Lakers vs. Raptors (7/10)

Ken Berger of CBS Sportsline wrote:There was an Adam Morrison sighting in Game 4 -- and he wasn't on the bench in jeans and a blazer, as he was throughout the NBA Finals. Morrison, the Bobcats' third overall pick in 2006, is starting over with the Lakers and actually played 33 fairly effective minutes -- 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting with five rebounds. The Raptors' first-round pick, DeMar DeRozan, had a solid debut with 10 points, including a couple of high-flying dunks. But DeRozan actually had his "welcome to the NBA" moment before he took the floor. He watched from afar over the last week or so as Toronto swooped in and stole free agent Hedo Turkoglu from the Blazers, then pulled off a four-team trade sending Shawn Marion to Dallas on Thursday. "It’s real exciting to be on a team that makes so much progress like that over a week’s span," DeRozan said. "You can just feel they want to get better every day." Oh, the Lakers beat the Raptors 85-84, somehow overcoming the fact that Smush Parker was on the floor for Toronto for 20 minutes and coughed up only two turnovers.

Ryan Greene of the Las Vegas Sun wrote:Adam Morrison and Ben McCauley scored 24 points apiece for the Lakers, as they edged the Toronto Raptors, 85-84, in the third of four games on opening day at the NBA summer league.

Morrison was solid from start to finish. He scored 11 of those 24 in the second half, and made a heads-up decision in passing up a guarded jumper and instead spotting an open McCauley for the winning bucket with under 20 seconds to go.

Roko Ukic and Quincy Douby scored 16 points apiece for Toronto.

pureuncut100 wrote:Could anyone give an update on McCauley. He put up big numbers. I wonder if his game tonight looked like a fluke or not. Did he have go to moves or not?

If anyone could give more detail on his game it would be greatly appreciated.

Rodney Halprin of NBA Draft.net wrote:The 2009 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers started their summer league today with a 85-84 win over the Toronto Raptors. The fearsome combination of Ben McCauley (24 points,15 rebs) and Adam Morrison (24 points, 5 rebs) proved too much in the end for Toronto. David Monds also contributed with 17 points on 7-10 shooting, showing a handy mid range game in the process.

The Raptors built a 12 point lead in the second quarter, however consecutive turnovers from #9 pick DeMar DeRozan allowed the Lakers back into the game. Smush Parker pushed the lead back out to 9 after assisting (pregame dunk champion) Brent Petway for a crowd pleasing dunk on the half time buzzer.

It was Morrison who got the Lakers back in reach, scoring 5 straight to start the second half. The third quarter also saw the athleticism of Derozan on full display when he converted a Roko Ukic lob. Lakers second round pick Chinemelu Elonu made 2 free throws to give the Lakers a 1 point advantage going into the final period.

While Monds was feeling good against O'Bryant, Derozan didn't have the best of finishes to the game, missing two shots in the final minute. McCauley's jumper with 14 seconds remaining gave the Lakers the lead and the win. Derozan couldn't convert and it was only Ukic's three at the final buzzer that made it a one point game.

Smush Parker was effective against his former team. He protected the ball, played strong on ball defense and got results more often than not. The notorious POB (O'Bryant) showed flashes with 15 points on 7-9 shooting, but still looks too lost and unaggressive to ever live up to his potential.

The Lakers only draft pick Elonu didn't show a great deal in his first run. He is physically impressive and will improve but his hands are of stone. Rebounding and shot blocking will be his calling but he may end up in Europe before making a real run in the league.

DeRozan missed some field goals and made a couple of costly turnovers however he is a great athlete, his shot will improve and he should only get better. He'll need time to get there though.