Bilal Coulibaly’s clutch shot lifts Wizards over Celtics in Summer League originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
LAS VEGAS — The Washington Wizards beat the Boston Celtics 103-98 on Sunday night in the Las Vegas Summer League. Here are five takeaways from what went down…
Step forward
Sunday’s game between the Wizards and Celtics went exactly as Washington would hope any Summer League would go, as they not only played well and won, their top prospects each had standout performances.
Bilal Coulibaly (11 points, 5 rebounds) and Johnny Davis (14 points, 4 rebounds), their last two first round picks, each played well and so did Tristan Vukcevic (14 points, 8 rebounds), their 2023 second round pick. All three showed improvement in what was the Wizards’ second Summer League game and on the second night of a back-to-back.
Coulibaly even hit a shot to seal the win, as he used a stepback dribble to sink a baseline jumper with just six seconds to go. The Celtics were threatening, but Coulibaly extinguished their hopes.
He then had something to say to Wizards Summer League head coach Landon Tatum.
“He told me he’s a clutch player after he made the shot. Not too much I can say to that, he’s got a lot of confidence and I love that about him,” Tatum said. “When you step on the floor every night, if you don’t have that you’re done. So, for him to have that in this situation… he iced the game for us and gave us the win.”
Coulibaly’s offense
The athleticism, defense and transition offense was on display for Coulibaly in his first game on Saturday night. This game showed those traits and also much more in the halfcourt offense, as he was handed some primary ball-handler responsibilities, as promised by Tatum. They started giving the ball to Coulibaly a lot more in the second quarter and there were some positive early signs.
Right away, he knifed through the defense on a series of plays, first with a pull-up jumper from the elbow, which he missed. But right after that he got a few shots around the rim to go down, including a right-handed contested dunk and a right-handed hook in the lane which was an and-1. Coulibaly’s handle will have to develop over time, but he is comfortable going to his right. The Celtics defense pretty much couldn’t stay in front of him. They also lost him in transition multiple times, as he found daylight for breakaway slams.
Coulibaly’s blocks
When I interviewed former Wizards big man Anzejs Pasecniks, who played with Coulibaly in France, I was a bit surprised how much he emphasized Coulibaly’s ability to protect the rim. He didn’t block a ton of shots during his time with the Metropolitans 92, but Pasecniks said he can capably step in when a big man is pulled away from the basket to provide resistance. For all the skills Wizards general manager Will Dawkins gave Coulibaly on draft night and during his press conference, it wasn’t a central theme.
So far in the Summer League, Pasecniks is being proven extremely accurate as some of Coulibaly’s best plays have been blocked. He skied way above the rim against the Pacers to block Kendall Brown on the fastbreak in the first game and in this one drew a collective ‘oh!’ from the crowd when he stuffed Jay Scrubb at the rim. Granted, it’s not like Coulibaly is going toe-to-toe with LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo in these games, but it looks like rim protection could be part of his impact at the NBA level.
Here’s a theory why he didn’t showcase his shot-blocking much with the Metro 92s: he had some guy named Victor Wembanyama on his team. You don’t need to protect the rim much when you have a 7-foot-5 generational prospect holding things down in the middle.
The Wizards, by the way, play the Spurs next on Tuesday.
Vukcevic showed more
Vukcevic had himself a nice game after shooting 2-for-7 in the opener and having some teaching moments, particularly on defense. He was much more aggressive looking for his own shot against Boston and regularly got open for good shots.
Vukcevic moved well without the ball to find open space on the perimeter and in the lane. He also did an excellent job running the floor in transition. It was there that he displayed some nimble moves around the rim to evade defenders. In the first half he caught the ball on the left side of the basket, used a pass fake and Eurostep to get an open layup off the glass. In the second half, he blew past a defender by bringing the ball across his body, again with a Eurostep. That’s not bad at all for a seven-footer.
“I was more aggressive, for sure. I was kind of nervous yesterday in my first game. My shots didn’t hit, but they will hit one day,” Vukcevic said.
Davis good again
Davis is quickly putting what happened in last year’s Summer League behind him, as he followed up a strong performance against the Pacers with a solid one on Sunday. Davis again got to his spots in the midrange at will, regularly finishing through contact and around contests from defenders. He also made a pair of threes, although he shot 6-for-16 on the night.
This game showed more from Davis on the defensive end. He was physical and active and broke loose for several breakaway plays off steals. Davis had three steals for the game, as the Celtics had trouble with his quickness and strength on the perimeter. It wasn’t against a Celtics team devoid of blue chip prospects, but it was encouraging nonetheless given disruptive defense was a big part of why he was a top-10 pick.