Jazz 87, Bucks 71: Rodney Hood's big game propels Jazz to blowout win over winless Bucks

Box Score

The Bucks had pretty high hopes going into this Summer League, armed with a handful of promising young players with exciting potential. They were not only hoping to put on a show with said talent, but were also hoping to collect a few wins along the way. Well, the pool play portion of Summer League is over, and not only have the Bucks failed to collect a win yet, but they also haven't looked really capable of getting one either.

Tonight was built up as another prospect showdown, as Jabari Parker and Dante Exum took the floor in front of a surprisingly crowded Thomas & Mack Center. Though all the attention was set on those two, the game quickly changed into a "Who could Rudy Gobert swallow up at the rim?" fest. Gobert was a pest on defense, crashing the boards with high intensity and challenging every shot within "arm's length", which by my estimations comes out to roughly 100 feet. Gobert also pulled a "Miles Plumlee," blocking both Parker and Giannis in a two-minute stretch, while also crushing the good vibes of Bucks fans tuning in.

After Gobert slowed down a little bit, Rodney Hood found his shooting stroke and did not let up, pouring in 29 points on 11-16 shooting and 7-10 from behind the arc. Though Hood seemed capable of hitting from anywhere on the court at times, he was also helped by frequently being left pretty open. Hood really caught fire in the third, and it helped blow the game open. The Bucks trailed by nineteen after the third quarter and, though they didn't appear to have enough to win anyhow, really sealed their fate after that.

Outside of Giannis, who had another solid performance (15p/5a/4r/3s), nobody really had much of an impact on the game. Jabari Parker had 14 points on 6-14 shooting, but nobody else was able to help out. Giannis, though. That was fun, wasn't it?

Additional observations:

• Giannis doesn't usually have problems with opponents' length, but told reporters after the game that Rudy Gobert gave him a hard time. Giannis said that it was the first time that he could remember where he couldn't see the basket as he was attacking it. Giannis also appeared somewhat dejected during the interview. As he was leaving, he delivered what might be the saddest line of Summer League so far: "The last time I won a game was 4 months ago."
• :(
• Parker had a less sloppy game tonight, but he still seems to have a hard time creating chances to score. It would help if he had more than one guard who could gain the respect of a defense, but Parker also will need to work on getting himself in a good position to score. His shooting stroke is fine, but it would be nice if he wouldn't rely on it to get himself going, you know? It will be okay, though. Nobody should be expecting him to dominate by his third pro game. He'll be fine.
• Johnny O'Bryant reminds me of Brandon Bass a little bit. Big, surprisingly agile, decent touch. Here's the big difference between them, though. Bass is clearly a power forward, while O'Bryant is getting played at center. It is not going well. It makes me sad.
• Hey, here's Damien Inglis in a big walking boot:

• The Bucks have an off day tomorrow, but should pick up tournament play on Wednesday. Given that they're probably one of the lowest seeds, my guess is they'll play at 3:00/3:30 or 5:00/5:30 p.m. Nothing has been made official yet, though