando Summer League: Day 2By: Jason Stone

Game 4 – Orlando 85 Boston 82
Box Score

Boston was the dominant team on Monday and Orlando struggled, so it was interesting to see how both teams would respond today. Well, Boston wasn’t so dominant and Orlando didn’t struggle thanks to the spectacular play of newly acquired Ryan Anderson. Anderson (who was a sneaky addition in the Vince Carter-Courtney Lee trade) dominated this game with red hot shooting and incredible board work. Going perfect from the free throw line (9-9) and 3 pt line (2-2), Ryan also was lights out from inside the arc (9-13) finishing with a day high 33 points. Looking way more comfortable today, Anderson made his mark driving to the hoop, working in the post and fighting on the glass. Van Gundy will want to bottle this performance for next season.

Kasib Powell who didn’t get any run yesterday made up for lost time with a strong performance of his own in major minutes. Powell shot 50% from the field for 15 points. On several occasions, Powell lowered his head and took it hard to the rack for a hard fought layup. He also had a nice show and fake drive that left his defender on his feet. With 11 seconds left, Powell had a killer drive to put the Magic up 4 and the game all but out of reach.

Russell Robinson did a capable job running the point with 8 pts and 6 assists with extra help from Maurice Ager (10 pts, 4 assists) in limited minutes. Darian Townes kept up his rugged play with another strong night on the glass (7 boards) and 5-8 shooting for 10 points.

For Boston, we got to see the debut of Coby Karl and he made it a good one. Coby shot well from the field (5-9) but did struggle from the line (6-11). In what would have been the play of the game, Coby dove to the ground with seconds left to steal the Orlando inbounds pass, only for the tying 3 to come up short. Coby finished with 18 pts and 5 rebounds.

JR Giddens followed up his erratic play yesterday with a much more under control performance. This led to a great night scoring with 17 points on 50% shooting to go along with 6 boards and 4 assists. Gabe Pruitt also stepped up his game from yesterday with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Nick Fazekas put up some nice numbers with 5-7 shooting for 12 pts, but looked uncomfortable doing it. Robert Swift failed to impress and looked pretty immobile. Yesterday’s leader, Bill Walker, did not play.

Game 5 – Utah 83 NJ/PHI 68
Box Score

Next up were the Jazz who were beaten up pretty badly the day before; facing the hybrid collection from New Jersey and Philadelphia. I’ll throw out my 2 cents and say that the shared team experiment is not working. Teamwork is already a challenge in summer league play, but having 2 separate coaching staffs, agendas and sets of teammates is stripping all cohesiveness from this unit.

Credit goes to the Jazz for bouncing back with a strong team-focused performance after yesterday’s blowout. Eric Maynor and Josh Duncan led the way again with each putting up 12 points. Duncan let things come to him and was efficient with 5-6 shooting in only 16 min of play. Maynor showed skill at the point again with some deft passing and ability to break down the defense. He didn’t shoot very well (2-9), but has the propensity to get to the line where he was a perfect 7-7.

James Augustine gave good effort in the paint for the Jazz in his time and made all 3 of his shots for 6 points. Kevin Kruger and Jimmy Baron both shot well for the Jazz, which can’t be said for Wes Matthews who went 0-6.

For the NJ/PHI squad it was all about Chris Douglas Roberts who was a one man show for the team. Chris tried to put the team on his back but no one was coming along. Roberts finished with 27 points, 8-14 from the field and 11-13 from the line.

Marreese Speights followed up his high scoring Monday with a tame 8 points on a poor shooting night (3-12) from the field. In spite of a poor offensive night, Marreese was a force in the middle with 5 blocks and his presence alone was a factor. Marreese knows what to do with the ball when he gets it down low, so it is kind of a disappointment to see him shooting so many jumpers. Speights also had the dunk of the day, when he threw it down on half of the Jazz team, eliciting a wowed response from the otherwise silent crowd of scouts and reporters.

Jrue Holiday struggled once again running the point with 3 assists and 2 turnovers. Holiday air balled his first (3 point) shot netting 7 points on 2-7 shooting. Based on his play so far, he doesn’t appear to be a point guard. Maybe he needs time, then again maybe he just isn’t that good.

Game 6 – Pacers 91 OKC 88
Box Score

The much anticipated final game of the night did not disappoint, as this was the best game so far and had a real NBA-level of competition feel to it. The stars came out to play making for a few storylines going down to the wire and an exciting finish.

For the Pacers it was all about Tyler Hansbrough who played the role of go to player and stepped up to the challenge. After a slow start in the first half, Tyler turned it on in the third with some nice drives in transition. In one particulary cool sequence, he threw down a dunk in traffic and had to hang on the rim for safety. The next time down the court he showed his versatility by busting a 3. The most impressive part of Hansbroughs night was his performance down the stretch, where when the Pacers needed a bucket, he was there to provide it.

Roy Hibbert led all scorers with 24 points on fundamental play in the post, and he would have had more if he had hit his free throws (10-16). Although you can’t fault a man too much who goes 7-8 from the field and pulls down 8 boards. However, I do think with a little more polish and a little more tenacity, Hibbert could dominate, as he certainly has the size and skills.

Josh McRoberts was looking to continue to impress before coming down hard after blocking a shot. Josh left the game and did not return, and left the arena on crutches with his left ankle taped up. Before getting injured, Josh was continuing his mayhem on the court with a series of steals leading to a breakaway reverse jam and later another hammer dunk. For a big guy, he is mobile and can handle the ball on the break. Trey Johnson put in some good minutes with 11 points on 6-11 shooting. Trey worked well in transition and had a couple of nice takes off the dribble.

The Thunder came with the 1-2 punch of James Harden and Russell Westbrook and almost pulled off the hard fought win. The majority of the game was the Russell Westbrook show, as he impressed the crowd all over the court. At certain times, it is like a tale of 2 point guards with Westbrook. One moment he can be out of control, throw passes away and generally look sloppy. The next he’s expertly breaking down the defense with some smooth passing and speedy drives. Tonight was more of the latter as he went on to drop 22 points on 9-15 shooting along with 8 assists and 3 steals. What I liked out of Westbrook tonight was how he really got his teammates involved with easy buckets.

James Harden continues to prove that he is legit with another solid game. Harden just makes smart basketball plays and never seems out of control. Harden brought the versatility on offense tonight with a collection of dunks and 3s, finishing with 19 points on 6-13 shooting. He also is quite comfortable being the facilitator on offense and ran a mean break after stealing the ball.

Serge Ibaka had another impressive outing with his defense, athleticism and efficiency on offense (6-7 shooting for 13 points). Ibaka has a smooth jumpshot and seems to have an instinct on where to be for follow up dunks and alley-oops.

The Pacers led most of the way but OKC came storming back in the 4th quarter to make this a great game. It then seemed to be a battle between Hansbrough and Westbrook to see who would take it. Westbrook was getting to the rim at will and was completely unstoppable with a series of dribble drives and dishes for easy buckets. But in the end it was too much Tyler Hansbrough. The 4th quarter became the “get it to Tyler” show as he took over on multiple consecutive possessions. If he wasn’t wowing the crowd with his post moves and interior scoring he was getting to the line, securing the victory for the Pacers.