Cotton rallies Jazz to overtime win over Sixers in Lyles' summer league debut


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SALT LAKE CITY — Maybe the sense of urgency was lost on the Jazz as Philadelphia took a 70-68 lead with 3:46 left Thursday night. After all, it’s just a summer game.

Somebody forgot to tell that to Bryce Cotton, though.

Cotton scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in two minutes of regulation and the two-minute overtime period to help the Utah Jazz hustle past the 76ers, 84-78, and finish a perfect 3-0 at the Utah Jazz Summer League at EnergySolutions Arena.

“I think we definitely ended on a good note,” said Cotton, who also finished with five rebounds, five assists and two steals. “This game definitely showed a testament to our character. Perseverance in the last minute. We are definitely a team, nobody is selfish. I think the chemistry is what is helping us so far.”

In addition to his scoring down the stretch, Cotton set up the game-tying play with his pass to Jack Cooley that drew a foul to send the big man to the charity stripe with 21 seconds left. The Notre Dame product converted both foul shots to tie the game at 74-74, and Cotton took over in overtime to help his team surge to the win in the first summer league in Utah since 2008.

“The summer league games are hard to replicate,” Jazz summer league coach Alex Jensen said. “It adds a little bit more pressure for a 19- or 20-year-old in these types of situations; that’s why it’s invaluable. You can spend a lot of the summer in the gym, but you can’t replicate these situations.”

After Jordan McRae’s go-ahead dunk late in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia’s J.P. Tokoto finished off four-straight points with an alley-oop dunk to go up 74-68 with only 2:09 left in regulation.

That’s when Cotton put on his Superman cape.

“Ever since I’ve been around him, he always plays hard,” Jensen said of Cotton. “I think he’s always trying to earn a spot. He plays just as hard in the summer league as he does during the season. It makes him fun to be around. He truly loves to play and compete.”

Cotton had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his 3-pointer effort that swished through the net was called back when Jensen called a timeout after the Jazz forced one of their 25 turnovers as Sixers standout draft pick Jahlil Okafor drove against Cooley in the closing seconds.

Utah Jazz forward Trey Lyles rushes the ball up the court during the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers Summer League basketball game at EnergySolutions Arena on Thursday, July 9, 2015 in Salt Lake City. (Stacie Scott/Deseret News)
Utah Jazz forward Trey Lyles rushes the ball up the court during the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers Summer League basketball game at EnergySolutions Arena on Thursday, July 9, 2015 in Salt Lake City. (Stacie Scott/Deseret News)

Jensen, who is in his second season as Jazz summer league head coach, laughed at his miscue, adding that summer basketball is as much about coaching development as it is for the players.

“I wanted to take advantage of the new advance rule,” Jensen said with a good-natured laugh. “But I hesitated for a second. Just like I talk about the players: They’re learning and so am I. But it won’t happen again.”

Cooley finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot for Utah, which got 12 points from JaJuan Johnson and 10 points from Trey Lyles.

The Kentucky forward made his first career start in a Jazz uniform Thursday after signing his rookie contract Tuesday night, and he scored his first professional point on a free throw less than 30 seconds into his debut off the bench.

“The first little bit, I was kind of nervous,” Lyles said. “But after I got settled in I was fine and got comfortable knowing I had some freedom. It was good.”

Lyle added his first make from the field on fade-away jumper with 5:03 left in the first half to give the Jazz a 10-point lead. The home team built up a 42-34 halftime lead in front of 12,128 fans — a summer-league record in Utah.

“It’s great that we had support like that for a summer-league game,” Lyles said of the home crowd. “It got us really looking forward to the season.”

McRae led the Sixers (1-2) with 19 points and two steals, and Okafor added 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals — but he also had six turnovers in an up-and-down performance on the final night of the Utah summer league.

Furkan Aldemir pulled down 15 rebounds for Philadelphia, and Jerami Grant and T.J. McConnell each scored 10 for the visitors.

The Jazz move on to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas for the first game Saturday at 8:30 p.m. MT against the Miami Heat at Cox Pavilion at UNLV. New signing Raul Neto, who signed with the Jazz on Thursday, will join the team in Las Vegas but he will not play with the youngsters.

“It’s the same thing; just 94 feet, two hoops,” Cotton said. “You’ve still got to play basketball.”

BOSTON 85, SAN ANTONIO 71 — When Marcus Smart gets going, he’s a game-changer.

It took the first 10 minutes Thursday night, but he showed that quality in his Summer League finale in Salt Lake City.


I just needed to see the ball go through one time, just one time — any way, a free throw, a floater, anything. I got a good look off a kick out and settled in early.

–Celtics guard R.J. Hunter


Smart scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second quarter to help the Celtics overcome the Spurs and pick up their first summer league win of the year at the Utah Jazz Summer League at EnergySolutions Arena.

“We lost our first two games,” said Smart, who also had a game-high seven assists for the Celtics. “We didn’t play well, so we tried to make sure we came out on the last day, last game, to give it our all and make sure we do all the little things right and secure a win.”

R.J. Hunter, who was scoreless in Boston’s first two games this summer, finished with 18 points for the Celtics (1-2), who drafted him with the No. 28 overall pick in last month’s NBA draft.

“I just needed to see the ball go through one time, just one time — any way, a free throw, a floater, anything,” said Hunter, who mailed four 3-pointers on the night. “I got a good look off a kick out and settled in early.”

Terry Rozier added 16 points and seven assists for Boston.

Smart scored seven points to help the Celtics end the first half on a 14-1 run, including assisting on Jordan Mickey’s go-ahead dunk with 1:27 remaining, to take their first lead of the game at 36-34.

San Antonio (1-2) jumped to the hot start and took a 10-3 lead in the first 4:29 of the game behind a quick four points each from Cady Lalanne and Shannon Scott.

Lalanne, who finished with a team-high 13 points to go along with four rebounds, gave the Spurs a 28-18 lead with 8:14 left in the first half on back-to-back jumpers from just inside the 3-point line.

But Smart woke up after that point, leading the charge down the stretch of the first 20 minutes to give his team a lead it would never relinquish.

Roscoe Smith added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench for San Antonio, and Kyle Anderson supplied nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals for the Spurs.

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