My Notes for Game 4 of Summer League

That, I must say, was an exciting game. Intense. We started off down 17-0 off some fluky shots, and were within 4 with a minute and a half left. Without our best player playing (right? Roddy had the night off? Seemed like it). McGee and Wall were fun to watch, and it was even more fun to watch Dojo and Lin go crazy, and for Jones to shut Wall down. Too bad the refs were treating him like a superstar...there is no way Wall deserved 3 more free throws than Jones did. Not a chance. But that's the way it worked out, unfortunately.

Again, just to explain what these notes are, I wrote them as I was watching the game, and copy pasted them in chronological order. You're reading what I was thinking as the play happened. I try to stick to things I notice that can't just be viewed in the box score, or try to give my basketball insight into what happened or what should have happened. I'm not anywhere close to an expert, but I like to think I'm slightly knowledgeable.

So here they are.

Oh, and a reminder. The last Summer League game is on Sunday, at 7 pm, and is on ESPN3 just like this game was.

Dominique Jones: 28 points, 9/17 FG, 0/1 3PT, 10/12 FT, 4 boards (2 offensive), 4 ast, 6 PF, 2 TO

Dominique Jones with some nice defense. Bodied up Wall on the drive and knocked it out of his hands, though it wasn't a turnover.

Jones gets the and-1, with a hard drive. The finish was left handed right over the hand of a defender. Well done.

Dojo with the pick and pop with Samhan, drew both the defenders baseline and tossed it back, rewarded with a swish. Next possession, he drove hard and just ran over some poor defender, getting a blocking call and two free throws. If you haven't figured out, he is not scared of contact. Dojo, again, beautiful drive. Came inside, stopped on a dime, spun around knocking a defender aside with just muscles, and got an easy chippie. Man, I keep wanting to make a new paragraph, but Dominique keeps making plays! Drives, and flicks it over his head to Mahinmi who is fouled hard. It was a great pass, and he couldn't have set his big man up much better. Mahinmi was hacked hard, don't think he went weak or anything.

I mentioned Jones with the beautiful feed to his post player? He did it again. He drove, but with an over the head pass, sets up Sims very well, who can't finish.

Jones just blocked Wall again on a stepback jumper.

I believe that was Roddy, hitting Jones with a very nice pass in stride after Jones broke away on the fast break. And Jones, again, gets a steal, dribbles it off his foot, collects it, fakes like he's going for a reverse layup and puts it up off his side of the glass for 2 points.

Jones just muscled through a double and kicked to Lin who rimmed out a corner trey. <!-- / message --> <!-- sig -->

I think Wall has got three bailout/superstar calls so far. Its gets annoying, because Jones just blocked Wall on a jumper for the third time.

Announcers said that Roddy made a lazy pass. To me, it looked like Dominique just took his eyes off it and was "lazily" catching it. Blame it on both of them, to be honest. It looked like Jones kind of left the ball out there to be knocked away, not gathering it to his body.

Jones pulls for a jumper but passes off for a wide open Samhan jumper which swishes in. Good decision.

Dominique just backed his man into the paint and went to a jump hook. It got goaltended. Interesting idea...would love to have seen if he could have completed that minus the goaltend. That's an interesting skill set for a guard, but it makes sense because of his strength. <!-- / message --> <!-- sig -->

Jones gets a wide open layup off a cut down the lane. Wish he would have slammed that, though. You think that on a cut from the three point line with momentum behind you, he could have slammed it. Good cut though. Poor defense, though, allowing Wall to cut right down the middle for an alley oop dunk (missed it but it was wide open).

Oh, that was pretty. Jones drove in and hit a beautiful teardrop. Great arc, and swished right in.

Jones didn't blow by his defender this time but pushed him close enough to the basket then rose up over him for the and-1. Then, Jones with two offensive rebounds off his own initial miss, getting a foul. And he was rebounding over the big men of Washington, not over a couple guards.

Jones just missed an easy layin, putting it too hard off the glass, but Samhan with the put back. Dojo just put it too hard off the glass. But Samhan has been feasting on the weak side rebound putback.

Rodrigue Beaubois: 0 points, 0/3 FG, 0/2 3PT, 1 ast, 5 PF, 3 TO

Right off the start, Roddy commits the turnover. Forced a pass into the post, though the defender did make a nice play to reach away and bat it away.

Ugh. Roddy just fouled a three point shooter.

Two quick fouls on Roddy. One was a bad call, but the other, he just bodied the guy up too much. Bad foul. There was no steal to be had, no turnover to be forced, just tried to defend too hard.

I believe that was Roddy, hitting Jones with a nice pass. Jones was out in front, but there was a defender between Roddy and Jones, so it was a good job not only to get it over the player, but right to Dojo's hands.

Announcers said that Roddy made a lazy pass. To me, it looked like Dominique just took his eyes off it and was "lazily" catching it. Blame it on both of them, to be honest.

Wow. Beaubois, having an open three in the corner, dropped the pass out of bounds. I'm not sure he has a point this game. After that game winner, I was expecting him to make progress. He's been very, very disappointing so far.

Jones, Lin, Samhan, and Mahimni all look better than Roddy. This is his worst game of the SL, and we thought his first game was pretty awful. At least he isn't forcing as many shots up there. But this being "his team", Roddy supposed to be the scorer, scoring 0 points is not acceptable.

So Roddy gets bench for a majority of the 4th quarter. Its the right decision. Lin and Jones are having their best games of the SL, and Roddy is having his worst. Maybe this will wake him up and he'll come out and play well on Sunday. I really hope so.

Jeremy Lin: 13 points, 6/12 FG, 1/1 3PT, 4 boards, 2 assists, 6 fouls, 2 TO, 1 blk

Lin just drove to the basket, and somehow got a wide open uncontested layup. The big man down low, not sure who, screened his man off really well and Lin, getting about two steps, was able to just finger roll the ball in as if it was a layup line.

Lin with a beautiful crossover. He split the defense badly. Unfortunately, didn't finish it. Still it was a fantastic move.

Lin penetrates, again. If people say he's not athletic, don't believe them. This guy is fast and quick and has NBA moves off the dribble.

Lin just made one of those Allen Iverson/Chris Paul/Deron Williams type passes, where he cocked his arm back and fired a bullet one bounce pass to Jones alone under the basket. That was a fantastic delivery.

Jones just muscled through a double and kicked to Lin who rimmed out a corner trey. <!-- / message --> <!-- sig -->

Lin just faked a pass to the corner after the ball was rotated to him, drove, and hit a tear drop over McGee. And I mean McGee was in his face, there was contact between the two, and it doesn't even matter. Looking at the replay, there is no way he should have gotten it over, but he did. Then on the fast break, Lin leaves it behind him to Foster for a wide open dunk. It was a congested fast break, too, seemed to be 4 on 3 or so, but Lin found room for an uncontested layup anyway.

Won't be noticed by most, but Lin just boxed out one of Washington's big men, trapping him under the basket so that when he tried to rebound, it went off his fingers.

Lin stole it, and dunked. Didn't I say his athleticism was underrated?

On a Wall drive, Lin got his hand on the ball and forced a jump ball. He's a really a solid defender. And he got almost as high as Wall did on the jump ball. And there he is again! Lin drives, with the up and under to get the layup off. It was a very pretty layup. Very pretty.

Lin got to the rim again, and despite the miss, the drive opened up the weak side for Samhan to put it back.

Lin's jumper looks a bit like Nash's. Has a bit of natural fade to it. And, as we just saw with that trey, it has a ton of arc to it. That trey went way up there, looked like a teardrop, and still swished in. And again! WOW! Split the defense like it was nothing, and then spun by the big man. Unfortunately he spun right into another defender who had got position, so it was a charge, but that was a ridiculous, big time move. This game might have got Lin a roster spot, no joke.

Lin missed a driving layup but then rips the ball out of the hands of McGee. Wow. And he just won the tip with Wall. Went to Washington, but he tapped the ball, not Wall.

Ian Mahimni: 11 points, 2/6 FG, 7 boards (4 off), 2 to's, 1 blk

Mahinmi doesn't have the extreme hops like McGee for Washington does, but he's been around the balls on rebounds the first few possessions.

Mahinmi just shot an 18 footer, nice stroke, just off the back of the rim and out.

Mahinmi has gone to the free throw line twice now in the past minute, both times off a drive. He's is a center, but he much more athletic than the usual. His drives were a bit wild, gotta be honest, but they earned free throws regardless. And I think he made all four of the FT's.

Mahinmi puts it on the floor again, draws a blocking foul.

Mahinmi was agressive around the ball, again, even though it was ruled offensive interference.

Mahinmi again tries the baseline drive, and though it looked like he was fouled, he didn't get the call. However, he just got a nice putback. It seems like he's been around the ball all night, and he has 6 orebs so far.

Omar Samhan: 12 points, 6/9 FG, 8 boards (3 off), 1 to, 2 blocks

Dojo with the pick and pop with Samhan, drew both the defenders baseline and tossed it back, rewarded with a swish.

Samhan isn't just knocking down open jumpers. Caught the pass, pump faked, took a step in and to the left, and drained the shot with hard contest from McGee (not the easiest guy to shot over, as you might know).

I've heard that Samhan sometimes has too many post moves? Well, there's another example. Pump faked twice resulting in a 3 second call.

Jones pulls for a jumper but passes off for a wide open Samhan jumper which swishes in. Good decision.

Jones just missed an easy layin, putting it too hard off the glass, but Samhan with the put back. Dojo just put it too hard off the glass. But Samhan has been feasting on the weak side rebound putback.

Announcers + John Wall

Announcers just said Wall could lead the league in assists. Ha. Even if he had the ability (in his first year in the NBA!), he plays for Washington. Its not going to happen.

Boy, these announcers suck. I liked the other pair a lot better. These are madly in love with Wall. They've complained when fouls are called against him, they've complained when he was called for a travel because "they should have let him have his sixth assist". Boy, settle down. He's a nice player, but he's one of 10. Could you spend at least a few seconds talking about the other team?

I think Wall has got three bailout/superstar calls so far.

And Wall just got another questionable call.

Announcers just said Utah is going to be "much better" this year with Jefferson replacing Boozer. Typcially, when you replace a 20/10 with another 20/10 guy, its a wash, but whatever.

Everyone Else

Roddy drove, kicked to Jones, who rotated to Giddens. However, Giddens didn't make a move, just stood there, then gave his man a fake, before giving it up. The shot clock was in single digits, and Giddens can't just stand there.

Foster, the shooter, has missed two FT's in 4 chances. That's not good enough.

Giddens was free under the baseline, but he had one foot out of bounds. Bad time, with 30 seconds left in 4 point game, for a crucial mental mistake. Or maybe it was just unlucky, because Giddens was able to get wide open.