In the first game of the third (of four, obviously) series to debut in the 2011 D-League Playoffs, the sixth seeded Bakersfield Jam upset beat the third seeded defending D-League champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers, 110-105.

In what was a relatively competitive game throughout, Bakersfield pulled out the victory through the capable hands of probable D-League MVP Trey Johnson. Mr. Trey J scored a game high 29 points, including a pair of huge jumpers that essentially put the game away.

Jeremy Wise was also huge for the Jam, scoring 15 of his 24 points from the line, including the clinching two with a little over 7 seconds left while Derrick Byars scored 14 points of his own, an impressive feat considering he recently broke his nose, and took more than one shot to it during play.

Derrick Caracter, Stephen Dennis and D'Andre Bell also scored in double figures for the underdog Jam, who will look to sweep the defending champions on Tuesday in Hidalgo.

Continue reading this post »

Coming into yesterday's action, there were three teams, the Idaho Stampede, the Texas Legends, and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot. All three played, and all three had to win to have a shot at postseason play.

Continue reading this post »

I decided to take in the Utah Flash at Dakota Wizards game (highlights above, obviously) last night and figured you guys might be interested in hearing what I thought about the NBA prospects that were in attendance.

• Dakota played pretty hard for being down to just one big man -- and eight players total -- following a season-ending injury to Mickell Gladness and recent Portland Trail Blazers call-up of  Chris Johnson. The size advantage -- and fact that they were down to five players (four healthy) by the end of the game -- eventully took its toll, however, with the Flash winning 124-115.
• Brandon Costner, a burly 6-foot-9 power forward out of North Carolina State, totaled 33 points, 18 rebounds and six assists in the game after averaging just 14.6 points and 5.8 assists heading into the game. I don't think he'll ever be an NBA player -- his dominance in this game was mostly size-related -- but his ability to stretch the floor at his size is at least intriguing.
• Tony Gaffney, the former Boston Celtics call-up, was credited with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks on the night. However, without looking at a box score in-game, I was quite confident that he was flirting with a triple-double because he was altering nearly every shot at the rim. Not the most offensively-talented player in the D-League, but he works his butt of on defense and seems to enjoy doing the things that typically go unnoticed.
• On the other end of the spectrum, Javaris Crittenton came off of Dakota's bench to shoot 4-of-16 from the field before being ejected midway through the fourth quarter after picking up a second technical foul. I would give you my own personal scouting report, but the general manager of his team in China summed it up pretty well when the media asked why the former NBA player was released early in the season: "Yes, we're changing Crittenton," Ye said. "His individual offense is fine, but he's not doing a good job organizing the team offense. Also, his defense is bad and his shooting is off."

Continue reading this post »

There were only two D-League games last night. The more prominent of the took took place in Orem, Utah, where the Utah Flash were coming off a clinching a playoff berth against the Maine Red Claws on Tuesday. The two teams faced off again. The second was a huge road game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in their quest to secure the eighth and final playoff berth in the 2011 NBA D-League playoffs.

Continue reading this post »

I hope Punxsutawney Phil either sees his shadow or doesn't see his shadow this morning - whichever result means winter's almost over up here in frigid North Dakota (I believe it was -100 last night).

Anyway, let's get a little less talk about current events (this isn't Mr. Hager's eighth grade whatever-class-we-had-to-present-a-current-event-once-a-week-in) and a lot more action talk about what happened in the D-League last night beginning with the New Mexico Thunderbirds defeating the Texas Legends 130-123 in "frigid" New Mexico.

Typically I'd like to lead off these nice little wrap-ups with a player from the winning team that dominated or at least a player that was included in the above highlights. This morning, however, we're going with neither because the Legends were led by little-known Dominique Johnson as he scored 31 points (10-12 FG, 5-5 3-pointers, 6-6 FT) in 34 minutes off the bench. 

Continue reading this post »

Good morning, seven people that still read Ridiculous Upside, and happy day before Groundhog's Day!

Before we get to what happened last night in the D-League, I wanted to do a bit of self-promoting and tell you to read all about Scottie Reynolds and how he's becoming an actual point guard because, as he said it, he's "sick of scoring."

Anyway, there was only one game last night in the D-League as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants traveled to Orem, Utah, to take on the Flash.

[Cut to the decidedly non-HD highlights!]

The Flash won this game 92-84 despite having the only point guard on Utah's roster, Orien Greene, called-up earlier in the day to the New Jersey Nets.

Most impressive to me, actually, was the box score of Utah's Tony Gaffney. A surprise pick-up by the Boston Celtics to end last season, Gaffney's been one of the hardest working players in the D-League since he joined the Flash in early January. 

Gaffney finished the game by making one of five his shot attempts to total just three points, but made up for that by grabbing nine rebounds, dishing nine assists and swatting four shots while showing he's capable of definitely doing the little things. The only bit you'll see of him in the above highlights, however, is the nifty assist at the :45 second mark to Ryan Thompson for the open jumper.

Continue reading this post »

I was thinking about starting to do some nightly game recaps back here at Ridiculous Upside if people promised to read and comment on them just because I can't highlight everyone's solid performances over at AOL FanHouse. Anyone interested?

Anyway, the reason I decided to post over here this morning was to bring attention to Boston Celtics assignee Avery Bradley and his game against the Maine Red Claws last night.

Against the Tulsa 66ers, the hottest team in the D-League as they went into the night with a 14-game winning streak, Bradley's defense came up big as he recorded nine steals to go with 14 points, seven assists and a team-best +13 in 39 minutes as the Red Claws starting point guard.

Though his shooting was a bit off (4-of-13 from the field) and his six turnovers were a bit alarming, the fact that he made all five of his free-throws -- including a pair to put the Red Claws up three with 3.8 seconds left in the game -- was definitely put in the 'postiives' column.

Continue reading this post »

There has been a lot that's happened over the past couple days, most importantly that I'm battling some form of a flu/cold that's probably life-threatening a lot of random D-League news that I haven't been able to keep up-to-date over here because I never was able to find a full-time contributor (miss you, Jon L!).

(Also, if anyone would want to devote daily-ish posts, start using the Fanposts as I instructed last month. A small, small, really small amount of money might even be available if you're committed.)

So, here I am on this lovely Wednesday morning to update you on the going-ons around the NBA Development League (except I wrote this last night before the Utah Flash-Bakersfield Jam game was completed so there won't be any updates on that).

First and foremost, the Texas Legends rang up an insane 84 points in the first half on their way to a 135-112 victory over the Austin Toros led by their seven six former first round NBA picks (I crossed out seven because of the nonsense that is the Rodrigue Beaubois assignment). Honestly, everyone looked for the Legends (even the mysterious Moussa Seck)

Most impressive though, was probably Dominique Jones, who is on assignment from the Dallas Mavericks. The defense was lax in the first half, true, but he was able to manufacture his shot when needed as well on his way to 25 points on 14 shots.  Others that stoodout were Joe Alexander with 24 points and 11 boards, Rashad McCants with 20 points on 10 attempts and Justin Dentmon who needed just eight shots for his 19 points while running the point during most of his time on the court.

As far as the Toros go, I thought they missed Squeaky Johnson - recently released due to injury - quite a bit and didn't really seem to have a leader on the floor.  The only player that stood out to me prior to garbage time for Austin was Lance was former Duke player Lance Thomas.  In 25 minutes, Thomas had 21 points, four boards and a steal.

Continue reading for other random D-League news (read: links to things I wrote at FanHouse)!

Continue reading this post »