Summer League Scrimmage: Rockets 97 Cavs 96 07/11/07

crash5179 · Jul 11, 2007

I just read this off of the Rockets web site. It was just a scrimage but it is always good to read about the Rockets winning.

http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Summer_League_Blog-231183-34.html

Rockets.com staff writer Damien Pierce will be blogging from Las Vegas this week during the NBA summer league.

July 11, 2007
Scrimmage Update

The Rockets and Cavaliers ended up having one of the more entertaining finishes to an NBA summer league game on Wednesday afternoon.

Unfortunately, no one was in attendance to see it.

Nearly a 20-minute drive away from the two arenas where the league's summer league games are being held, the Rockets and the reigning Eastern Conference champs played a five-quarter scrimmage at Cheyenne High School in Las Vegas that ended up coming down to the buzzer. The result: Former Iowa guard Jeff Horner sank a game-winning three-pointer with six seconds remaining to lift the Rockets to a 97-96 victory over Cleveland.

The Rockets held a double-digit lead through most of the game thanks to their collection of three-point shooters. Seemingly every time the Cavs got close, a Houston player stepped up to drill a long range shot. Former Hawaii guard Carl English had a particularly impressive stretch where he sank three straight from beyond the arc.

The scrimmage essentially served as an opportunity for the Rockets and Cavs to view their full rosters since both teams ended up going deep into their benches. Rockets rookie Aaron Brooks and second-year sharpshooter Steve Novak both played only a quarter of action after pushing the team to a 20-17 advantage in the opening 10 minutes. Novak nailed a couple of three-pointers while Brooks continued to show just how quick he really is, scoring eight points in the first quarter.

Carl Landry, the team's second round pick, played a bit more. He's shown a solid offensive game during his two summer-league performances. Besides having a good touch near the rim, he has routinely stepped out and canned 18 footers. He said he needs to become a better rebounder, but he moves well and could end up becoming a solid contributor with his skill set on the offensive end.

Meanwhile, Israel's Lior Eliyahu and Australia's Brad Newley, a pair of second round picks over the past two years, have had their moments. But both seem to need more time to adjust to the pro game.

The Rockets will return to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus on Thursday when they face the Dallas Mavericks.

July 11, 2007
Scrimmage Time

Remember when I said the Rockets were playing five games in six days? Apparently, that wasn't enough. It turns out that the Rockets are actually playing six games in six days. The Rockets, who were scheduled to have a day off, will be on the court Wednesday night for a scrimmage against the Eastern Conference champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stay tuned for details.

July 10, 2007
Landry vs. Kaman

Rockets power forward Carl Landry didn't have to wait long to see how he stacked up against NBA competition.

Landry, Houston's 6-foot-9, 248-pound rookie, was primarily matched up against Clippers center Chris Kaman in the Rockets' summer-league opener on Tuesday night. The Clippers' 7-footer had three inches and about 20 pounds on the rookie, but Landry wasn't overwhelmed by the big man. After being backed down by Kaman on the Clippers' opening possession, Landry got tougher as the game went on and ended up playing pretty solid low-block defense against the center. Kaman ended up netting 5-of-12 shots.

"He held his ground against an NBA center," Rockets summer league coach Elston Turner said. "And Kaman is a pretty good one. (Landry) wasn't bad for a rookie."

Landry's range was also notable. He buried a couple of jumpers just inside the college three-point line, netting 14 points.

July 10, 2007
So long, Oden

Oden vs. Durant? That will have to wait for the regular season. Greg Oden, the Blazers' top overall pick, is out for the remainder of the summer league because he's having his tonsils removed. He's expected to be out two to three weeks, meaning he'll also miss the U.S. national team's minicamp from July 20-22 in Las Vegas.

That puts somewhat of a damper on the summer league.

Oden and the NBA Draft's No. 2 overall, Seattle's Kevin Durant, were scheduled to square off against one another on the final day of the summer league. But now, we'll have to wait until the NBA season tips off to see the 2007 Draft's two big names on the same floor. On the upside, at least Oden was around long enough to show us that you can indeed foul out of a summer league game.

July 10, 2007
Vegas, Baby

The Rockets have returned to Las Vegas this week for the NBA's annual summer league and, since I need to convince my bosses that I really am here to work and not just gamble, I'll be blogging from Sin City daily to fill you in on what's happening with the team.

Being the good guy that I am, I'll even try to spare you the details of how much I'm down at the black jack table and stick to purely basketball.

Besides the Rockets, the Chinese national team and 19 other NBA franchises are in town for the action, making this year's field the largest in the four years that the league has been coming to Las Vegas. The bulk of the names in attendance range from rookies (Greg Oden and Kevin Durant might be bigger names this week than Celine Dion and Wayne Newton) to free agents trying to earn an invite to training camp. But there are some big-name veterans in town as well, like the Clippers' Chris Kaman, the Suns' Marcus Banks and the Cavs' Daniel Gibson.

Obviously, most of my attention will be devoted to the Rockets. The team will be playing five games in six days, beginning Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers and ending Sunday against the New Orleans Hornets. Steve Novak will be playing in the league for the second straight summer, while Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Lior Eliyahu and Brad Newley will be making their pro debuts. John Lucas III, who was scheduled to participate, decided to skip the trip.

Keep checking back here for updates.
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xomox · Jul 11, 2007

wish i could see the stats on that game. can't find it.

CharlieMurphy · Jul 11, 2007

xomox said:

wish i could see the stats on that game. can't find it.
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http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520700024

Sooner423 · Jul 11, 2007

CharlieMurphy said:

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520700024
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That's the wrong game. I doubt they have any stats for a scrimmage anyway.

CharlieMurphy · Jul 11, 2007

Sooner423 said:

That's the wrong game. I doubt they have any stats for a scrimmage anyway.
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Haha oh my bad, been a long day for me. Sorry.

BEXCELANT · Jul 11, 2007

Landry held his ground on Kaman...that's awesome. So he plays defense and he has offensive skills that stack up well against an NBA starter. Not that Caveman is the best but he's average for NBA centers..about where Eric Dampier is at. He'll get the rebounding down as soon as he gets more minutes and gets stronger. Rebounding is just timing anyways.

MrButtocks · Jul 11, 2007

The rockets are just unbeatable in the summer league. Wish this would carry over into the playoffs.

cons · Jul 11, 2007

BEXCELANT said:

Landry held his ground on Kaman...that's awesome. So he plays defense and he has offensive skills that stack up well against an NBA starter. Not that Caveman is the best but he's average for NBA centers..about where Eric Dampier is at. He'll get the rebounding down as soon as he gets more minutes and gets stronger. Rebounding is just timing anyways.
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Why is Kaman playing in the summer league anyways?

madmonkey37 · Jul 11, 2007

cons said:

Why is Kaman playing in the summer league anyways?
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Conditioning/Practice are the most likely reasons. The fact that hes playing in vegas probably helps alot.

Roxfan73 · Jul 11, 2007

madmonkey37 said:

Conditioning/Practice are the most likely reasons. The fact that hes playing in vegas probably helps alot.
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I read that Kaman wanted get into playing shape, since he had issues with his weight and injuries after signing the contract extension last season.

wreck · Jul 11, 2007

Roxfan73 said:

I read that Kaman wanted get into playing shape, since he had issues with his weight and injuries after signing the contract extension last season.
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That guy seems pretty determined, but what exactly do they expect from him, he has nothing to offer, hes like the ryan bowen of Centers

roxfan123 · Jul 11, 2007

wreck said:

That guy seems pretty determined, but what exactly do they expect from him, he has nothing to offer, hes like the ryan bowen of Centers
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kamans just trying to "dominate" the SL like Yao did before he was injured in the NBA, turns out Landry had him fooled.

BEXCELANT · Jul 11, 2007

roxfan123 said:

kamans just trying to "dominate" the SL like Yao did before he was injured in the NBA, turns out Landry had him fooled.
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Kaman sucked in his first outing. I'd have to say he got outplayed by the rookies.

Navman · Jul 11, 2007

Funny how we manage to win the meaningless summer league games with a determined, midget PG but lose the regular season games when said midget is put in the game. Actually that's not fair because he would either be playing in a blowout loss or blowout victory so it's hard to tell.

Either way, I'm interested to see Brooks develop and become a gamechanger with that speed. Maybe he could be a sparkplug for our team like Nate Robinson.

tigermission1 · Jul 11, 2007

Article said:

Former Hawaii guard Carl English had a particularly impressive stretch where he sank three straight from beyond the arc
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Any relationship to this guy?

Dave_78 · Jul 12, 2007

So from early indications it would seem that Brooks dominates the summer league as well as JLIII did last year. Not bad.

Goodbye John John.

hooroo · Jul 12, 2007

Dave_78 said:

So from early indications it would seem that Brooks dominates the summer league as well as JLIII did last year. Not bad.

Goodbye John John.
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Well, didn't JLIII average double figures in assists? A lot of Brooks passes looked like they would be swatted away or stolen come November.

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Summer League Scrimmage: Rockets 97 Cavs 96 07/11/07

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