The semifinal round is set at the Las Vegas Summer League and seeding was apparently unimportant. The 4th, 7th, 8th and 14th seeds will do battle at the final four on Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The top three scorers in Vegas are in the semifinals. Let’s see how the semifinalists got there:
Spurs 95 Celtics 93
It sure doesn’t seem like San Antonio is distracted or impeded by being coached by a woman.
Becky Hammon’s Spurs got 21 points from Kyle Anderson, who’s been excellent over the last week-plus, and 19 from breakout wing Jonathan Simmons.
Boston first rounder R.J. Hunter had struggled with his shot in Vegas, but shined through with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting on Saturday. Promising second round pick Jordan Mickey had 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 2014 first round pick James Young had 16 points and nine rebounds in defeat.
Hawks 91 Mavericks 83
A couple of Atlanta wings looking for training camp invites made good cases for themselves on Saturday.
Glenn Robinson III scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting off the bench and Nebraska rookie Terran Petteway scored 19 on 8-of-11 shooting to go with six rebounds…and seven turnovers.
First round pick Justin Anderson scored 23 points and grabbed six rebounds in defeat for Dallas, who also got 17 each from Dwight Powell and Jordan Crawford.
Suns 91 Bulls 84
Neither team shot particularly well, but Phoenix committed eight turnovers to Chicago’s 23 and came away with the seven-point win.
T.J. Warren emerged as a summer MVP candidate after scoring a game-high 31 points on 13-of-23 shooting to go with six rebounds. He figures to make the Suns’ rotation next season. Archie Goodwin, who scored 20 on Saturday and went 8-of-11 from the line, hopes to join him.
Bobby Portis continues to prove that he may have been the steal of the 2015 draft. The Arkansas product had 25 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks in the loss.
Pelicans 100 Warriors 91
Leave it to a Curry to oust Golden State in an elimination game.
Seth Curry missed 11 of his 17 field goal attempts, but went 11-of-13 from the line and finished with 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. It would be a surprise if he didn’t win the MVP award.
Victor Rudd scored 22 and Fuquan Edwin had 19 points in the victory for New Orleans. Dominique Sutton led the Warriors with 23 points and seven rebounds in defeat.
Sunday’s Matchups (all times Eastern)
Hawks vs Spurs 6 p.m.- In typical San Antonio fashion, Kyle Anderson is third in scoring average despite playing five fewer minutes per game than the two players ahead of him. With the Spurs’ depth a bit compromised by this summer’s moves, Anderson will be far more important this season.
Suns vs Pelicans 8 p.m.- The top two MVP candidates in the tournament, Seth Curry and T.J. Warren, square off in the feature game of the day. The play of Archie Goodwin, who’s had a very good summer league, could be the difference.