Backcourt paces Blazers in victory
St. Mary’s alum Patrick Mills scored 18 points and former UNR guard Armon Johnson added 15 to help Portland to an 81-69 victory over New Orleans in the final game of the day at Cox Pavilion in the NBA Vegas Summer League.
Dante Cunningham added 14 points for the Blazers. Johnson also had five assists and three steals in the win.
Aubrey Coleman scored a game-high 19 points for the Hornets. Darren Collison played in the opener for New Orleans, but is no longer with the team.
Over at the Thomas & Mack Center, the day’s action concluded with Golden State earning a 72-69 win over Miami.
Reggie Williams continued his torrid scoring pace with a game-high 23 points for the Warriors. He added seven rebounds and five assists.
Kasib Powell scored 16 points for Golden State.
Kenny Hasbrouck had 14 points in the loss for the Heat.
Dookie goes down
Jon Scheyer took a poke in the eye from Golden State’s Joe Ingles early in the second quarter and did not return
Scheyer stayed down on the ground with his hand covering his eye for several minutes.
When he finally stood up, he was escorted back to the locker room by several members of the training staff.
Soon after he headed up the tunnel, his parents hustled up in his wake to check on their little boy.
Isn‘t that adorable?
Swatted
Despite all the great shot blockers on display this week, the best rejection at the summer league thus far didn’t happen anywhere near the court.
A low-level team official, fully decked out in a polo shirt with the logo of a certain west coast franchise that is owned by the same family that owns a popular Las Vegas resort, got completely shot down.
He approached a young lady working as an usher in the concourse between Cox Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack Center and asked some non-descript question in a faux attempt at seeking information.
He used her answer as a way to start up a conversation and then told the woman “some of the guys” would be hitting the town tonight and could really use someone to show them around the town.
It didn’t work.
Suffice it to say, the man is still out there tonight searching for a tour guide.
Don’t get cocky
With a comfortable 13-point lead in the final minutes, Patrick Mills may have relaxed a bit too much.
He pretended to throw a pass while being guarded by Aubrey Coleman at the top of the key, but held on to the ball and held the ball behind Coleman’s head as the defender turned around.
The crowd laughed at the play, but Coleman didn’t stay fooled for long.
He turned around and stripped Mills of the ball, starting a fast break the other way. Mills had no choice but to commit an intentional foul to prevent an easy dunk.
Mills had a very good game otherwise, but that’s probably not a play you want coaches to have on tape when your margin for error is so slim.
