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Vipers Win In D-League Season Opener Behind Richard Roby's 31 Points

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As many of you know, the NBA Development League's season tipped off tonight (last night? Thursday night?) with a battle between the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the expansion Texas Legends.

If your one of the few (billion) people that didn't tune in to watch live on television to "enhance your experience", however, you may not know that the Vipers defeated the Legends 123-115 in front of an announced crowd of 5,382 RGVites.

I'll probably recap it a bit more in-depth for FanHouse at some point on Friday, but as you know, Ridiculous Upside likes to get down and dirty (not physically, obviously, as I'm kind of like this guy) so after the jump I'll hit you with the highlights.

Speaking of so fresh and so clean, many thanks to the Rio Grande Valley radio crew of Jonah Goldberg and Alex Del Barrio for "Enhancing Our Experience" by hooking up this sweet recap as well.

  • Jordan Eglseder didn't play. My night was nearly ruined.
  • Richard Roby had 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting including an impressive 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. To be honest, I really liked Roby coming out of Colorado, but he was - in my opinion - the third best wing on the Denver Nuggets Summer League team this year behind New Mexico Thunderbirds returner Shane Edwards and Othello Hunter. I noted in-game that Roby has "incredible length" and then immediately regretted it. Why would I regret such an honest tweet? Because then Roby's wife saw it and it made her #dead. Awkward.
  • There are rumblings that Antonio Anderson might be rejoining the Vipers soon. One would have to wonder how he'll fit into the rotation with Roby starting so well.
  • Mustafa Shakur had the offense running well, but his box score line of 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting, six boards, four assists and two steals isn't particularly impressive.  Watching the game, I thought he was better than that.
  • Houston Rockets assignee Patrick Patterson reportedly fouled out with over six minutes left in the fourth quarter and went to the bench, but he eventually returned without any explanation which was kind of fun. He'd finish his D-League debut with seven points, nine rebounds and a block in just over 22 minutes of action.
  • Mickell Gladness somehow finished with the only double-double of the game with 13 points, 10 boards and three blocks in less than 18 minutes of playing time. Good for him, but that wasn't anything I expected.
  • 12-year NBA vet played well for the Legends, scoring 19 points while dishing seven assists and grabbing seven boards in over 42 minutes of action.  He's certainly still an NBA player that can run an offense.
  • Justin Dentmon paced the scoring with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Standing at a probably embellished 5-foot-11, Dentmon flourished as the off-guard while Daniels ran the point. He can definitely score, but didn't contribute much else for the Legends.
  • Former first round pick Sean Williams was very active, scoring 15 points, grabbing five boards and swatting an impressive five shots in 30 minutes of court time.  He literally tried blocking every shot taken while he was in there, racking up a couple of goaltending violations in the process.
  • Kelvin Lewis, a rookie out of Houston, played well for the Legends in the first quarter but went quite cold for the remainder of the game. Lewis would finish 5-of-19 from the field included a putrid 1-of-7 from beyond the arc for 18 points - 12 of which came within the first six minutes of the game.
  • Keith Clark cramped up constantly and seemed a bit out of shape in general but still finished with a decent 11 points and seven rebounds while masquerading as the Legends' de facto center for a decent portion of his time on the court.