Marquette Basketball In The 2017 NBA Orlando Summer League: July 6

Dallas Mavericks 96, Oklahoma City Thunder 75 - The Mavericks got hot early, built a monster 20+ point lead in the first quarter, let OKC make it look competitive, then blew them out in the fourth quarter to clinch the top spot in the Orlando Summer League at the end of pool play.

The only drama in the game was whether or not the Thunder could wander all the way back in after trailing by 23 at the end of the first 10 minute session. They managed to cut it down to single digits in the third quarter, trailing 51-42 at the six minute mark, but an 8-0 run by the Mavs pretty much snuffed out all life for OKC.

Marquette’s very own Dwight Buycks contributed 11 points to the winning effort on this day, along with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals. None of those are team highs, but it’s a pretty good stat stuffing kind of line where nine different players saw at least 13 minutes of action in the 40 minute game.

Zip on over to the official NBA.com recap page for a full highlight package and a spotlight on a fadeaway jumper in the lane from Buycks.

Detroit Pistons 87, Charlotte Hornets 82 - The Hornets almost had a chance to win this one, but the Pistons had former Marquette forward Henry Ellenson on the court. The big man from Rice Lake went wild to the tune of a game high 29 points, plus six rebounds and a steal as Detroit slipped past the Hornets to earn a spot in Thursday’s championship game against Dallas.

The big development in Ellenson’s 12-of-20 shooting performance on Wednesday afternoon was his long distance accuracy. It’s something he struggled with at Marquette and with Grand Rapids in the G-League as well, but he went 4-for-8 on three-point attempts in this game, which just helps make everything easier for the highly skilled Ellenson.

He didn’t just have the high score of the day. Ellenson also made the winning plays when the Pistons needed him. He had a jumper with 2:26 left to play after Charlotte had whittled a 12 point deficit down to just two, and then Ellenson’s floater with 47 seconds left gave the Pistons a four point lead yet once again. That was all the space and time that Detroit needed to be able to close things out from the free throw line.

The win gives Detroit enough points to be able to grab the second spot in Thursday’s Orlando League championship game. This is fantastic news for Marquette fans, as it means we will get the Buycks vs Ellenson head to head battle that we were denied due to the scheduling in pool play.

The official NBA.com recap page has a full highlight package for you, plus a postgame interview with Henry Ellenson.

Today’s Game (all times Central)

1pm: Dallas vs Detroit