RGV Vipers Visit Iowa Energy Tonight In Game 2 Of The NBA D-League Finals

Tonight the NBA Development League, the official minor league of the NBA with an innovative system that allows fans to watch all of the games online, will play Game 2 of the NBA D-League Finals between the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Iowa Energy. If you would like to watch this game live, you can't, but it will be shown tape-delayed on VERSUS around 10 p.m. Central Time (or whenever the hockey highlight show finished up).

I think the Vipers will win this evening, mostly because I like the passion in winner-take-all games, but let us look away from my opinions (since I won't be able to watch this game live, anyway, and am still irked about that) and instead toward what other people are writing!

• Sean Keeler of the Des Moines Register has a pretty nice rundown of the relationship between Energy head coach Nick Nurse and Vipers head coach Chris Finch.  What he's missing, however, is any mention of Vipers assistant coach Paul Mokeski. A coach with quite a bit of coaching experience following his 12-year NBA playing career, Mokeski is an assistant alongside Nurse with the Great Britain National Team and should certainly get some consideration for head coaching jobs around the D-League next season (or assistant jobs in the NBA).
• Jonah Goldberg of the Vipers sent along the best stat I've ever had sent along to me by any former cellist that is now a Director of Communications (ever!): There has been a three-second violation called 0.88 times per game during the playoffs. During the regular season, there were 1.56 per game. There has been one called during Vipers games this post-season, against Connor Atchley in Game 1 of the Quarterfinals at Bakersfield (4/8/11). The Vipers opponents have yet to be called for one. I wonder how that statistic will affect this game!
• Daniel Artest, brother of Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest, interviewed Iowa Energy point guard -- and D-League MVP -- Curtis Stinson for The No-Look Pass yesterday. In it, Stinson tells Artest the following when asked to describe his game: "But I think i have a Chauncey Billups game without the 3-point shot. I'm an all-around player that likes to fill up the stat sheet."