The big news out of Summer League action on Sunday is that Los Angeles Clippers first-round pick Eric Gordon is done for the session with an injured hamstring.
"I hurt it pretty bad and don't know what is going to happen,"
Gordon said on Saturday, after straining his left hamstring in L.A's loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.
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The seventh overall pick out of Indiana, Gordon showed spurts of what made him such a standout guard for the Hoosiers. Despite shaky shooting (Gordon made just nine of the 28 shots he took in two games), Gordon used his speed and size to get to the basket often (he knocked down 16 of 21 free throws). Gordon scored 23 points to help lead the Clips to a victory over Dallas in L.A.'s first game on Friday.
Grizzlies Mauled — Memphis, which cruised to easy victories in its first two games of the Summer League, was throttled by the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday night.
Even star O.J. Mayo (this year's third overall pick) struggled. While Mayo did score a team-best 15 points in Memphis' 85-76 setback, he missed seven of his 13 shots and committed six turnovers. Fellow first-round pick Darrell Arthur was even worse. He scored just three points on 1-of-7 shooting, grabbed a lone rebound and had nine fouls.
L.A. was led by Coby Karl (son of Denver coach George Karl), who scored 16 points and spent the majority of the night guarding Mayo. A funny moment occurred in the second half. Karl drilled a shot and started back up the court, but the public address announcer's mind must of been fixated on another Laker as he screamed out "Kobe Bryant"
.
No doubt a great number of fans filling the Cox Pavilion's stands came to watch Mayo perform, but the standout from USC downplayed his own drawing power Sunday night.
"They just come to enjoy the Summer League,"
said a straight-faced Mayo. "There's not an NBA team in Vegas, so any time you bring NBA talent and teams to this city, there's gonna be a lot of excitement."
Notes — Seven of the 21 NBA teams participating during the 10-day event will make their debuts on Monday. The Cavaliers, Knicks, Rockets, Suns, Spurs, Trail Blazers and Wizards all tip-off as the Summer League expands into the Thomas & Mack Center Monday night. ... Kevin Love — the fifth overall pick by Memphis in this year's draft, who was then dealt to Minnesota for Mayo — will play his first pro game Monday night when Minnesota squares off against Dallas at 7 p.m. in the Cox Pavilion. ... Two other lottery picks, Danilo Gallinari (picked sixth by New York) and Jerryd Bayless (drafted 11th by Indiana and then traded to Portland) will also make their Summer League debuts on Monday. The Knicks take on Cleveland in the day's first game at 1 p.m., while Portland hosts Washington at 5 p.m. Both games are in Thomas & Mack Center. ... On Friday a record crowd of 4,084 took in the four-game session.
