Family reunions so rarely live up to expectations. Your uncle\u2019s fork stabbed into your macaroni. A mildly racist conversation leaving nearby tables in an agonizing hush. Cody Williams posting a goose egg on the box score. We all know the feeling.<\/p>\n
It was a Summer night to forget for the Utah Jazz Summer League squad, as the Los Angeles Clippers took their purple-clad Western Conference foes out behind the woodshed in a 22-point shellacking, a final score of 104-82 summing up the evening for an agonizing, one-sided contest. This is Utah\u2019s second loss at the Las Vegas leg of the summer circuit, coming after an undefeated stretch back in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
Home court advantage, I guess?<\/p>\n
In a draft class duel between Darryn Peterson (number two overall) and Keaton Wagler (number five overall), the headlining rookies matched the other\u2019s scoring total, 23 points, on comparably ugly efficiency.<\/p>\n
Peterson struggled through another night of cold shooting in the desert, combining for 12-of-36 efficiency between his two Vegas outings. He forced the issue regularly in this one, living off an unhealthy dose of stepback fallaways early in the shot clock, floaters through heavy traffic, and off-rhythm three-pointers. I know that off-beat, fluid offense has been Peterson\u2019s M.O. since high school, but he hasn\u2019t done himself any good by forcing the issue in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Of course, that\u2019s not to say he didn\u2019t flash moments of stardom. This one-handed flush through the swinging tree branches is evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n
The shot hasn\u2019t been there in the last two games \u2014 no reason to panic \u2014 but it\u2019d be preferable to see Peterson\u2019s aggression materialize in higher-percentage shot selection. He\u2019s young, this is the Summer League, and I\u2019m not going to read into this issue right now, but it\u2019ll be a topic to keep tabs on as we approach the regular season, and on-ball time becomes a little harder to come by alongside a smattering of stars in the Jazz lineup.<\/p>\n
Of those stars, Ace Bailey finally made his return to Summer League play tonight and clearly wasn\u2019t ready. He scored 0 points in 8 minutes, quickly taking and missing five shots, despite posting a very nice defensive stat line of 1 block and 1 steal.<\/p>\n
It was a defense-forward outing for the Jazz\u2019s stars, with Peterson posting a pair of blocks and two steals himself, and Cody Williams \u2014 who also scored a disgusting total of 0 points in 23 minutes \u2014 tacking on a single steal in a vintage, turn-back-the-clock performance reminiscent of his abysmal rookie season. Nostalgia.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Peterson was a net-positive on the defensive end, and a solid five-assist, two-turnover game added to his resume.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t pretty \u2014 in fact, I envy those of you who weren\u2019t able to watch this blowout in real time \u2014 but Summer League is a setting for learning, growing, and shrugging off red flags.<\/p>\n