Sixers.com's Ryan O'Neil recaps some of the standout individual moments from the tournament round of the MGM Resorts NBA Summer League.
Korkmaz Converts Clutch And-1
Down by two with less than 10 seconds to play in their second-round game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the 76ers inbounded the ball to Jonah Bolden on the left wing. Furkan Korkmaz cut towards the ball, and Bolden passed to him.
With only a handful of ticks remaining on the clock, Korkmaz immediately put the ball on the ground. His first dribble took him away from the basket, and got his defender off balance, taking him out of an optimal defensive stance.
Korkmaz proceeded to capitalize by pulling up for a right-handed runner right before reaching the paint. He got bumped on both sides while in the act of shooting, but managed to score the basket anyway, setting up a game-winning free throw.
3-Pointer Books Win vs Phoenix
By summer league standards, Demetrius Jackson is a veteran, and his poise showed late in the fourth quarter of the Sixers’ first tournament game against the Suns.
On this particular play, he was trapped after coming off of a high ball-screen, but didn’t panic. He simply pump-faked, pivoted around the defender, and swung the ball to Isaiah Miles.
Askia Booker, who was in the corner, was left wide-open after his defender ran to Miles.
Miles made the extra pass to Booker, who calmly knocked down the 3-pointer to give the previously winless Sixers their first win of the summer.
Jackson - Pelle Create Impressive Connection
Demetrius Jackson impressed all week with his ball-screen play. Midway through the second-quarter of the Sixers’ second-round game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Jackson had his most eye-catching moment.
Norvel Pelle came up to set a ball-screen for Jackson, but slipped before making contact with Jackson’s defender.
Pelle’s slip to the basket created space for Jackson, who split the double-team to get into the paint. He then ball-faked to Pelle, gave a slight head-fake towards the corner, and shuffled a no-look pass to the cutting big man, who threw down a powerful dunk.
More Power from Pelle
Throughout summer league, the Sixers ran effective inbounds plays. In this instance against the Memphis Grizzlies, Elijah Bryant ran off of a Norvel Pelle screen, which briefly occupied Pelle’s defender. Already buried in a help position, Pelle’s defender was further pinned down by a Demetrius Jackson screen, which set up Pelle for an emphatic alley-oop from Zhaire Smith.
Oliver Uses Subtle Details to Set Up Slam
It’s one of the unwritten rules of basketball: reward the big man who runs the floor and gets out in transition.
In the first quarter of the Sixers’ game against Milwaukee, Cam Oliver beat everyone down the court, but didn’t find himself available for a pass. But Oliver wasn’t discouraged.
He immediately posted up his smaller defender, who tried to skip around Oliver to steal the post-entry pass.
Oliver adeptly used his bigger body to keep the defender from the ball, and then took one dribble before adding a one-handed hammer to his collection of impressive dunks this summer.