The Atlanta Hawks’ Summer League journey continued with another victory on Sunday afternoon as they defeated the Phoenix Suns 98-80 — a convincing win in which the Hawks held a comfortable advantage for much of the proceedings. Asa Newell lead the Hawks in scoring with 18 points to go along with 11 rebounds, while Nikola Durisic added an efficient 16 points. For the Suns, Oso Ighadoro led with 18 points, with notable Suns Summer League roster members such as Ryan Dunn and Khaman Maluach sidelined
for this contest.
With Summer League, it’s not so much about the final result and what it took to get there that is most noteworthy when discussing these games, it’s typically about how the players individually perform, so we’ll have a chat about some of the individual performances from this spot starting with the more positive performances.
Asa Newell’s improved outing
23rd overall selection and Atlanta draft selection Asa Newell improved upon his Summer League debut on Friday against Miami with a more efficient and productive output against the Suns: 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
It was in the second half where Newell began to make his mark on this game, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half. He found confidence with the three-pointer, draining this open three in the third quarter in the corner:
From the opposite corner this time, Newell is much more closely contested as the ball is kicked out to him on the drive, but has no problem dispatching the three once again:
To finish his strong shooting display from three in the fourth quarter, Newell hits another corner three after a good pass from Bufkin, and a solid screen from Durisic to maintain some space for Newell to hit the shot:
It was also encouraging to see Newell with taking on some of the onus scoring himself inside the arc.
Off of a Suns miss, Bufkin delivers the ball promptly to Newell, who takes the ball inside himself, backs down his man on the block and hits a tough shot off glass to score:
In a halfcourt setting this time, Newell drives inside from the perimeter, fakes the pass to the baseline, and extends to evade the defense and finish at the rim:
Postgame, Hawks Summer League head coach Bryan Bailey talked about the confidence the Hawks have in Newell taking the three-pointer.
“He’s got a good looking stroke, we encourage him to shoot those shots and he doesn’t hesitate,” said Bailey on Newell’s shooting. “Especially when he has different guys on him, he’s in space and he’s capable of making those shots.”
Newell himself discussed the work he’s put into improving his three-point shot.
“I’ve been in the gym a lot working on my feet, my release, my timing,” said Newell of his three-point shooting. “Everything was clicking so I just have confidence in my shot.”
Overall, this was a much improved showing from Newell, who highlighted watching film and less pregame jitters as reasons for his improved outing.
“It was just watching film and talking to myself about the things I need to take to the next game,” said Newell. “It was a bunch of jitters first game, (Friday) was my first game since March Madness. It’s just getting back into the routine.”
Djurisic’s ups and downs
Similar to Newell, Nikola Djurisic enjoyed an efficient night scoring the ball: 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 1-of-1 from three, 5-of-5 from the line and was a plus-29 on the game in 27 minutes.
“First game I was bad,” said Djurisic postgame. “I wasn’t feeling myself at all, I was tripping up and down the court. This game, I was feeling it. I just came in better prepared.”
Djurisic hit some tough shots, and the manner in which he got to his spots was encouraging.
Here, Durisic uses the screen and though is a bit slow to get into his shot and allows the defender to come back to him and put up a good contest, but Djurisic drains the three:
On this play, Djurisic gets free under the rim and when the ball is delivered to him he has to work out some space, which he does so by using a nice fake to get the defender off his feet and then finishes at the rim:
Next, a strong, quick burst from Djurisic sheds him of his man and he gets into his mid-range jumper:
Djurisic certainly doesn’t lack confidence, and he demonstrates that here as he receives the ball and pulls up in transition for a long two:
Djurisic even got himself a block, closing out well and covering ground with his contest to block this shot:
While these are encouraging plays from Djurisic, he’s one of those players who has some bad plays creep in, such as this lazy defensive possession where he picks up beyond mid-court and just doesn’t make any effort defensively as the shot is made:
On the drive, Djurisic gets himself into a crowd and turns the ball over:
Overall, it was a good game from Djurisic but I’d always advise caution when it comes to his game because the shooting isn’t always this efficient and when it’s not the bad plays stand out a lot more than they would after a performance like last night
Positive Kobe Johnson plays
Not too much to say here compared to Newell and Djurisic, but I did enjoy some of Kobe Johnson’s work on Sunday, specifically some of the deflections he created, in addition to coming up with two steals.
Here, Johnson anticipates where the pass is likely to be headed and extends to deflect the pass:
Johnson continues to show his activity and anticipation as he extends his length to deflect the pass into the backcourt:
This time, Johnson is able to use his athletic tools to pounce upon a loose pass, comes up with the steal and streaks ahead to dunk in transition:
Again, Johnson anticipates the pass-pass back and comes up with another steal but his leading pass forward results in a turnover:
Johnson finished the game with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting but it was his defense that was a highlight yesterday, clamping down on possessions such as this one:
I’d certainly like to see a little more of Kobe Johnson coming up — playing just 12 minutes on Sunday — to see a little more of his athleticism and defensive instincts on display.
Bufkin’s struggles continue
The most regrettable of takeaways from this game however is the fact that Kobe Bufkin again really struggled, and this game was especially bad in that regard. I’ll preface any criticisms of Bufkin’s shooting performance by saying he was good in a facilitating role last night, dishing out nine assists with just one turnover. From that perspective Bufkin was solid.
From an offensive perspective shooting the ball however, it was incredibly difficult to watch at times, especially in the fourth quarter. Bufkin finished with 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting and 0-of-5 from three. Some of these misses are shots that Bufkin just missed — some open threes, a floater/runner that doesn’t fall but an acceptable shot to take — and other missed shots were just poor decisions to take them in the first play as it appeared desperation crept into Bufkin’s game as he tried to layup his way out of his slump.
It started early on with this ill-advised, off-balance shot where Bufkin drives to his right and gets to the baseline, attempting a shot as he’s falling for which he’s not going to get a foul call:
Bufkin, time and time again, just couldn’t stop himself from driving into the paint and attempting a shot within reach of the shot-blocker, the first of many blocked shots would come on this play as he drives inside into two defenders and is blocked by Khalif Battle:
Next, Bufkin gets the screen up top and drives towards the rim but again takes a shot in close proximity of the defender and his shot is blocked out of bounds:
Bufkin had a good game passing the ball but on possessions like this you’d like to see him maybe swing the ball out to Jacob Toppin instead of attempting a shot in traffic.
In transition, the streaking Bufkin sees another opportunity to try get to the rim but the defense is able to get back, and Bufkin tries to sneak in another shot at the rim but it’s blocked by Moses Wood for one of his five blocks on the game:
Here, Bufkin tries to get a switch on the screen with the clock winding down, and has to take it inside. He swivels to try find an opening and despite the help defender present he again attempts a shot close to the rim which is blocked again by Wood:
This time, Bufkin does get a more separation from the on-ball defender and drives inside but his hesitation keeps Wood close to Bufkin, and Bufkin again attempts an ill-advised shot which Wood swallows up for another block:
Not inside the paint this time, but this attempted three in the corner when Bufkin had plenty of time to set himself up before the corner three was another poor shot to take and fittingly resulted in an airball:
Adages similar to: ‘it can’t get worse, may as well keep shooting,’ or, ‘shoot yourself out of the cold streak,’ I don’t think are applicable here. It can always be worse. So many of those shots, especially in the fourth quarter, were just bad shots waiting to be blocked; they screamed desperation. Shots like these can’t be linked to ‘just coming back from injury’ because they have nothing to do with Bufkin’s injuries: they’re poor decision shots.
This three, while not great to airball a wide open three, I’m inclined to think are more likely be injury-related:
The ones showed above? Not as much, nor plays like this where Bufkin just steps out of bounds after the Hawks had literally possession returned to them when Yuri Collins stepped on the same sideline out of bounds:
Plays like this you could understand from a rookie or a Summer League invite not part of an NBA roster. But Bufkin is heading into his third year in the league; he’s played meaningful minutes and has had meaningful moments in the NBA. He just has to be better than his performance on Sunday.
The Hawks (2-0) are back in action later this afternoon as they take on the Houston Rockets (0-2). With this being a back-to-back, I think it would be safe to assume some players who featured on Sunday may be rested today, allowing for others who haven’t seen as much Summer League time so far to showcase their talents.
Until next time!
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