THOMAS & MACK CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV — The Golden State Warriors played their third #NBASummerLeague game tonight against No. 1 Draft pick Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Warriors head coach Jarron Collins started the following lineup: Patrick McCaw, Thomas Walkup, Royce Oneale, Darion Atkins, and Ognjen Kuzmic. Walkup replaced Keifer Sykes in the starting lineup.
1st Quarter – Smooth Simmons
McCaw, who started at point guard, got off to a nice start, swishing a three after Atkins rebounded a blocked attempt by Kuzmic and fed McCaw in the corner:
.@PMcCaw0 gets things started with a trey pic.twitter.com/TqVT6bUV9z
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) July 13, 2016
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McCaw followed that up with a streaking finger roll after Richaun Holmes missed a free throw and O’Neale got the rebound and outletted.
The much-ballyhooed Simmons didn’t disappoint, showing off his smooth ball-handling skills with a drive-and-flip to Holmes for a slam dunk, then jamming home a missed layup attempt by Maodo Lo:
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Kuzmic did well on the defensive end, grabbing four early rebounds, but missed a slam dunk attempt as he got fouled, on a nice little hesitation move by McCaw to draw two Sixers.
Kuzmic followed that up with a dunk after leaking on a Christian Wood missed trey from the top, assisted by Walkup.
With 3:18 remaining, the Warriors held a 16-10 lead after Lo swished a three from the left corner.
Sykes came back in for Walkup and gave the Warriors a boost with a floater, and right-side driving bank shot that got goaltended on by Wood, but Wood provided as much energy and got him back with a swat off the board on a near-identical play, and also got a runner in the lane.
Sykes got the last word, however, as he drilled a long two at the buzzer to give the Warriors a 22-20 lead heading into the second stanza.
2nd Quarter- Ognjen Revival
Wood continued to spark the 76ers in the second quarter with Simmons on the bench, then a right baseline jumper by T.J. McConnell brought the Sixers to within 27-26 of the Warriors with 7:03 to play.
With 6:25 left, Simmons came back in, but missed a fade-away short, and Kuzmic had a mini-burst, blocking James Webb III’s putback attempt, then after Winston Shepard got swatted on the other end, blocking Webb yet again on a nice reverse bounce pass flick from Simmons.
Kuzmic continued his revival, disrupting a layup by the SIxers’ other first-round pick, Timothe Luwawu, then tipping in a missed three by Oneale.
Luwawu hit two threes, though, and drew Philadelphia back to within 39-38 at halftime, even as Kuzmic grabbed his eighth board of the half.
Although Sykes airballed a three at the buzzer, he led all scorers with 12 points on 5-for-8 from the field off the bench.
3rd Quarter – Kooz!
Kuzmic was a veritable roller-coaster ride to start the third quarter, displaying stone hands in his inability to catch passes on the fly inside, but still getting key rebounds, swatting another attempt by Luwawu, and — after a nice Simmons touch pass to Holmes for a dunk — converting an “and one” against Holmes.
With 5:17 remaining, a timeout was called with the Warriors up, 45-44, and Kuzmic to the line to shoot his bonus free throw, but he missed it.
Kuzmic wasn’t done. Shortly thereafter, he got a feed inside from McCaw and upfaked Wood, let him fly by although Kuzmic nearly traveled in the process, for the easy two.
After that, Kuzmic converted another and-one, again assisted by McCaw…
Nice drive and dish by @PMcCaw0 to set up the Kuzmic and-one @Warriors vs. Sixers #NBASummer pic.twitter.com/PLRnQL9qhz
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) July 13, 2016
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…and this time drilled the bonus free throw to give the Warriors a 50-44 lead.
Wood answered with a jumper fed by Simmons, but Robert Carter, Jr. finally made an impression on the game by upfaking Simmons twice for the contact, then swishing the jumper. However, Carter had missed a wide-open McCaw prior to that.
Carter’s free throw gave the Warriors a 55-46 lead with 2:53 to play.
Closing out the quarter, McCaw stole the ball from Bryon Allen and fed Sykes for a layup and, after a Wood layup, both teams got into a mini-hack-fest with multiple trips to the charity stripe before O’Neale drilled a left-corner triple that eventually led to a 65-57 end-of-quarter lead for the Warriors.
4th Quarter – Balanced Scoring
Walkup had a nice start to the fourth quarter, feeding a nice finish by O’Neale, then going backdoor for a reverse layup plus the foul on Holmes, but Wood hit a three to cut the Warriors’ lead to 72-66.
That’s when McCaw used a Kuzmic pick at the top to smoothly crossover and calmly drill the pull-up from the top of the key.
Later, McCaw had a brilliant defensive sequence, nearly knocking the ball away from Simmons at the top as McCaw snuck in from the blindside. Then on the same possession, with Lo on the right wing with the ball, McCaw smothered Lo with his long arms and batted the ball away, getting fouled in the process by Lo to prevent the run-out.
But Holmes got a layup and Wood drilled a triple to cut Golden State’s lead to just 76-72 before Oneale buried a three from the right wing to re-establish the cushion.
Later, a Carter jump hook in the lane sealed the deal as the Warriors went ahead by three possessions, 81-73, with forty seconds to go.
Sykes turned the ball over and Simmons found McConnell on the fastbreak to close to within 81-75, then Sykes got fouled and made both.
The Sixers called timeout, Simmons took it to the rim himself against Walkup and drew a foul while making the bucket, but missed the free throw. The final score was 85-77, Warriors.
O’Neale and Sykes led the Warriors with 16 points, while McCaw tallied 11 points on 5-for-8 field, 3 rebounds, 3 assists. Kuzmic collected 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Simmons ended with 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, while the 76ers were led in scoring by Wood with 22 points.
The Warriors will play their next opponent either tomorrow or the next night, depending on the results of the playoff tournament seeding after three games played each by all of the Summer League teams.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @rgbrownie)
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