Phoenix Suns fall to Golden State in inaugural Summer League championship
Jul 23, 2013, 4:09 AM | Updated: 6:49 pm
The third-seeded Phoenix Suns fell to the top-seeded Golden State Warriors 91-77 in the inaugural NBA Summer League championship game.
Ian Clark led the Warriors in scoring with 33 points (including 7-10 three-pointers) off the bench and won the Most Valuable Player award of the championship game. Clark averaged just nine points a game going into Monday’s contest.
The Suns were down only four going into the fourth quarter before the Warriors took control of the game.
Suns first round draft pick Archie Goodwin continued his strong play in the Summer Geague by leading the team with 18 points on 6-11 shooting.
Marcus Morris scored 17 points on 7-15 shooting with two three-pointers, while Markieff Morris added 10 points and seven rebounds, but shot 3-11.
P.J. Tucker said before Summer League started that he was only going to play a couple of games, but he saw extended time all the way through the end. He scored 12 points with five rebounds in the championship game, playing almost 24 minutes.
Kendall Marshall started the game, but coach Jeff Hornacek went with Diante Garrett to start the second half at point guard. Marshall finished with just two points and four assists on 1-4 shooting. Garrett’s stats weren’t much better: Four points and one assist.
The Suns were a perfect 6-0 before Monday’s loss.
Jonas Valanciunas of the Toronto Raptors was named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Summer League. He played in four games averaging 18.8 points and 10 rebounds.
Kent Bazemore (Golden State), John Henson (Milwaukee), Jeff Taylor (Charlotte) and Cody Zeller (Charlotte) joined Valanciunas as members of the All-NBA Summer League 2013 Team.
