Aussie Duop Reath impresses in NBA debut for Portland Trail Blazers
Australia’s Duop Reath has impressed on his NBA debut, trying proper at residence in Portland’s slim 116-110 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday (AEDT).
Reath, who performed for the Illawarra Hawks within the NBL and was a part of the Boomers’ squad that gained a bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics, had been picked up by the Portland Trailblazers however was minimize from their predominant squad on the eve of the NBA season.
Giddey double-double sparks Thunder win | 00:56
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After impressing for Portland’s Rip City Remix workforce within the second tier G-League, the 27-year-old earned a call-up to make his NBA debut towards the Lakers.
Reath actually made essentially the most of his alternative, scoring 11 factors and selecting up three assists and three rebounds in a powerful first outing.
His first 9 factors got here by way of three-pointers and his capacity to stretch the court docket as a giant man prompted requires Reath to be elevated to Portland’s predominant roster as a backup centre to new recruit Deandre Ayton.
Reath might be set to get loads of minutes with extremely rated centre Robert Williams III set to endure knee surgical procedure and miss a big chunk of the season.
Reath and fellow Aussie Matisse Thybulle had been amongst six Trailblazers to attain 10 factors or extra, nevertheless it wasn’t fairly sufficient to recover from the road towards the Lakers, who had been lacking LeBron James attributable to a calf niggle.
Anthony Davis had 30 factors and 13 rebounds for LA, and he was aided by a Lakers supporting solid together with Austin Reaves (18 factors), Cam Reddish (18 factors) and Rui Hachimura (19 factors).
Elsewhere within the NBA, Aussie teen Dyson Daniels scored a profession excessive 17 factors within the New Orleans Pelicans’ 136-124 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Daniels, who’s having fun with extra court docket time whereas level guard CJ McCollum recovers from a collapsed lung, additionally had 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
Josh Giddey has had a gradual begin to the NBA season offensively, however he had a double-double (10 factors, 10 rebounds, six assists) within the OKC Thunder’s 111-99 win over the Phoenix Suns.
