3 takeaways: Johnny Furphy has best dunk of Summer League, Kam Jones has best game so far
The Pacers fell to 1-2 with their fourth game coming 4:30 p.m., Thursday against the Knicks. The Bulls improved to 1-2.
Bulls rookie forward Noa Essengue added 21 points. Guard Javon Freeman-Liberty had18 points, eight rebounds and five assists and point guard Yuki Kawamura had 15 points and 10 assists off the bench.
Guard RayJ Dennis posted 20 points, five assists and three steals to lead the Pacers. Rookie guard Kam Jones had 18 points and six assists. Forward Enrique Freeman had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Doyel: Myles Turner left Pacers for Bucks without much class, and keeps making it worse
Pacers vs. Bulls stats, box score: How did Johnny Furphy, Kam Jones do?
Here are three observations.
Johnny Furphy had just three buckets in the first half of Monday's game, but all of them were loud.
The 6-9 wing from Australia by way of Kansas drilled a 3-pointer from the right elbow with 4:03 to go in the first quarter and immediately followed that up by stealing the ball from Chicago's Matas Buzelis, threw the ball ahead and then ran down the floor and threw down a tomahawk dunk.
Then in the second quarter, Furphy had an even more impressive dunk. He grabbed a defensive rebound, put the ball behind his back around the 3-point line, cocked the ball back almost to his hip and threw down over top of Bulls rookie Noa Essengue, the Frenchman the Bulls picked with the No. 12 pick in this year's draft.
Furphy scored more in the second half and finished with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. He had a few mishaps, twice fouling Buzelis on 3-point shots with the Bulls forward converting one of those into a four-point play. However, he's still showing speed in transition, sharp movement off the ball in the halfcourt and physicality on both ends as he tries to put himself in the conversation for rotation minutes this season.
The Pacers' No. 38 overall pick in the draft Kam Jones had a relatively quiet first two games, but he responded Monday with his strongest performance to date.
The former Marquette star is known as a streaky shooter, but in this case he was positively streaky as he knocked down four of his five 3-point attempts. He's also known as a crafty scorer in the lane and in particular around the rim and he showed that off with some particularly smooth finishes in that area of the floor.
Jones finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also dished out six assists and recorded three steals. He had some issues with turnovers, committing six, but he showed signs he could be a bucket-getter off the bench.
Enrique Freeman is going to have to fight to keep his two-way contract and Taelon Peter is giving him a run for his money, but the former Akron star posted his second-straight double-double. The Summer League game obviously gives him a better shot of not being overpowered as he tends to be undersized in the frontcourt during NBA games, but he is taking advantage around the rim on offense and on the glass on defense.
Freeman scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, knocking down 2-of-3 3-point shots, and grabbed 10 rebounds including eight on the defensive end. He also dished out two assists, recorded a steal and blocked two shots showing good activity on the defensive end. He'll have to keep fighting to keep his spot, but he's making a good case for himself in the past two games.
Thursday, July 10: Pacers 116, Cavs 115 (takeaways; box score)
Saturday, July 12: Thunder 104, Pacers 85 (takeaways; box score)
Monday, July 14: Bulls 114, Pacers 105
Thursday, July 17: Pacers vs. Knicks, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN+)
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