Utah Jazz Summer League continued Tuesday with the San Antonio Spurs crushing the Atlanta Hawks and the Memphis Grizzlies holding on to beat the Utah Jazz.
Utah Jazz Summer League continued in full force on Tuesday night. In the first match, the Atlanta Hawks squared off against the San Antonio Spurs, who the Jazz had absolutely throttled the night before. Skinnier than Kevin Durant and Brandon Ingram, Raphiael Putney put in minutes for the Spurs but the real players worth watching were Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and Jaron Blossomgame (who didn’t impress early on but seemed to come on down the stretch.)
It’s worth noting that Derrick White is leading all Utah Jazz Summer League scorers with 21.5 ppg and is also the assist leader with 7.5 apg. Unfortunately for the Hawks, Trae Young continues to struggle and looked like he could use a rest day (like the one Grayson Allen was granted by the Jazz). White’s 21 points in Tuesday’s contest led the Spurs to an easy 103-81 win over Young’s Atlanta team.
It’s also worth mentioning that Derrick White is likewise leading Utah Jazz Summer League in minutes per game at 30.5, just to give his stats a bit of context. That’s two minutes more than Kobi Simmons of the Memphis Grizzlies who saw NBA level minutes for that team last year and looks like he’s turning into a decent rotation player.
The main event of the evening, even with Allen sitting, was without a doubt the matchup between the Grizzlies and the Jazz. It pitted some seasoned 2nd year NBA veterans on the Grizzlies against several of the Jazz standout players from the Salt Lake City Stars. Those players include most notably Georges Niang and Nazareth Mitrou-Long.
Both of them were particularly impressive and instrumental in sparking the run that led to the Jazz taking an 86-85 lead for a moment in the 4th quarter. However, the Grizzlies held on for a 95-92 win.
Without the excellent defense and late game heroics of both Georges Niang and Mitrou-Long, this game would have been over six minutes into the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies let their 19-point cushion they accrued at halftime dissolve when Niang and Mitrou-Long turned it on late in the game.
Timeout, Memphis! Jazz have cut a Memphis 26-point lead down to 4 points with 4:30 left. Georges Niang, Naz Long, and Tony Bradley leading the way with really nice plays. And heck, even the bench was better in the second half!
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) July 4, 2018
Jaren Jackson Jr. wasn’t the standout for this game and he didn’t seem to box out Tony Bradley very well when they had some battles for rebounds. One thing that’s been said of Tony Bradley is that his NBA skill is rebounding, something that has been stated before by Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune on Twitter and the Weekly Run Podcast. So far, Tony is proving Tony right. Bradley of the Jazz leads the Utah Jazz Summer League in rebounding at 12.5 rpg at the end of Day 2.
Next: Utah Jazz keep backcourt intact, come to terms with Exum, Neto
That’s a wrap for Day 2! Tune in Thursday to Utah Jazz Summer League on KJZZ 14.1 and NBATV at 5 pm for Grizzlies vs. Spurs and Jazz vs. Hawks at 7 pm.