The Memphis Grizzlies’ Summer League run ended one win shy of the title on Sunday. Cameron Boozer’s potential game-winning three missed in the final seconds, giving the Golden State Warriors a 94-90 win at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.Boozer led the Grizzlies with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. The final play ended when Olivier-Maxence Prosper’s inbound pass went out of bounds, sealing Golden State’s win. Memphis finished summer play at 4-2. “I’ve got to find a way to assert myself more,” Boozer said. “At the end, I got two great looks, but they didn’t fall. We lost, but this is why I love the game. It was high-intensity and back-and-forth.”Golden State’s comeback was led by Yaxel Lendeborg, who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He helped reverse Memphis’ late third-quarter double-digit lead, extended by Boozer’s three-pointer. Lendeborg made a key impact in the fourth quarter, sinking three baskets to shift the game, tied at halftime, in favor of Golden State.”Their butts got tight,” Lendeborg said of the Grizzlies’ finish. “They puckered up. Some of us are built for the moment and some aren’t. Our spirit, our will, our desire to not lose is pretty much what helped us out.”Deivon Smith scored 21 points off the bench, and LJ Cryer also reached double figures, giving the Warriors five scorers in double digits.The win was payback for Lendeborg, whose Michigan team had lost to Boozer’s Duke in February before Wolverines won the national championship this spring.”I think about it every time I play him,” Lendeborg said. “It is a competitive nature with everybody that gets drafted ahead of me.”Davion Mitchell previously was the only player to win an NCAA Division I championship and a Las Vegas summer league title in the same year — a feat Lendeborg achieved Sunday.The Warriors’ second Summer League title matches only the Kings and Trail Blazers since 2013. Golden State is 5-1 in Las Vegas.Warriors summer league coach Khalid Robinson highlighted Lendeborg’s competitive nature as crucial to the Grizzlies’ third-quarter advantage.”His skill set, his physical profile, his size for his position and his competitive spirit,” Robinson said, explaining why Lendeborg’s game translates. “You saw it tonight: We were in a hole, and that competitive spirit kicked in. Yaxel said, ‘Let’s get to it.'”Boozer and the Grizzlies’ runner-up finish marked a productive summer as Memphis rebuilds around rookies for next season.
Content Source: Yahoo News
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