After closing out their respective best-of-3 first-round series Monday night, the Austin Toros and Canton Charge will face each other in Game 1 of the D-League semifinals Thursday night at 7:30 in Canton.
The expansion Charge, a seventh seed, won Game 3 at second-seeded Springfield 115-106 while the third-seeded Toros beat the fifth-seeded Erie BayHawks 99-85 in Game 3 in Austin.
Two in. Two more to go.
Tonight, seventh-seeded Canton and second-seeded Springfield will settle their best-of-3 D-League first-round playoff series beginning at 7 in Springfield. The expansion Charge took Game 1, but the Armor stayed alive after winning Game 2 in overtime Sunday.
At 8:30 p.m., fifth-seeded Erie and third-seeded Austin will have their Game 3 at 8:30 p.m. in Austin. The BayHawks won Game 1 at home, but the Toros took Game 2 by 10 points Sunday.
The winner of these two series will face each other in the semifinals.
The eight-team field for the 2012 D-League playoffs has been set.
The Los Angeles D-Fenders are the top seed. The West Conference champions have the D-League best record of 37-12.
Dakota (29-20) has a game lead against Springfield (28-21) for the East Conference title. That conference champion will get the No. 2 seed.
Austin (32-17) has the No. 3 seed. The top three seeds get to pick their first-round opponent Sunday. Last year, Reno chose Erie and beat the BayHawks, 2-1, in a best-of-three series.
Bakersfield (28-21), Canton (27-22), Erie (27-22) and defending D-League champion Iowa (25-24) round out the eight playoff teams. The D-League playoffs begin April 10.
The Erie BayHawks are 4-1 in their last five games after winning 116-105 at Bakersfield on Thursday night.
Erie (13-13) has a chance to go above .500 for the first time this season Saturday night when it plays at El Segundo, Calif., against the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
When the Erie BayHawks play at Bakersfield against the Jam on Thursday night, it won’t be in a typical arena.
Bakersfield plays in the Jam Events Center, which is a private arena/practice facility that seats just 750. The Jam were losing money by having games at a regular arena so they decided to offer an situation in which business folks can bring clients to watch games and talk business.
“It’s a different environment,” Erie coach Jay Larranaga said.
Here’s another one.
Solomon Alabi played 22 games for the Erie BayHawks last season when they were affiliated with the Toronto Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 7-footer averaged just 7.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for Erie as a rookie last season. Someone that tall should dominate the D-League. So if anyone needs development, it’s him.
Now he’s back in the D-League as the Raptors sent him down to the Bakersfield Jam today. Erie is now an hybrid partner with the New York Knicks.
At least the weather will be better for him in Bakersfield. It’s 25 degrees in Erie, 57 in Bakersfield.
When Alabi played with fire and emotion as you will see below when he dunks on Miami Heat young big man Dexter Pittman, who was with Sioux Falls at the time, he was effective, but he has a laid back personality.
Plus he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. He averaged 3.27 fouls a game.
The Erie BayHawks split their two-game series at Bakersfield by winning Friday night in double overtime, 123-121, and losing Saturday night, 126-98.
The BayHawks (28-16) are 1-3 on this five-game road trip that ends Tuesday night at Fort Wayne (21-23), which is clinging to that eighth and final playoff spot.
Setting a franchise record for most wins in a single season, Erie is in the fifth spot. It’s just a half game behind Reno (29-16), but would lose a tiebreaker to the Bighorns because they beat the BayHawks during this road trip.
Erie is just a half game ahead of Bakersfield (27-16), which is in the sixth spot. The big thing for the BayHawks is trying to get back to that fourth spot so they can have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
After losing 100-89 at Reno on Wednesday night, the Erie BayHawks (27-15) will continue to be without shooting guard Garrett Temple for tomorrow night’s game (10 p.m.) at Bakersfield (26-15).
Temple signed a second-day contract with the Charlotte Bobcats earlier today. When this one expires, the Bobcats must resign him for the rest of the season in order to keep him.
Earlier today, Erie coach Jay Larranaga said he’s happy for Temple, but wishes the Bobcats would have signed him for the rest of the season because the BayHawks could move up to the top of the waiver wire like some teams have recently done.
However, he also said this leaves hope the BayHawks may get Temple back before the playoffs begin next month. Then again, another team may sign Temple to another 10-day right around that time.
Kyle Spain and the Erie BayHawks have more work to do before the D-League playoffs begin next month.
A night in Reno.
The BayHawks resume their five-game road trip tomorrow at Reno (26-16) and follow that up with two games at Bakersfield (25-16) before rounding it up Tuesday at Fort Wayne (19-23).
Erie opened the road trip with a 133-126 loss Sunday at Iowa, which has the D-League’s best record at 32-11.
Erie (27-14) has clinched the playoffs and is right now a fourth seed. The top four seeds have home-court advantage for the first round and the top three seeds get to pick their first-round opponent.
Reno is just 1.5 games behind Erie and Bakersfield trails the BayHawks by two games. If the BayHawks lose those three, they could drop from fourth to seventh in a hurry.
Plus the Bighorns and Jam will own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the BayHawks.
And don’t think that game at Fort Wayne will be easy.
Erie is 4-1 against the Mad Ants, but they’re vying for the final playoff spot and have a former BayHawk in point guard Derek Raivio, who landed in Fort Wayne following a three-team trade last month.
A 2010 D-League All-Star, Aminu played both NBA summer leagues in Orlando and Vegas.
Here’s how players who was with the Erie BayHawks at some point last season fared in the two NBA summer leagues in Orlando and Las Vegas.
Players are listed in alphabetical order.
Combo guard Blake Ahearn (Finished with BayHawks after being traded from Bakersfield to Erie for Alade Aminu) played four games for the Houston Rockets in Las Vegas and scored 11 total points. Shot 14.3 percent from the field, was 2-of-11 from 3-point range and have seven assists to five turnovers.
Power forward Alade Aminu (Finished with Bakersfield after Erie traded him there for Blake Ahearn) played five games for the Atlanta Hawks in Las Vegas and four for the Charlotte Bobcats in Orlando. Aminu averaged 10 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Hawks, 5.5 points and four boards for the Bobcats. He had 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday in his last game in Las Vegas.
Center John Bryant (Started and finished season with BayHawks) played two games for the Milwaukee Bucks in Las Vegas and scored two total points in 12 minutes. He attempted two shots total, made one.
