The top two D-League teams during the regular season will now meet to determine the best team in the league.

The top-seeded Los Angeles D-Fenders open the D-League Finals on Tuesday at Austin against the third-seeded Toros in a best-of-3 series. Game 2 and Game 3, if necessary, will be in Los Angeles. Game 2 is Thursday. If there is a Game 3, it will be Saturday.

Los Angeles was 2-0 against Austin this season, winning both games at home.

The D-Fenders (38-12) had the D-League’s best record while Austin (33-17) had the second-best record. The Toros were seeded third because Springfield won the East Conference to earn the second seed.

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“They can have their fries again and we got the win again.” – Eric Musselman

Eric Musselman/AP Photo.

The Erie BayHawks made Los Angeles D-Fenders coach Eric Musselman sweat through another close game, but the former NBA coach left Tullio Arena with another win and parting shot.

For last season’s D-League playoffs when Musselman was head coach of the Reno Bighorns, he had his player personnel assistant, Sammy Glefand, pick the playoff opponent out of a hat after failing to pick a team following team and staff meetings.

The top three seeds can pick their first-round playoff opponent. Glefand chose Erie. The BayHawks fans rode him all night, but the Bighorns won Game 1 of the three-game series in Erie, 106-101, and won the series, 2-1.

In the closing moments of that Game 1 win, Musselman shouted at the fans, “You got your free fries, and we got the win.” Fans get free fries from McDonald’s when Erie scores 100 points at home.

Tonight, the crowd wasn’t on him much at all, but were left speechless after Erie blew a 12-point, fourth-quarter lead in a 117-112 loss to the D-Fenders at Tullio Arena.

I interviewed Musselman after the game and his final words were, “They can have their fries again and we got the win again.”

Erie plays at Los Angeles on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6.

Gerald Green will make his debut with the Los Angeles D-Fenders in tonight’s D-League game against the Erie BayHawks at 7 at Tullio Arena.

The 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Champion was waived by the Los Angeles Lakers in training camp this month, but joined the D-Fenders through the D-League’s allocation rule which allows D-League teams to acquire up to three players waived from their NBA affiliates.

I talked with Green, 25, after today’s shootaround about being with the D-League, playing for former NBA coach Eric Musselman and what the 6-8, 200-pound forward expects in today’s 7 p.m. game.

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Earlier this week, Reno coach Eric Musselman called it case two coaches being “competitive.”

As the Erie BayHawks (32-18) head into Game 1 of their best-of-three D-League playoff series against the second-seeded Bighorns (34-16), check out how Musselman and Utah Flash coach Kevin Young got into it this season.

Now Musselman, who was an NBA head coach with the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, wasn’t suspended for this, but this shows how “competitive” he can be.

Blake Ahearn doesn't know what to make of how Reno selected the BayHawks.

Erie BayHawks forward Tasmin Mitchell buys it, but his teammate, Blake Ahearn, doesn’t know what to make of how the Reno Bighorns chose them as their first-round opponent in the D-League playoffs.

The D-League has the top three seeds pick their playoff opponnent. After top-seeded Iowa chose seventh-seeded Utah, Reno had the second pick.

The Bighorns chose Erie, a fifth-seed, but head coach Eric Musselman said the team had their player personnel assistant, Sammy Gelfand, pick a team out of a hat. He picked between Erie, Bakersfield and Texas.

“He’s our money-ball guy,” said Musselman, whose Bighorns are 1-0 against Erie this season, winning 100-89 in Reno on March 16.

Musselman said the team struggled to pick a team because Reno respects all the teams, but to go with drawing a name out of hat seems odd.

Mitchell buys it.

“You have no choice but to give us respect,” he said. “Our record shows for itself. Our record and how many games we put together. Yeah. I buy it. I buy it all the way.”

Ahearn isn’t so sure.

“I guess we got to take his word for it,” he said. “I can’t imagine if a head coach doesn’t feel comfortable with a team, he’s not going to chose us. I don’t think you can leave it up to picking out of a hat or a coin flip. I just find that very hard to believe, but do we take it personally and this and that? It’s gonna happen. Three teams have to pick somebody and the other two get paired up. It is what it is, but all that stuff goes out the window. It comes down to players making plays in the game. That’s what it will be.”

Guard Mike Gansey doesn't see his former team getting out the first round of the 2011 D-League playoffs.

Mike Gansey is picking against his former team.

On the website, Ridiculous Upside, Gansey picked the second-seeded Reno Bighorns (34-16) to beat the fifth-seeded Erie BayHawks (32-16) in the D-League’s best-of-three playoff series beginning Sunday at 5 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

Reno won its lone game against Erie this season, 100-89, at home March 16. Gansey is playing overseas in Spain. While with Erie last season, Gansey averaged 18.4 points.

This one is a bit of a head scratcher as my buddy Scott pointed out the Bighorns were 6-1 vs. Bakersfield this season but chose the Bayhawks instead.  Now I know Erie has been up and down the last couple weeks of the season but with Blake Ahearn and Ivan Johnson they have one of the best 1-2 combinations in the D-League.  Reno has been LOADED all season with an NBA roster it seems the entire year but Coach Eric Musselman has been able to put it together and have to give him some credit.

Pick: I really had a tough time picking a winner in this one but I have to go with Reno in three games here.  They just have too many athletic bodies to throw at and slow down Ivan Johnson. Despite the outstanding job Erie Coach Jay Larranaga has done this past year, the Bighorns will advance.

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