The Boston Celtics continue to roll through summer league, beating the Orlando Magic 108-71. Two-way signee Sam Hauser got hot from deep to lead the C’s with 21 points. Boston had 33 assists on 41 made baskets. Here are the high and low points from the game.
HIGH POINTS
PAYTON PRITCHARD
I’ll say it again, he’s too good for summer league. He’s hitting bombs out there from 30-plus feet and making it look easy. He also dished out a team-high 9 assists and grabbed 4 rebounds to go along with his 17 points on 6-9 shooting.
I know summer league is about development and working on things, but when the game is coming this easy, it becomes counterproductive. He’s basically doing whatever he wants, so the competition he’s facing isn’t quite good enough to challenge him.
AARON NESMITH
I wish the Celtics could live-substitute and just have Pritchard and Nesmith play defense the rest of summer league, because both have their offense down.
Nesmith actually had an interesting shooting game, because he hit all of the tough shots he took but missed the easy 3’s that he could step into.
He finished with 18 points on 8-15 shooting, and was just 2-7 from deep. At least three of those shots were wide open looks that, considering the difficult shots he was hitting, seemed almost confusing when they rimmed out.
Nesmith might benefit from some more time, but I wouldn’t push it too much. He’s also too good for summer league at this point, but the team hasn’t decided what they’ll do with him and Pritchard moving forward.
“I haven’t really heard anything about that. I think that'll be discussed later today just as an organization,” summer league head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. The decision on how much more run Nesmith and Pritchard get will apparently come from Ime Udoka and Brad Stevens with input from Mazzulla. “We’ll probably know more about that tomorrow. It’s a day-by-day thing and just want to do what’s best for them and what’s best for the Celtics.”
SAM HAUSER
Hauser got hot from deep to show why the Celtics called him the instant the draft ended to make sure they snagged him on a two-way deal.
He’s a shooter, and he came one 3-pointer shy of extending Boston’s summer streak of guys hitting 7 of them in a game. He finished 6-10 from deep, triggering some Twitter questions about whether he could end up being the stretch-4 Boston has been looking for this season.
The answer is probably not, but they’ll get a chance to get a closer look at him on that two-way deal, so if that answer flips over to “yes, absolutely,” they can upgrade him if need be. What’s more likely to happen is they’d keep him on the two-way deal this season and sign him to a full NBA deal next summer if he rose to that level.
JUHANN BEGARIN
He had some moments in this game and finished with 7 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists. He hit one 3-pointer and came close on another. Then he missed three of them badly, including one very high off the side of the backboard.
He’s athletic, and he used that on the defensive end, living up to his “I like to defense” quote. He’s raw but built for this level, physically. He’ll stay a stash for at least one more season, but he’s a guy worth keeping tabs on.
LOW POINTS
YAM MADAR
He didn’t do much for the second straight game, leaving little doubt now that he’ll head back to Israel for another season to work on his game and his body. He’s a good player, but I think this has been a little bit of an eye-opener for him.
Schröder’s arrival all but sealed Madar’s return to overseas basketball, but he could have made an argument for himself with a stellar summer league. It has not been, but that’s ok. He can take this lesson home with the knowledge of where he needs to get to.
CARSEN EDWARDS
He only shot 3-9 for 7 points in 15 minutes before leaving the game due to a cut on his ear suffered in a collision with Orlando’s Cole Anthony.
The Celtics play their final scheduled game at 5 PM Saturday. If they win, they’re in a great spot to play for the summer league championship — because not only would they be undefeated, but they’d have some monster point differentials, which is the tiebreaker.
The Celtics will have a fifth game regardless, which will be played on Monday or Tuesday.