The Austin Toros came back from a 0-1 deficit to win the 2012 D-League title against the Los Angeles D-Fenders. The Toros won Game 2 and the deciding Game 3 in Los Angeles.

The D-Fenders had the league’s best record followed by the Toros, who were a third seed.

Springfield had the second seed. Expansion Canton beat the Armor in the first round.

The Toros began their championship run with a 2-1 series victory against fifth-seeded Erie. In fact, Austin lost Game 1 of all three of its series only to win the the final two games of each one.

After winning at expansion Canton by 15 points in their regular-season finale, the Erie BayHawks returned to practice today as they get ready for Game 1 of their D-League playoff series against Austin on Thursday night at 7 at Tullio Arena.

Game 2 and Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday and Monday, respectively, in Austin. A third seed, the Toros (33-17) picked the fifth-seeded BayHawks (28-22) as the top three teams got to select their first-round playoff opponent from the bottom four seeds.

After Monday’s practice, players Tyrone Brazelton, Joey Graham, Keith McLeod and Marvin Phillips talk about the playoff format and being chosen by the Toros.

The Erie BayHawks and Reno Bighorns will play a deciding Game 3 Thursday at 10 p.m. at the Reno Events Center after having two memorable games that went down to the final minute.

The second-seeded Bighorns won Game 1 Sunday, 106-101, at Tullio Arena in Erie, but the fifth-seeded BayHawks took Game 2 Tuesday, 114-111,  in Reno, Nev.

Tuesday’s win for Erie snapped Reno’s nine-game winning streak that began when the Bighorns beat the BayHawks at home, 100-89, on March 16.

The Reno-Erie winner will play Rio Grande Valley, the defending D-League champions, in the D-League semifinals. The third-seeded Vipers beat Bakersfield in three games.

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His elbow may be hurting, but it didn’t stop LeBron James from scoring 35 points Saturday night in leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 101-93 win past the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena.

That’s a nice way to go into receiving the MVP award later today at the University of Akron. James won’t need help hoisting the trophy, but he got some much needed help Saturday night.

Mo Williams dropped in 20 points that included a one-handed flush on Paul Pierce to turn the game around. The Cavaliers were down 11 before Williams dunked on Pierce and they wound up taking a 79-78 lead at the end of third quarter.

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They have the league’s best player. Now they’re champions of it.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers won the D-League title in a best-of-3 series by beating the Tulsa 66ers, 94-91, on a last-second, 3-point shot from Craig Winder in Game 2 Tuesday night at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.

D-League MVP Mike Harris had a game-high 26 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Vipers.

I was there in Cleveland and still can’t come up with the words to describe LeBron James’ ridiculous dunk on James Johnson in last night’s Game 2 win for the Cavaliers to give them a 2-0 first-round series lead on the Chicago Bulls.

Maybe you can.

The Boston Celtics will not have power forward Kevin Garnett for Tuesday's Game 2.

It’s official.

Kevin Garnett has been suspended for Game 2 for elbowing Miami forward Quentin Richardson in Boston’s Game 1 win Saturday against the Heat.

With a 1-0 first-round series lead, the Celtics will likely lose Game 2 on Tuesday, but to me, Miami doesn’t have enough to beat the Celtics in a seven-game series.

Yes, Boston is old.

Yes, their best player is a point guard in Rajon Rondo, who for all his talents, is not the guy who’s going to hit enough big shots to make his team a championship contender.

Yes, their coach,Doc Rivers, is mulling over the idea of returning next season and may not even do so because his kids are reaching a point in their lives as athletes he wants to be a part of.

With all that being said, the Celtics are still better than the Heat so yes, they’re going to win this series. 

Then the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to mash the Celtics, but that’s for another blog post.

After his elbowing incident with Quentin Richardson in Game 1 of the Eastern Confernce playoffs, Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett is under the gun heading into Game 2 of the first-round series against the Miami Heat.

You’ve got Chicago Bulls forward Joakim Noah saying he’s a “dirty player.”

Now Garnett is expected to get suspended for Game 2 on Tuesday.

Courtney Lee knew it. He missed a chance to win Game 2 for the Orlando Magic.

Orlando had a chance.

A great chance.

Rookie guard Courtney Lee’s missed lay in off an alley-oop play could have given the Magic a Game 2 win at the buzzer Sunday night

Instead the Los Angeles Lakers were able to pull out the win in overtime, 101-96, to take a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. The Lakers made their final 14 free throws en route to winning Game 2.

With .06 seconds left in regulation, Orlando forward Hedo Turkoglu inbounded the ball to Lee on a perfect play call. Rashard Lewis freed up Lee by settting a screen on Kobe Bryant at the foul line.

Lee rolled to the basket and Turkoglu found him at the rim with a lob pass. The pass was slightly off as Lee caught it closer to the backboard than he’d like, but still Lee had a chance to lay the ball in off the glass even with Pau Gasol challenging the shot at the rim.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Orlando.

LeBron James' only 3-point basket won the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Wow.

That was the word LeBron James used in describing his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Cleveland a dramatic 96-95 win against the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

James said more than that, though.

On how the fans reaction to the shot…
“Wow. I mean, the reaction from the fans and my teammates. It was; the loudest it has ever been in this building was the first time I made the playoffs my third year and we faced Washington (in the first round). When we won that game, the towels was out. It was unbelievable. I lost my wind soon as I ran out on the court. Tonight surpassed that by 10 times. It was unbelievable. You couldn’t hear anything except the roar of those 20,000-plus fans, man. They deserved it. They deserved it.”

On the final shot…
“Well, the first option was for me to fake up and go for the lob. Two things happened. We had 6-10 Rashard Lewis on Mo so it was going to be a difficult pass. When I went to go for the lob, Hedo (Turkoglu) never bit on it. I told Mo, whatever it was going to take from me, I was going to get the ball. No matter what happened. If the first, third, second, all the options run out, I’m coming to get the ball. I knocked down the shot. Biggest shot I’ve made in my career.”

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