LAS VEGAS \u2013 Although their Vegas Summer League campaign did not go exactly how they envisioned it, the Los Angeles Clippers ended their stint in Sin City on a high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Clippers rattled off wins in their last two games, finishing with a 3-2 record after defeating the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and the Minnesota Timberwolves, 128-120 in an overtime consolation thriller, on Friday at Thomas & Mack Center.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles led Minnesota by as many as 27 points in the third quarter before the Timberwolves \u2014 namely Jaylin Williams and Nate Santos \u2014 caught fire in a 41-point fourth-quarter effort, sending the game to a two-minute OT period.<\/p>\n
There, however, it was Sean Pedulla time for the Clippers. The second-year undrafted guard took matters into his own hands, with his 9-0 solo run all but securing the win for his team. The Timberwolves mustered just five points in OT.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was important [for us] to win this one,\u201d Pedulla said. \u201cGoing in, we were trying to win every game. Things happened, and it shook out how it shook out, but I think the only thing we could control was the controllables and winning the last game, putting our best foot forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pedulla was one of many standouts for the Clippers who \u2014 without Kobe Sanders \u2014 were desperate to jet back to the City of Angels with some positive momentum. Pedulla and second-year undrafted forward Norchad Omier posted their second straight games with double-doubles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pedulla\u2019s was to the tune of 24 points and 11 assists \u2014 along with five rebounds and six steals. He went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. Omier poured in 20 points \u2014 on 8-for-10 shooting (2-2 3PT) \u2014 and hauled in 15 boards. He also dished out five dimes.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Clippers\u2019 2026 NBA Draft No. 5 overall pick \u2014 Keaton Wagler \u2014 had his best scoring display of the summer, going for 26 points on 9-for-19 from the field to lead all scorers.<\/p>\n
Rookie second-rounders Nick Martinelli and Baba Miller earned honorable mentions. Martinelli tallied 18 points and six rebounds on an efficient 7-for-8 shooting. Miller added 15 points, four rebounds, and six assists.<\/p>\n
The Clippers looked like they were going to cruise to the finish line in the last 10 minutes of the game \u2014 leading 92-75 after three quarters \u2014 before an offensive avalanche from Minnesota spoiled the party.<\/p>\n
Having started the game 0-for-3 from the field, Timberwolves\u2019 Santos erupted for 13 points in the fourth quarter \u2014 including consecutive four-point plays. Williams (21 points) was a thorn in the Clippers\u2019 side all night, shooting 8-for-10 and 5-for-7 from three-point range.<\/p>\n
However, two triples and a tough-and-one lefty finish sandwiched in between from Pedulla voided all of Minnesota\u2019s hard work in overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith [Wagler off the floor], I could be the primary ball handler and pick on the matchups and be really aggressive,\u201d Pedulla said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what I did. [Omier] and everyone else did their job, setting screens and getting open, so I was just making plays off my teammates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wagler would have learned a lot about himself during his four games in Vegas. He averaged just shy of 20 points per game despite facing some criticism about his physicality and ability to create offense \u2014 both for himself and his teammates.<\/p>\n
But in true pro fashion, Wagler put his head down and responded on the court \u2014 producing his best body of work in the Clippers\u2019 finale.<\/p>\n
Wagler looked the most assertive and aggressive he has all summer offensively \u2014 made apparent by the most shot attempts of his young career coming against the Timberwolves. His body took a ton of contact throughout his stay in Vegas, a lot of it going under the officials’ noses, but he never stopped coming forward. That type of mental fortitude is sure to be a source of assurance for the Clippers\u2019 brass.<\/p>\n
Head coach Ty Lue \u2014 who was present for all of the Clippers\u2019 Summer League games \u2014 and his staff have a lot of big roster decisions to make in the near future with the Kawhi Leonard trade to Toronto pending.<\/p>\n
But as far as auditions go, Lue couldn\u2019t have asked for a lot more from this young Clippers squad.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 Although their Vegas Summer League campaign did not go exactly how they envisioned it, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":943039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[272737,281109,3142,1260,35848,50,238862,379844,62,221422,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-943038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-baba-miller","tag-keaton-wagler","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-nba","tag-nba-summer-league","tag-news","tag-nick-martinelli","tag-sean-pedulla","tag-sports","tag-tst-las-vegas","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116940248420318105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}