The Pistons’ third game in this Las Vegas Summer League was an opportunity for Ausar Thompsonfifth choice of the Draft to blacken his line of stats a little more in the absence of the Ivey-Wiseman-Duren trio.
Facing the Raptors, Amen Thompson’s twin quickly distinguished himself with an interception followed by a dazzling counter-attack concluded by an alley-oop to launch his own. His activity on both sides of the floor did not prevent Toronto from taking the lead at the break thanks to the Dick-Nembhard-Gueye trio, and the construction site of Moses Brown under the panels (42-54).
Still at +17 at -5 minutes from the end of the third quarter (50-67) after a basket from RJ Nembhard (seen in Betclic Elite at Fos-sur-Mer this season), Toronto ended up cracking.
A good passage from Malcolm Cazalon
Marcus Sasser initiated and concluded a 10-0 which was then enhanced by a 3-pointer from Ausar Thompson at the buzzer in the third quarter (67-73). After the good passage of Malcolm Cazalon (7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) to start the last act, Ausar Thompson distinguished himself with a dunk, before missing a few opportunities to bring his people closer. He finally redeemed himself at the end with an important counter on Moses Brown before scoring the equalizing basket on the counterattack (87-87).
In the snatch, Marcus Sasser and Jared Rhoden (15 and 18 points) managed to validate the “comeback” of the Pistons, winners 94-90. In 31 minutes, Ausar Thompson for his part delivered his most complete game of this Summer League with 17 points at 7/14 on shots (1/4 at 3-pointers), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks even if he also lost 7 balls.
“When I can’t score, I want to be able to do all the other things. I want to stay on the floor! Even if I am very confident in my attacking game, in these matches, I was not there. When it counts, I should show something else”he said after the meeting.
