Game 4 - GSW vs. Chicago Bulls

Welcome to the Anthony Randolph show!  Staaaaarring Anthony Randolph! 

Fueled by a dominating offensive performance by AR (which tied for the highest scoring output in summer league history), the Dubs put away the Baby Bulls 95 - 83 despite a massive 40 -28 rebounding disadvantage.

Anthony Randolph - 42 pts (on 13-22), 3 rebs, 4 stls, 3 blks, 0 tos

Coming into this game, I felt like this would be AR's biggest challenge in summer league because the Bulls featured a frontline of their two physical first round picks, Taj Gibson and James Johnson.  From the very start of the game, AR played like he had a Sean May sized chip on his shoulder.  He seemed to take offense to all the banging that Taj Gibson was dishing out on him and he took it out the way he knows best, putting his full offensive arsenal on display tonight. 

This was the most aggressive I have ever seen AR play, both offensively and defensively.  He got to the line at a Dwayne Wade (circa the 2006 finals) rate (16 - 21 from the line) and seemed to be slashing to the hoop on every possession.  He did an excellent job finishing in the lane and managed some difficult and-1's, highlighted by the slam over Taj Gibson at the end of the first half that brought the house down.  Again, he was able to hit the 15 - 20 foot jumper pretty consistently, which makes him close to unstoppable, when he's also able to slash to the hoop at will.

Defensively AR was stellar on the perimeter, coming up with 4 stls, which led to several fast break attempts, including the off the backboard alley-oop from Curry to AR and the steal to seal the game in the fourth that resulted in a clear path foul.  He was also able to pull out several spectacular blocks, which has become the norm for him.  He did a much better job today of not falling for pump fakes and only leaving the floor after his man did.

The only thing that AR didn't do well tonight was rebound the ball.  Taj Gibson pushed AR around on the offensive glass, pulling down 7 offensive rebounds (12 total) compared to 3 defensive rebounds for AR.  That was the only chink in his armor tonight.

One thing he might want to work on is his balance.  His balance on his jumper seems off, which is why he's constantly ending up on his butt whether there's contact or not.

On a side note, the fans really wanted AR to break the scoring record and they booed Keith Smart for pulling him out of the game in the fourth quarter and were yelling at Curry when he didn't get him the ball on that last possession.

Stephen Curry - 10 pts (on 3 -15), 5 rebs, 8 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 4 tos

This was probably the worst Curry has played in summer league.  I think a lot of it has to be attributed to the fatigue of playing 4 games in 5 days, including back to back games, all of which he played heavy minutes.  There were several times in the game that Curry was visibly gassed, and had to pull himself out of the game.  His shots seemed to come up short most of the time and he lacked the explosiveness on his drives to the hoop that led to 3 out of 4 of his layup attempts getting blocked.

His FG shooting was the worst of his 4 games, but at least he managed to contribute in other ways.  He made a concerted effort to be a distributer and ran the pick and roll to perfection today.  The two-man game with AR was a thing of beauty, which they capped off with the off the backboard alley-oop.  The more they play together, the better they're making each other.  They seem to be building a good chemistry together and are constantly talking to each other during timeouts and dead balls, setting up plays and where each should be.

His perimeter defense was solid again, but he did have his share of lapses today.  He was a step slow on some of the rotations and allowed Demarcus Nelson to get into the lane more than I had seen from his man in the previous four games.  He was however tied for the team lead with 5 rebs.

Anthony Morrow - 10 pts (on 2-7), 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 tos

From the beginning of the game Morrow looked out of the flow of the game.  He was visibly frustrated at times (I'm not sure if it was at a teammate or himself) and never really got himself going.  He played heavy minutes yesterday and he is coming off an ankle injury so I won't be too harsh on him.  His threes weren't falling, he was getting trapped a lot and he was a step slow on defense.  I'll give him a pass for today and hope he's just working his way back into shape.

Joe Ingles - 10 pts (on 4-10), 5 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 tos

I guess the coaching staff had seen what they wanted to see out of Cartier Martin, because he didn't get off the bench today and Ingles got maximum burn (he played all 40 mins.)  He wasn't very memorable tonight, but that goes for anyone not named Anthony Randolph.  He had a really tough time guarding James Johnson (who impressed me being that it was the first time I had watched him play.)  I don't think he'll be making the team, but I do applaud his effort as he's constantly running around the court.

Today's recap is a little on the short side, but there really wasn't much else worth talking about in this game other than that Anthony Randolph guy ...

I'm looking forward to the NOH game because I think that will be Curry's biggest test of summer league, going up against Darren Collison.  I'm hoping the day of rest does him some good and he finds his shooting stroke again.