Bucks finish 4-1 in Summer League play
Over the weekend, the Milwaukee Bucks finished off their summer league play in Las Vegas, NV on an extremely high note.
Behind the continued strong play from SF/PF Tobias Harris and PF John Henson, Milwaukee defeated Boston’s summer league squad 88-87 on Saturday, July 21st and then wrapped up the summer league schedule by waxing the punchless Chicago Bulls by 45 points, 113-68 on Sunday, July 22nd.
Milwaukee leaves Las Vegas with a 4-1 overall record and a great deal of optimism.
The Bucks were able to escape against Boston when Jared Sullinger missed in the lane at the buzzer thanks in large part to the defensive pressure applied by Larry Sanders.
Sanders had his finest game of the summer with 11 points and 15 rebounds. However, Sanders was again unable to play with the discipline that is going to be required when the regular season begins as he committed a team high 7 fouls in 29 minutes of play.
Tobias Harris was 9-17 from the floor and showed some long distance range by raining in both of his three-point field-goal attempts. Harris, who also showed the ‘clutch gene’ by sinking the game winning free-throws with 5.9 second left, contributed 22 points and 7 rebounds.
John Henson had a fantastic overall game, finishing with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
There was no drama in store on Sunday in the pasting of the rival Chicago Bulls, as Milwaukee led at halftime 54-37. The Bucks then put their foot on Chicago’s throats in the third-quarter by outscoring the Bulls 32-14 to take a commanding 86-51 lead into the fourth-quarter.
Harris finished off his summer league with 18 points on 7-13 shooting and Henson scored 16 on an efficient 8-9 shooting night.
Doron Lamb chipped in 16 points on 6-11 shooting and PG Aaron Miles from Kansas University had his best game of the summer, distributing 13 assists in a mere 17 minutes of play to go along with 5 points and 5 rebounds.
With the summer league schedule now complete, General Manager John Hammond has a much better idea of what kind of talent he has in some of these promising young players and where they may fit into the rotation next season and beyond.
Spurred by their 4-1 run in Vegas and the play of Harris, Lamb and Henson, Milwaukee Bucks fans should be excited and fairly optimistic about the young talent being assembled and the direction of the franchise. The Bucks should be a competitive basketball team in 2012 with playoff aspirations.
