For the second straight game, Jordan Clarkson showed the Las Vegas Summer League why he was named to the All-Rookie First Team last season. Clarkson, who dropped 23 points against Minnesota on Friday, again led the Lakers in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
“This is what we do: We play basketball,” Clarkson said. “I love to hoop, so coming out here and being able to play in front of our fans — it always feels like a home game out here; as well as working on my game and continuing to improve. I’m just trying to keep continuing to progress.”
The Lakers — who surrendered 81 points on 44.4 percent shooting to the Timberwolves —made defense the calling card, as Philadelphia hit only 28.6 percent (20-of-70) throughout the night. The purple and gold stymied the Sixers from the outset by holding them to just 3-of-18 shooting (16.7 percent) in the first quarter.
According to Summer League head coach Mark Madsen, this tenacity can be traced back to a pregame visit from L.A.’s regular-season coach.
“Byron Scott came in and lit a fire under the guys before tipoff,” Madsen said. “So I think that had an impact. Obviously he let them know that the defensive effort last game was unacceptable. They took that message, they went out there, and they carried it out.”
Third-Quarter Surge
The Lakers scored just 27 points in the first half, but they surpassed that total in the following quarter alone by racking up 28 points in the third period. L.A. entered the locker room down by five at the half, but it immediately turned the game around by jumping out to an 11-5 run. Clarkson paved the way, scoring seven points and hitting three of his four shots.
No. 2 vs. No. 3
The Lakers and second overall pick D’Angelo Russell faced another top three selection by going up against Jahlil Okafor, who was taken in the very next spot.
Despite finishing second among Lakers in scoring with 14 points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, Russell displayed some inexperience in his second NBA-sanctioned game, missing 11 of his 15 shots and committing seven turnovers to three assists.
“That’s what I look at the most at halftime or if I come out: how many turnovers I’ve got,” Russell said. “I’m a risk-taker. At this level, those really add up. In college, you can kind of get away with it. But turnovers are my main thing that I look at on the stat sheet.”
Okafor, meanwhile, recorded a double-double with 19 points (6-of-14) and 11 rebounds. Yet, he also turned the ball over five times.
Air Nance
Chants of “Larry!” were frequent throughout Thomas & Mack Center, as No. 27 pick Larry Nance, Jr. earned the crowd’s favor with a series of athletic and hustle plays. Starting in place of Julius Randle (rest), the Wyoming alum finished with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, five rebounds and two assists, while the Lakers outscored Philadelphia by 20 points in his 28 minutes played.
“If you’re putting me in the same breath as Larry, I take that as a huge compliment, because Larry’s a special player,” said Madsen, who played in the NBA from 2000 to 2009. “Larry is someone who can change a game in a lot of different ways. He can do it on the defensive end. He was (Defensive) Player of the Year in his region.
“But then on top of that, Larry can make plays on the offensive end. You saw the tip dunk. You saw the deflections that he had. He’s a guy that’ll go in there and change a basketball game.”
However, Nance’s stamp on the game was felt off the box score. He threw down a pair of highlight-reel dunks — including a cleanup slam at the end of the third quarter — and swatted Okafor down low, much to the approval of the crowd.
"That was more so team defense," Nance said of his blocks. "I saw one time he spun baseline on Tarik (Black), and I had just gotten through telling (Black), 'Force him baseline. I'm coming help-side for a block.' And I actually blocked it so hard I looked at the bench like, 'I think I broke my hand.'"
Cleanup Needed
Despite the win, the young Lakers still showed plenty of room for growth. In particular, the offense froze in the second quarter when they were held to only nine points — 12 fewer than their opponent.
L.A. also struggled to connect from deep, as no player hit more than one 3-pointer, and the team shot just 3-for-14 as a whole. However, probably most alarming was that the Lakers tallied only five assists against 18 turnovers in the 40-minute Summer League game. In fact, it has been 20 years since L.A. last won a regular-season game (48 minutes) when recording single-digit assists.
“The ball was moving in the second half better, but we’ve got to knock down some shots,” Madsen said. “We’ve got to get our assists up. We’ve got to move the ball around a little bit. We went to some of the Princeton sets primarily in the second half. And ultimately we’ve got to make some shots, but also every cut has to be a scoring cut.”