The afternoon games of the Orlando Summer League featured three teams looking for their first win, and only two made it happen. Kelly Olynyk showed his first game wasn't a fluke in helping lead the Celtics to a win over the Pacers, and the Nets, although a bit more competitive, still fell short against the Heat.
Orlando Summer League roundup: Defense leads Celtics; Nets fall short against Heat
Kelly Olynyk had another good game but it was the team defense of the Celtics that buried the Pistons. Meanwhile, the Nets fell short against one of the less exciting summer league rosters in the league.
Harry How
Celtics' defense dismantles Pistons
The Celtics picked up their first win of the Summer League in a 93-63 blowout of the Pistons that was pretty much all over after the first quarter finished. Boston limited Detroit to just nine points and more turnovers than field goals in the first 10 minutes of play.
More: CelticsBlog Detroit Bad Boys
Olynyk followed up his 25-point debut with another solid start for the Celtics, stuffing the stat line with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals in just 21 minutes. Darius Johnson-Odom led the Celtics with 22 points, 14 of which he scored in the second half as the Celtics quickly put the game out of the Pistons' reach.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the No. 8 pick in this year's draft, struggled for the second straight game, but showed improvements after a disastrous first game for the Pistons. Caldwell-Pope led the Pistons with 11 points and four steals, but still needed 10 attempts to get there, going just 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. To be fair to Caldwell-Pope, it wasn't just him struggling as the Pistons shot just 27.7 percent as a team from the field. Both Kim English and Peyton Siva went without a field goal in the game, hurling up 12 misses between the two.
The Celtics squad packaged together a nice game for the second night in a row, but it is hard to make much of the Pistons’ effort. Detroit was a bit better in its win over the Nets on Sunday, but once again struggled greatly on offense. The Pistons are shooting just 32.5 percent from the field in their first two games of the Summer League.
Nets look better but still fall short against Heat
Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd is still searching for that elusive first win as the Miami Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter with a 93-86 win. Scotty Hopson led the charge with 22 points and Ian Clark chipped in an additional 19.
More: NetsDaily Hot Hot Hoops
NetsDaily called the Miami Heat one of the weakest summer league teams, pointing out the squad has just one NBA roster player, no first-round picks and one second-round pick. Even the scrubs are allowed their time to shine, but the Kidd can’t be too encouraged by a losing effort to the Heat.
It wasn't all bad, however, as Mason Plumlee turned in another solid effort, scoring 23 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the field. He snared nine rebounds as well, all the while matched up against Jarvis Varnado, the lone Heat roster player on the squad. Tyshawn Taylor led the Nets in scoring again, scoring 25 points in the contest. The Nets' offense clicked at a more agreeable pace in their second game. After mustering 67 points off of 34.3 percent shooting on Sunday, the Nets hit 48.3 percent of their shots, with 19 of their 28 field goals coming off an assist.
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