- Simba French
- 4 hrs ago
- 0
One night after Eric ‘EJ’ Gordon made his debut for the Phoenix Suns, a professional basketball player with Bahamian roots, Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield and DeAndre Ayton got their seasons underway for their respective teams.
Hield, who hails from Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama, saw action for the Indiana Pacers and fellow Bahamian Ayton was on the court for his new team, the Portland Trail Blazers in National Basketball Association (NBA) action on Wednesday.
Hield came off the bench and led the bench unit with 14 points, going 5-for-9 from the field, including 4-for-7 from deep. He had five assists and two rebounds. He also came away with a steal and a block.
The shooting guard checked into the game at the 6:35 mark of the first quarter when the Wizards led 16-10. He wasted no time in getting his first field goal of the game which was a made three-point shot at 6:09 mark of that period, cutting the Wizards lead down to three points, 16-13. The Wizards led 39-34 at the end of the first quarter.
The Pacers took the lead in the second quarter, going up 50-49 with 6:09 left in that period. They never trailed after that. They went up 73-68 at the end of the first half, thanks to a 39-29 second-quarter advantage. The Pacers increased their lead to 110-96 at the end of three and they never looked back.
Bruce Brown led the way for the Pacers with 24 points while Kyle Kuzma had 25 points in the loss for the Wizards.
A look at the stats show the Pacers nailing 20 three-point shots which was 11 more than the Wizards. The 143 points scored by the Pacers was the highest scored by any team in a season opener since 1990. Eight players finished in double figures for the Pacers, including Hield.
Next up for the Pacers is a battle against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. That game will be played at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ayton’s debut for his new team got off to a slow start as he finished with just four points in 23 minutes but grabbed 12 rebounds. He battled foul trouble on the night. Ayton went 2-for-4 from the field and had three steals and a block.https://be471305ac8cdd601ad57309a08c5e4e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
The Blazers never led in this game – the Clippers led by as much as 30 points.
Ayton did not attempt a shot until the 11:24 mark of the second quarter. He hit a jump shot to cut the Clippers lead to seven, 29-22. That was his only made shot in the first half. He picked up his fourth foul in that first half and that limited his contribution. At the end of the first half, the Clippers led 67-47.
Ayton scored his final two points of the night in the fourth quarter on an alley-oop lay up. The game was over at that point as the Clippers led 102-81.
The Clippers had 36 assists on 47 made shots as they got the looks that they wanted.
Gordon and the Suns got a big road win to open their season. Gordon contributed 10 points in the win on Tuesday. He was 4-for-16 from the field and made two three-point shots in 32 minutes on the floor. He had one steal and a blocked shot.
The Suns were in action last night, taking on the Lakers in another road game. The score was unavailable up to press time.