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In his D-League debut with the Mad Ants last week, Peyton Siva impressed the home crowd in Fort Wayne by scoring 24 points in just 28 minutes of action. However, in that game, he tweaked a wrist injury after taking a fall and it prevented him from playing on Monday, when the Mad Ants lost by a final score of 103-101 to the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
With a few days break between games, Siva got all the rest and treatment he needed and he was ready to go on Friday night, when the Mad Ants played host to the Iowa Energy, a team led by NBA assignee Marquis Teague. Whether or not Siva was still feeling any pain in his wrist, we don't know, but he sure looked fine, as he put together a monster stat-line of 27 points, 10 assists, eight steals and three rebounds in 36 minutes. He shot an efficiently 9-for-16 from the field and 4-for-5 from the three point line.
The Mad Ants got off to a great start, scoring 37 points in the first quarter, thanks in large part to Siva's efforts. While the former Cardinal failed to score a single point in the opening 12 minutes, he dished out six assists, all of which were either to Solomon Hill or Ron Howard. In fact, Siva didn't score his first point until 3:28 left to go in the second quarter, by which point he had already racked up eight assists and four steals. The third quarter proved to be a different story, as he helped pump the breaks on the Energy's impressive comeback by scoring 15 points of his own. And after that, it was all Ron Howard, who scored 16 of his career-high 36 points in the fourth quarter, which ended up putting the Mad Ants over the hump.
Heading into last night's game, Siva told The Journal Gazette that he wants to, "continue to find people and keep knocking down [his] shots and be consistent."
He also said that he wants to, "continue trying to be a better point guard." It's only been two games, but Siva has certainly lived up to all his goals, as his averages of 25.5 points and 6.5 assists on 58.1 percent shooting show. Whether or not his performance leads to more opportunities with the Pistons upon his return remain to be seen, but he has clearly spent his time in the D-League with the right attitude, treating it as an experience and a place to work on his game.
The Mad Ants' next game is on Monday, January 6th against the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Siva's Highlights