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.

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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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.

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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.

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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.

First off, Gerald Green should have never been in the D-League in the first place.

So I’m not even going to make that connection to it, but thank goodness for him he used his time there wisely and played well enough to get a 10-day contract with the New Jersey Nets.

I saw him in his first game in the D-League when the Los Angeles D-Fenders came to Erie to play the BayHawks. He’s come a long way since then. Check out this windmill dunk off a lob pass against the Houston Rockets that would have won this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Wow.

Mike Gerrity averaged 7.3 points in 18 games for Erie./Photo by Janet B. Kummerer/Erie Times-News

Mike Gerrity says it’s part of business.

That’s a nice way of saying it sucks.

In a month’s time, the Erie BayHawks waived him twice with the latter coming Feb. 9.

Ten days later, the Maine Red Claws claimed him out of the D-League player pool.

Today, Gerrity, 25, returned to Erie to face his former team and somehow didn’t vent about how the BayHawks parted ways with him twice.

“It’s hard, but you understand what you’re getting yourself into at the beginning of the year,” Gerrity said. “I knew it was going to be an uphill battle all the way, but it’s about the sacrifices you’re willing to make if you love the game.”

Gerrity had four points and four assists off the bench in his return, but it wasn’t too long ago he joined Erie, was waived, rejoined Erie and got waived again.

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Point guard Mike James played three games for the Erie BayHawks before the Chicago Bulls signed him last month. The Bulls needed a point guard because Derrick Rose was out with a toe injury.

James returned to the BayHawks and has played two games with the latter being Monday night when the Los Angeles Clippers lost Chauncey Billups to a season-ending injury as he tore his Achilles tendon against the Orlando Magic.

So now the Clippers need a backup point guard.

Wouldn’t be surprised if James, a 10-year NBA veteran, got the call as NBA teams could begin to sign players to 10-day contracts Monday. James averaging 24 points and 6.5 assists in his last two games with Erie, which both ended in blowout losses to the Los Angeles D-Fenders in El Segundo, Calif.

The Erie BayHawks will try to bounce back after two resounding losses to Los Angeles D-Fenders last weekend in El Segundo, Calif.

After losing by 19 points to the D-Fenders on Saturday, the BayHawks were beaten by 31 points, 138-107, on Monday. The most interesting thing about this is Erie lost these two games with the addition of former NBA veteran point guard Mike James.

The BayHawks will look to regroup before Friday night’s game against Maine at home.

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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.