Well, after a great day Sunday, yesterday wasn't quite as good.
I thought the Nets would hold up against Minnesota, but they ended up losing by eight and were down by as much as 25 at one point. Jarrett Allen dominated as expected, finishing with 15 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes of action, but couldn't finish the game after a scary looking fall:
Jarrett Allen is out for the rest of the game with a left hip contusion after taking this hard fall. pic.twitter.com/xj24dVDUtL
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 15, 2019
Without him, the team struggled: Rodions Kurucs and Dzanan Musa, the Nets' other top prospects, finished with a combined eight points on 3-of-18 shooting.
Oh well; let's move on to tonight's Summer League Championship game.
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: 9 p.m. ET
- Spread: Wolves -3.5
- Total: 172.5
The Wolves have continued to roll in Vegas, and they won handily on Sunday despite playing a very weird game.
Josh Okogie didn't play, and overall they shot just 33.3% from the field and 32.4% from beyond the arc. They actually posted fewer rebounds and more turnovers than the Nets, but Brooklyn just couldn't shoot, finishing 31.5% from the field and 10.5% from 3.
I haven't seen definitive word on Okogie's status, but it's very possible that they don't push him in a summer game:
Okogie (left ankle/shin contusion) is fine. But there’s no reason to play him tonight. Even so, the #Twolves are 1.5 point favorites to hoist the Vegas Summer League trophy tonight.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) July 15, 2019
They still have some talent, however; Naz Reid, an undrafted prospect this June out of LSU, was their best player on Sunday, putting up 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes against the Nets. He had some nice moves against Allen. While he went undrafted, there's still potential there: Reid is just 19 and was a five-star recruit coming out of high school.
The Wolves will also likely still have Keita Bates-Diop, their second-round pick in June. They've had success from their G-League guys and journeymen.
The Grizzlies haven't played their main prospects in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant, but here they are nevertheless in the Summer League title game. They still have NBA talent on the roster, including Bruno Caboclo, a first-round pick back in 2014, and Brandon Clarke, a guy who I said was going to be criminally under-drafted this summer. It's early, but he's already proving that true; he was the best player on the floor yesterday, putting up 23 points and 14 rebounds and getting the game-winning dunk. He's pretty darn good.
It's hard to bet against the Wolves, who are unbeaten in Vegas this summer. It's already moved from -1.5/-2.5 to -3.5, however, and if Okogie doesn't go, I'm not sure they're nearly four points better than Clarke and Co. here. It's possible he's the best player on the floor tonight. As such I'll stay away, although I'll potentially be interested if it keeps moving up beyond +4.
