When: Thursday, July 13, 10:30 pm ET
Where to Watch: ESPN 2
What’s At Stake: The Winner moves on to the Winners’ Side of the Bracket, to play the winner of Brooklyn vs. Denver in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 10 pm ET. If Cavs lose, they play the loser of Portland vs. Toronto on Friday at 10:30 pm ET.
What To Know About the Lakers: Lonzo Ball is expected to play Thursday night for the Lakers, fresh off of his best Summer League performance of his first three games. The No. 2 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft led a 15-point comeback in the second half and scored a game-high 36 points, passing for a game-high 11 assists on Wednesday night, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers, who were without No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz. He also grabbed eight rebounds, five steals and committed six turnovers.
Ball sat out the Lakers’ game vs. the Sacramento Kings on Monday, resting a sore groin and looked refreshed in the tournament game against Philadelphia, knocking down 3-of-10 three-pointers, 9-of-12 shots from inside the arc, and 9-of-12 free throw attempts. Wednesday marked Ball’s second-consecutive game in which he recorded 11 assists.
LeBron James was in attendance, as he’s spending a couple days in Las Vegas to meet and mentor some of the younger Cavs hopefuls, and wanted to get a look at Ball.
Ball will be the most talented individual player the Cavs have faced so far in Las Vegas, as they haven’t matched up against any teams with top-ten draft picks yet.
The Lakers will be without arguably their best player Brandon Ingram, who was dominating Summer League before exiting Friday’s game with leg cramps. Team President Magic Johnson immediately shut Ingram down for the remainder of Summer League to avoid any serious issues.
As for the rest of the Lakers, Kyle Kuzma, the No. 27 pick of the 2017 Draft out of Utah, has been making plays throughout his three games in Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-9 stretch forward scored 31 Saturday night against the Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum last week, knocking down 5-of-10 three-pointers and grabbing nine rebounds.
Through three games, Kuzma is averaging 17.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
Aside from Kuzma and Ball, Ivica Zubac figures to be a big part of the Lakers’ rotation this season. The 7-foot-1 center averaged 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his rookie season last year and will likely play a big role behind newly acquired Brook Lopez in 2017-18.
Lakers guard Alex Caruso has opened some eyes at Summer League over the past week, scoring 18 points, hitting 4-of-5 three-pointers and passing for nine assists when Ball rested Monday night.
Caruso agreed to sign a two-way deal contract with the Lakers Thursday afternoon, which was a direct result of his great play in Summer League, especially Monday night’s performance.
He will likely start the season in the G-League.
The internet was filled with memes and GIFs after Ball was apparently called out by Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox, who sent out this tweet, which was later deleted.
De'Aaron Fox's since-deleted tweet, presumably in reference to no rematch with Ball. pic.twitter.com/tnHVfOxAAw
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 10, 2017
Fox later said he was hacked, but many interpreted the tweet to mean that Fox believed Ball was “afraid to play” him after he already beat him in their NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen matchup, as Kentucky defeated UCLA and Fox (39 points) outplayed Ball (10 points), decidedly.
Caruso’s breakout game against the Kings was the first Lakers win of Summer League play, which caused some of Ball’s critics to wonder if there was any connection between the Lakers getting a win and Ball sitting out.
Ball quickly put that to rest in his first game back.
What to Know About the Cavs: For starters, they’ll be without their leading scorer of the Summer League, Brandon Paul, who scored 21 on Monday night and left the team shortly after, presumably to sign with another team.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reported shortly after Monday’s game Paul was expected to land an NBA deal. David Pick later reported Paul is signing with the San Antonio Spurs.
Kay Felder is on Tyronn Lue’s radar as potential backup point guard.
Lue told reporters last week that whichever point guard, Jose Calderon or Felder plays better, that player will earn more minutes as Kyrie Irving’s backup.
That being said, Calderon probably enters training camp as the favorite to earn that role, but if Felder continues to progress and has a strong preseason, it’s possible he would surpass Calderon as the backup.
Felder has put together an up-and-down Summer League through three games, but what always stands out about his game is his quickness and athleticism, two areas that the 35-year-old Calderon (even in his prime) never quite possessed to the same level as Felder.
Felder will have to improve his decision-making, shot-selection, ability to play under control and will drastically need to improve his defense to close the gap to earn the backup point guard spot. Thursday night will be an interesting test, as he’s likely to match up with Ball.
Edy Tavares blocked five shots in the first half on Monday. He hasn’t been playing significant minutes in Las Vegas, as Cleveland tries to give other guys equal playing time, but the 7-foot-3 center has shown flashes of what could make him an impact player in the NBA – particularly his rim protection.
With Paul out of the fold and Cedi Osman agreeing to sign with the Cavs, it doesn’t appear likely for anyone on the Summer League roster other than Felder or Tavares to have a real shot at opening the season in Cleveland.
However, Sir’ Dominic Pointer, a second-round pick the Cavs acquired via trade during the 2015 Draft, made some great plays against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
The 6-foot-6 forward only played five minutes in the Summer League opener, did not play Saturday night against Houston, but broke out with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and four rebounds in Monday’s win.
He also had one of the best dunks of the game.
Sheesh, @Sirdom1 ?#CavsSummer pic.twitter.com/2NDi1GZ4Zw
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) July 11, 2017
*Pointer poster has a nice ring to it*
Although he’s probably a long shot to make the opening day roster, his experience with the Canton Charge and the fact the Cavs invested a draft pick in him and have had the chance to watch him grow are all factors that could lead to an eventual shot with the big league club.
He played in Israel in the second half of last season, making a name for himself overseas.
Other guys: Andrew White, Casey Prather, Anthony Gill, T.J. Williams, Sam Cassell Jr. and Malcolm Thomas have all made positive contributions over the first three games.
With the departure of Paul, I expect White to get more playing time than the last two games (in which he only played five minutes apiece). White scored 11 points in 12 minutes in the Summer League opener, but hasn’t really been given a chance to shine since.
Prather and Gill have been two of the more impressive forwards on Cleveland’s roster. Thomas, 28, has been a force in the paint, but doesn’t seem to have as much upside as the two younger players.
Williams was red hot in his first two games, shooting 9-for-12 from the field, but had an off night on Monday.
Cassell Jr. hasn’t lit up the stat sheet, but has shown off his long-range ability and is a solid two-way guard.
Matchups to Watch:
PG: Kay Felder vs. Lonzo Ball – I feel like Felder’s defensive issues could be on full display tonight. He’s going to have to play much more tenaciously than he did against Houston, or he could be in for a rough night. If Felder’s defense looks like it did late in Saturday’s game, don’t be surprised if Williams and Cassell end up playing significant minutes at guard.
PF: Kyle Kuzma vs. Anthony Gill/Malcolm Thomas/Casey Prather – Kuzma is not an old-school type power forward, which leads me to believe Thomas won’t be as good of a matchup for him. I would expect Gill, an athletic 6-foot-8 forward with great rebounding ability to match up with Kuzma more. Perhaps Cleveland will put Prather or even Pointer on him for some of the night, as they’d be undersized, but are still good defenders.
C: Ivica Zubac vs. Edy Tavares – If you ask me, this will be the best head-to-head matchup of the night. Tavares has very limited NBA experience, while Zubac has a full season under his belt. Both of these two are promising players and there’s still some mystery as to how high their ceilings can really be. This should be a game where Tavares gets more minutes than the first three, as he only played 15 minutes on Monday and has yet to play more than 21 minutes in Las Vegas.
We’ll see if the Cavs can remain unbeaten tonight at 10:30 pm on ESPN 2.
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