Terrence Williams and Damion James powered the New Jersey Nets past the Indiana Pacers, 80-69, on Tuesday night to cap Day Two play in the Orlando Pro Summer League. Williams, in the midst of an attempted conversion to point guard, got himself in to trouble by jumping in the air to pass, but otherwise had an excellent game. He scored 24 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and led all players with 7 assists. However, James garnered more attention with his energetic play at both ends, and as the featured player in the Nets’ offense. Setting up on the left block, James looked to drive and draw contact, with mixed results. He shot just 8-of-20 from the floor and a miserable 4-of-13 from the line, yet gave an incredible effort and showed the Nets he has the athletic and physical tools to make him a contributor at this level. He led all players with 11 rebounds. As a small forward.
Poor shooting—26-of-67 for 38.8% to be exact—doomed the Pacers. Center Josh McRoberts was the guiltiest party, shooting 3-of-18 from the floor, including 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. Lottery pick Paul George missed 10 of his 15 shots and scored only 10 points, but did add a staggering 7 steals to his line, offsetting the damage he did with his bricks. Lance Stephenson led the Pacers in scoring for the second day in a row, with 15, and he did so on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting; he simply did not get enough touches to make a bigger impact, as the Pacers looked for McRoberts at the top of the arc, or George on the wings.
But McRoberts had about as good a game as anyone shooting 3-of-17 can have. 6 rebounds for him, to go with 6 assists and 2 blocked shots. He’s a unique player at center in that he’s just as comfortable posting up as he is leading the break. His downfall, at least in this game, was that he was most comfortable shooting threes off the catch.
Third overall draft pick Derrick Favors contributed 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals on a tidy 5-of-8 shooting. He’ll need to grab more than one rebound every 9 minutes to succeed at the next level, however.
Check this StoryStream later this evening for my Day Two superlatives.