Toros Game Thread?

[AFBlue]

I know we don't normally do a game thread for the Toros games, but seeing as how there are a few prospects on the Spurs roster or with a legitimate shot of being on this team long-term, I figure it might be good to do a Toros game blog....especially since it's a night off for the Spurs.

Okay, so here's what I've got so far, but I'm only going off the Toros page updates...

Toros playing 14ers, up 18 - 14 w/ 5 minutes to go in the first.

Mahinmi leading the Toros with 6, Darius 3, Langford 2, and Williams 2

[FirebatMIV]

Toros lead by 10 32-22 after first quarter.

Mahinmi, Fuqua and Pittsnoogle with 2 fouls each. Williams and Washington doing a good job running the offense, DeMarr Johnson has 8 pts.

[FirebatMIV]

End of the 2nd quarter, Toros leading the 14ers 67-37

Toros outscored the 14ers 35-15 in the 2nd quarter.

[FirebatMIV]

Half-Time Interview: Chip Engelland

-Chip is working with a lot of development players right now.
-Chip worked with DeMarr Johnson before in Denver, he's a great shooter
-Worked a lot with these players over the summer (Langford, Dawson, Williams, Washington, Mahinmi mentioned specifically)
-Talked some about the Colorado 14ers players.
-Talked some about the Spurs and some NBA players and some players Chip had worked with before.

[FirebatMIV]

The Toros lead by 22 at the end of 3.

Ian Mahimi has managed to stay out of foul trouble and is doing well in the matchup in the post. DeMarr Johnson has 20 pts to lead all scorers. Darius Washington has to have had at least 4 and 1s now, and Marcus Williams drove to the basket a couple of times a nailed a couple of jumpers. Generally, though, the entire team is being pretty careless with the ball.

[AFBlue]

5 minutes left in the fourth....

Langford, Washington, Mahinmi, Williams and Johnson all in double digits and all shooting better than 50% from the field.

Washington leading w/ 26 pts 7 rebs and 7 asts.

109 - 86 Toros w/ 4min to play...

[AFBlue]

Toros win 119 - 95...

Key statlines:

Washington - 26pts (9-13 FG, 7-9FT), 7rebs, 7asts, 4stls, 4to's
Mahinmi - 22pts (10-12 FG, 2-3FT), 6rebs, 1ast, 1to
Williams - 16pts (6-12 FG, 4-4FT), 7rebs, 3asts, 2stls, 4to's
Johnson - 20pts (8-13 FG, 4-6FT), 5rebs, 0asts, 1stl, 0to's

No player apparently fouled out either.

That's just the stat breakdown. I anxiously await Chump's thoughts....

[mystargtr34]

Really impressed with that stat line from D Wash...

Ian also... 10-12... good stuff

[exstatic]

:lol DerMarr got his 20 in 24 minutes. He'll probably get a call up after the new year by some team not named the Spurs, and I'll bet he gets signed for the remainder of the year.

[AFBlue]

:lol DerMarr got his 20 in 24 minutes. He'll probably get a call up after the new year by some team not named the Spurs, and I'll bet he gets signed for the remainder of the year.

The rest of his stat line is pretty sub-par...but yeah, the kid can shoot.

[timvp]

The only negative I see in the box is the fact that Mahinmi had zero blocks. That's especially bad because Colorado actually has some post players on their roster.

[FirebatMIV]

The only negative I see in the box is the fact that Mahinmi had zero blocks. That's especially bad because Colorado actually has some post players on their roster.

That post player really didn't get that many touches, and the 14ers ended up shooting a lot of jumpshots, especially in the 2nd half. When he did get the ball, he was fouled more often than not, and really, Fuqua and Pittsnoggle actually did more defending on him when he got the ball than Mahinmi did.

Also keep in mind that Colorado was playing its 3rd game in 4 days, and the Toros, for the most part, just ran them out of the gym. There was, however, a lot of penetration and kicks and good cuts, according to the Radio guy.

[leemajors]

i caught the last few mins of the game on the radio here in austin. chump, can 1300 stream toros games legally? i didn't check. some people here may want to listen in via their website.

[biba]

Toros use big second quarter to defeat Colorado

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3565854

AUSTIN, TX - The Austin Toros used a 35-point offensive explosion in the second quarter to defeat the Colorado 14ers 119-95 on Saturday night at the Austin Convention Center. San Antonio Spurs assignee Darius Washington led the Toros in scoring with 26 points, to help the Toros (3-1) win their third game in a row.
Austin opened up the game in the second quarter from behind the 3-point line. DerMarr Johnson, playing in his second game in a Toros uniforms, scored 10 of his 20 game points in the quarter including 2-for-2 from behind the 3-point line. Keith Langford hit a jump shot with less than a second remaining before halftime to push the Toros lead to 30 points and led 67-37 at halftime.

"We got stops on the defensive end and our offense was good because of our defense" Toros head coach Quin Snyder said. "We played defense and it opened up the game."

The Toros outscored Colorado 35-15 in the second quarter and were red hot, shooting nearly 63 percent from the floor.

"DerMarr hit some big daggers in the second quarter" Toros head coach Quin Snyder said. "But even bigger than his 3-pointers were his defensive rebounds."

Colorado couldn't overcome the large deficit in the second half and 10 points in the third quarter from center Ian Mahinmi.

Three Toros players finished with 20-plus point games including Spurs assigned player center Ian Mahinmi, who finished with 22 points and six rebounds. Former University of Arizona standout Marcus Williams scored 16 points and collected seven rebounds.

Colorado was led in scoring by Kaniel Dickens, who scored 18 points. Julian Sensley added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

[ChumpDumper]

I'll be brief since I had to work after the game and I'm pretty tired.

- Pretty much the entire Toro team is a bad matchup for Colorado. Their best player is Elton Brown, who is a hoss with a good post game but can be contained by tall athletes and good team D. The Toros did more of the latter than the former. When Brown got position on a single defender, he would almost invariably draw a foul. The Toros did a great job denying him the ball -- not too difficult as they lack a true point guard -- and sending help when he did get the ball. Limiting him to 13 points on 3-9 shooting and keeping him out of critical points of the game with foul trouble are the major defensive accomplishments of this game.

- Darius had another big second half, and another couple of relatively easy opponents. I'm looking forward to seeing him play against tougher competition in the next two games against the 66ers and Vipers.

- DerMarr Johnson was just money from the arc, and was a very reliable safety valve for driving guards and posting big men by sitting in the corner like someone we know on the Spurs. His shooting supercharged the Toros big run in the second. He played power forward for much of the game, as the 14ers are a pretty small team.

- Ian had no trouble scoring. His baby hook was especially effective against his shorter and less athletic opponents. Like Darius, I'll wait to see him do that against stronger competition to declare it the norm. He's still having trouble getting proper rebounding position. He needs to use his speed to get to the right spots because he can't move strong guys like Brown or Julian Sensely if they have good position. No blocks but he did help alter some. He really is pretty intimidating when he's swooping from the weakside to swat at a shot. The only player who got any blocks was Anthony Fuqua, and his were straight up blocks of his cover. It was Ian's best game foul-wise he picked up his fourth in the third quarter and didn't get another the rest of the game. He played a lot of garbage time to fill his 30 minute quota, but it's all about development and getting to know his teammates.

- Marcus Williams had a really nice game. Very active on defense with a couple of recorded steals and several more disruptions of the 14er offense. He was shooting very well from everywhere inside the arc, and his release looked fine to me. He made a few bad decisions on breaks and in the halfcourt when he called his own number too much, but that can be said of most of the guards on this team. His rebounding effort was excellent. In fact Williams, Bowen and Washington were the most likely to crash the boards at any time. The big guys could take a cue from them.

- Pittsnogle had a much improved game as far as rebounds are concerned, getting five. His D was lacking however, and he picked up four fouls in 18 minutes. His outside shot was off, but he was perfect inside the arc, including one nifty spin from the high post to a layup.

- Langford was Langford. He definitely looks like the steady 20 ppg guard every team needs. He seems like he's forcing things at times, but it's difficult to argue with the results, as he's scoring 25.8 ppg on 57% shooting.

All in all a quality win. The team looks like it is catching on to the team D concept. There is a little sloppiness and selfishness in the offense but this game was over at halftime, so it wasn't too bothersome.

[Bruno]

Thanks for the recap.
It's nice to see Marcus Williams playing well.
Toros have a talented roster. Let's hope for them and their fans that the team won't be dismantle by nba call-up or Spurs calling back Washington or Mahinmi.

[ChumpDumper]

i caught the last few mins of the game on the radio here in austin. chump, can 1300 stream toros games legally? i didn't check. some people here may want to listen in via their website.I'm pretty sure the league doesn't mind their streaming games, but in the past they haven't carried all the games. I often ended up listening to the opposing team's call on the D-League site where they have a kind of audio LeaguePass as well.

[barbacoataco]

I have often wondered what Langford could do if he got playing time for a NBA team.