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.
Averaging 27.1 points and 10.5 boards, Mike Harris was a man on the inside for Rio Grande Valley this season.
I’m sitting here looking at the All-NBA D-League teams and that first-team squad is nice, but then I checked out the honorable mention list.
Hmmmm.
I could pick five guys from that list and seriously challenge the first team.
The Erie BayHawks will look to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss at Austin tonight against Rio Grande Valley, which has the best record in the West Conference. Below are highlights from the Austin-Erie game.
Thing to look for tonight is to see if Cedric Jackson can continue to play at a high level, how will Jackie Manuel fare with the injured wrist and will Rio Grande Valley speed up the game with Mike Harris and not allow Erie’s defense to control it.
Mike Harris is averaging 27.1 points for Rio Grande Valley heading into Friday night's game at Erie.
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (15-6) at Erie BayHawks (10-13)
Today, 7 p.m.; at Tullio Arena
On the air: WJET-AM/1400, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream)
