Austin Toros 122, Rio Grande Valley Vipers 120 (Box Score)

The Austin Toros took the first game of this three-game series with a tough home win.  This was kind of a schizophrenic game - really fun at times (like when Austin went with a five-guard lineup of Johnson-Jerrells-Williams-Gee-Basden), full of momentum-killing whistles at others.  The Toros led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, and while the Vipers eventually chipped away at the lead, they couldn't seem to string together enough good plays to take it.

Just briefly, because I mentioned the whistles, there were a lot of touch fouls in this game.  While they ended up fairly even, Mike Harris was limited with early foul trouble and Antonio Anderson and Jonathan Wallace both picked up technicals complaining about calls (although I think Wallace's technical might've been meant for Anderson as well, and the ref just got the wrong guy).  That is to say, RGV couldn't seem to catch a break.  I still like them to win the series with the next two games being at home, but it should be a great series.

A Texas-sized stars/non-stars after the jump.

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The other D-League semifinal series begins today as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers head to Austin to face the Toros.  The game starts at 3 pm Eastern, and will be shown live on Versus.  These teams are very familiar with each other, as they played seven times this season (eight if you count pre-season).  Three of those games were in Austin, four down in Hidalgo.  Rio Grande Valley dominated the series, winning five of those games.

Austin, though, didn't have the services of Marcus Williams, but they also now find themselves without the services of dominant rebounder Dwayne Jones.  Rio Grande Valley didn't have their current starting backcourt of Will Conroy and Antonio Anderson for several of those games either, so in some ways both teams are starting over.  You might even call them perfect strangers.

Interesting side note: I didn't pick either of these teams to win in the first round.  Okay, maybe that's not very interesting.  Both teams had tough opponents, though, and advanced to the semifinals pretty much through sheer firepower.  I'll break down the matchups and show you what I mean after the jump.

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Iowa Energy 107, Tulsa 66ers 102 (Box Score)

The top-ranked Iowa Energy won the first game of this second-round playoff series, a frankly ugly affair that saw players for both teams looking pretty rusty.  How rusty?  The Energy shot 1-8 on three-pointers and 0-5 on free throws in the first quarter, while Mustafa Shakur, Kyle Weaver and Larry Owens combined to start out 2-10 for Tulsa.  Those early struggles are somewhat understandable since neither team had played in five days, but Iowa eventually was able to shake off the rust and ran up a 12-point lead.  Tulsa started to come back in the fourth quarter, but the Energy were always able to answer.  On to the stars/non-stars of the game, and this one was so shaky I'm only naming two stars:

• Denham Brown was (very) recently signed by the Energy after playing six games in Venezuela, and he was pretty much the only player on the floor who looked ready to go from the jump.  Brown finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, and was doing his work both inside and out.
• Darian Townes was excellent off the bench for Iowa, filling in for the foul-plagued Connor Atchley to score 20 points, grab nine rebounds and collect three blocks.  Townes scored a total of 21 points in the regular season, so this kind of output was unexpected.

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The first game of the second round of the 2010 D-League playoffs tips off tonight at 7 pm CT from lovely Tulsa, Oklahoma as the #1 Iowa Energy take on the #8 Tulsa 66ers in the first of a three-game series.  If you don't live in Tulsa, it can also be watched live on NBA Futurecast.

The two teams split the season series, each winning two games a piece - but both teams rosters have been changed significantly over the course of the past few weeks.  Iowa has lost reigning D-League MVP Courtney Sims to more attractive overseas offers as well as Earl Barron, Othyus Jeffers and Cartier Martin to NBA call-ups.  Tulsa, on the other hand, lost Mustafa Shakur to a call-up and Byron Mullens and DJ White have both been recalled to the Oklahoma City Thunder for their upcoming playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

After the jump, I'll take a look at how each position matches up - assuming each team's roster isn't as fluid as they have been thus far.  With Tulsa's lineup changes, I decided to insert the lineup the way I would do it - therefore, it's probably wrong.

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Rio Grande Valley Vipers 135, Reno Bighorns 118 (Box Score)

The #2 seeded Rio Grande Valley Vipers advanced to the second round of the D-League playoffs with a victory over the #6 Reno Bighorns last night, thanks to an excellent fourth quarter performance from NBA assignee Mike Harris.  The Vipers won the game despite a 28-45 free throw attempt deficit, poor three-point shooting and foul trouble for several key players.  The Vipers move on to face the #3 Austin Toros, a series that begins on Saturday in Austin.  But, before we get ahead of ourselves, here were the stars and non-stars of the game:

• The first star is Mike Harris, of course.  The Houston Rocket shook off some early struggles to score 23 points in the fourth quarter and 45 overall, to go with 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.  Most of Harris's work came inside and on midrange jumpers, and seven of those rebounds came on the offensive end, a game-high.  I'm a little less frustrated with NBA teams assigning players to the D-League just for the playoffs than Scott is, but Harris clearly was a difference maker late in the game.
• Of course, Harris may not have had a chance to lead the Vipers to victory if Will Conroy hadn't played so well early on to keep his team in the game.  On a night when Antonio Anderson was limited due to foul trouble and Jonathan Wallace wasn't doing much distributing, Conroy was the backcourt leader and was able to make things happen for his teammates.  Conroy finished with 24 points on 13 shots, a team-high six assists and just two turnovers.
• Rod Benson once again played very well for the Bighorns, and probably should be the series MVP.  Benson's output was lower in this game than in the other two, 21 points and 11 rebounds (as well as three blocks), although he was once again unstoppable inside.  He played fewer minutes than Doug Thomas for no real reason, as he finished with only two fouls.  You can see some longer comments about Reno coach Jay Humphries in last night's comment thread, but in retrospect it seems kind of mind-boggling that the team's best player wasn't playing big minutes in the deciding game of a playoff series.
• One more: Richie Frahm came off the bench to score 20 points on 6-9 shooting, including 4-6 from outside (one of those missed shots being a semi-desperate long three as time was running down).  Frahm struggled in the first game of this series and was just okay in the second, but last night he was hitting big shots and playing more up to the standard he set in the regular season.

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The final game of the D-League playoffs first round tips off tonight, the deciding game three of the series between the #2 Rio Grande Valley Vipers and #6 Reno Bighorns, or as I like to call it, "Marcus Doesn't Play Here Anymore."*  The game starts at 8:30 Eastern tonight, and you can watch it live on Futurecast.

Each team has won on the road in this series.  RGV won the first game 110-94, a disjointed affair that saw Reno center Rod Benson dominate down low.  Reno won last night 128- 126, a fast-paced game with an exciting finish that...saw Reno center Rod Benson dominate down low.  Yes, there is a theme to this series.  

There's a twist, though, as Houston's Mike Harris is expected to be assigned to the Vipers to play in tonight's game.

So with that in mind, there are some keys for tonight for each team after the jump.

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Reno Bighorns 128, Rio Grande Valley Vipers 126 (Box Score)

The Reno Bighorns held off a furious fourth quarter rally by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last night to force this playoff series to game three.  Reno shot 63 percent from the floor, had a 42-28 rebounding advantage and led by as many as 17.  But before we get into talking about the players, I want to address something that came up during the broadcast.

I like Eric Musselman as a D-League announcer.  He's far and away the best color guy that Versus has used, he's knowledgeable both about the league and about pretty much every player that he has to talk about, and his comments on coaching strategy are usually on point.  Having said all that as a preface, you can probably guess that I'm now going to complain about him.

Musselman repeatedly got on Rod Benson's case for not getting back on defense, and for letting the Vipers get some easy transition baskets in the paint.  There may have been one or two instances where it was warranted.  But Musselman kept hammering away at this point, going even so far as to intimate that such effort, or lack thereof, is detrimental to D-League players trying to get into the NBA.  The problem was that Musselman kept making this point even when he was wrong.  

There was one play in particular when Benson had fallen to the floor after an RGV player rolled into his legs, and Musselman started in on him rather than the three Bighorns players who were back on defense, but just watched the Vipers walk into the paint for a layup.  The complaint continued even as the replay showed just what I described.  I'm not writing this just because it's Rod Benson, who also is good with RU; Musselman kept harping and harping on his point, and in so doing was ignoring other things that were going on in the game, and it got really annoying.

Stars/Non-stars after the jump.

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For the first time in recent history, there will be a D-League game tonight live on television.

That's right - no squinting at your computer, no waiting three hours to watch a D-League game at 11 pm on a Saturday night and there's no need to guess what happened by reading box scores - because the Rio Grande Valley Vipers are hosting the Reno Bighorns tonight live on VERSUS (now available in HD!) at 9 pm Eastern Time.

There really isn't a better possible option for this game, either, as I assume many basketball fans will tune in to watch.

For starters, there isn't a nationally televised NBA game tonight - unless you consider NBA TV a national channel (even though it's not offered to me in North Dakota) and then you could watch the Toronto Raptors to play the Detroit Pistons - neither of which is exciting.  Or playoff-bound.

The game also features the D-League's most marketable star in Reno's Rod Benson, who has been made famous via his popular blog and NBA talent. Benson is joined on the Bighorns by former NBA players Will Blalock, Desmon Farmer, Richie Frahm, Yaroslav Korolev, D.J Strawberry and Cezary Trybanski.  The team is coached by 11-year NBA veteran Jay Humphries.

On the other side of the court, the Houston Rockets operated Rio Grande Valley Vipers also bring a considerable amount of NBA talent.  The Vipers are led by should-be-in-the-NBA point guard Will Conroy, but also feature former Memphis Tiger Antonio Anderson - two of the five players that have earned NBA call-ups while playing for the Vipers this season.  Other standouts for the Vipers include former Georgetown point guard Jonathan Wallace and Craig Winder, a former Texas Longhorn guard.  The Vipers are coached by Chris Finch, the head coach of the Great Britain National Team, and assisted by former NBAer Paul Mokeski.

The three-game series is currently led by 1-0 by the Vipers, though Benson scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the first game of the series.

We never have much luck with gamethreads, but if you're so inclined, feel free to comment!

After the jump, Jon L's keys to this game, late but still insightful, maybe.

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