LAS VEGAS – The San Antonio Spurs Summer League squad earned their second victory in Las Vegas on Tuesday over the Portland Trail Blazers’ Summer League team 99-85. Once again, Bryn Forbes was huge for the Spurs, putting up 35 points on 11-26 shooting. On Sunday night, despite scoring 35 points, Forbes did not shoot particularly well from behind the arc, going 2-9 from that range. While it looked like a similar story was developing on Tuesday after he started 0-3 from 3, Forbes shot 6-8 from long range after that. While he was once again perfect from the free throw line, hitting 7 of 7 free throws, he shot 10 less than he did on Sunday.
Olivier Hanlan filled in nicely as the starting point guard in place of Dejounte Murray who was out for rest on Tuesday after missing the second half of Sunday’s game. Hanlan was the Spurs’ second leading scorer with 16 points on 9 shots, but much of what he did for the Spurs on Tuesday doesn’t show up in the stats, specifically his contributions on defense. “He really sets the tempo for us defensively,” Summer League Spurs Coach Will Hardy said about the 24 year-old guard. “So good at pressuring the ball. His energy is infectious.”
For the Trail Blazers, 2017 first-round pick Caleb Swanigan led the way with 19 points on 14 shots, as well as tallying 13 rebounds along the way. Of the 11 offensive rebounds that Portland grabbed, 5 came from Swanigan, while no other Trail Blazer had more than 1. Late in the game, Swanigan and Davis Bertans received a double technical foul after some physical play from both sides throughout the game.
For his part, Bertans only scored 5 points and grabbed 3 rebounds, but he had the second best plus-minus on the team at plus 19 after Shayne Whittington’s plus 23. When they shared the court, especially during the first quarter, the Spurs’ defense was as good as it has been in Las Vegas.
Now, as the Summer League playoffs start, the Summer Spurs wait for the results of the remaining games to see if they have a play-in game on Wednesday or if they will move straight to the round-of-sixteen on Thursday.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
