Toros overpower Thunderbirds for 11th straight home win

[biba]

Some good news!

Toros overpower Thunderbirds for 11th straight home win

01/10/08 - NBA Development League (D-League) Austin Toros
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3578846

AUSTIN, TEXAS - Ian Mahinmi scored 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help lead the Austin Toros over the Albuquerque Thunderbirds on Thursday night 117-105 at the Austin Convention Center.

The Toros improved to 13-4 on the season and a franchise record 11 straight wins at home.

Mahinmi, who is on assignment from the San Antonio Spurs, was one of four Toros who scored over 20 points in the victory. Marcus Williams scored 22 points and dished out five assists in 35 minutes of play and Justin Reed led the team in rebounding with eight on the night.

Keith Langford and DerMarr Johnson each scored 25 points for the Toros. Langford and Johnson were re-assigned to the team yesterday following GATORADE call-ups by the San Antonio Spurs.

The Toros opened up the game in the third quarter after leading 60-55 at halftime and led by as many as 14 points following a fast break slam dunk by Anthony Fuqua to push the Toros lead to 90-76. Albuquerque would cut the deficit to nine in the fourth quarter but would never get any closer for the rest of the game.

Albuquerque was led in scoring by 23 points from Josh Gross, who also had four rebounds and three rebounds. The Thunderbirds featured six players scoring in double figures including 18 points from Daniel Horton. Darvin Ham chipped in 14 and Abdul Mills added 13 for Albuquerque.

The Thunderbirds fell to 6-8 on the season with the loss on Thursday night.

The two teams meet again on Saturday at the Austin Convention Center at 7 p.m.

[objective]

i watched from about 3 minuets left in the third to the end of the game on the webcast during the Spurs game.

Just like the two games against the Vipers, I was disappointed by Mahinmi's defense, he was backed down too easily and slow to recover and rotate at other times, sometimes I was sure he was going to go for a block only to see him stay on the ground while the offensive player rose up and scored.

In this game he only had 4 rebounds until a ways in the 4th I believe. A lot of easy dunks off of drive and dish plays.

To be honest even though I think his defense isn't ready I'd rather see him thrown to the wolves and see Elson sat before the rodeo road trip, just to see what kind of energy he would bring.

That's totally unrealistic, I know, just saying.

[ChumpDumper]

It wasn't a very fair contest. Albuquerque is another one of those teams with one true point guard and a bunch of swingmen. Like the Vipers before them, they stayed in the game by causing turnovers and getting easy buckets in transition. Once the Toros calmed down a bit with the right lineup and had a catalyzing play happen (Fuqua's breakaway dunk), they realized just how easy this game should be an methodically pulled away.

- Ian had kind of a rough time of it, but it was actually a pretty good game experience for him. He was matched up with NBA vet Darvin Ham on both ends of the court. Ham was quite undersized but very physical , making Ian fight for just about anything he did. Kris Lang was in street clothes (he played the double overtime game with a concussion and wasn't cleared to play Thursday), so Ian stayed inside all night on offense racking up a lot of dunks and chippies over his smaller competition. I'll look forward to seeing if he can up his rebounding numbers a bit Saturday.

- DerMarr played like he never left. Coming off the bench, he was a little lazy on D and turned over the ball four times but his excellent shot selection kept the Toros in the game during their sloppy period.

- Marcus Williams started out the sloppiest of them all, turning over the ball five times, some of them really embarrassing. Once he steadied his ship, he was nicely effective, scoring mostly inside.

- Keith Langford had a slow start scoring-wise, but really got into the swing of things in the second half when he played the point. He ended up doing fine in every aspect of the game except three point shooting, missing all four attempts.

- Justin Reed started at PF and appeared to have a much better understanding of the system, not forcing his offense and being in the right position on defense more often, even getting a couple of blocks.

- Cheyne Gadson had another game where he wasn't looking to score, but he ended up with 11 assists and only 3 turnovers, usually finding a scorer after penetrating deep into the paint. He needs to find a balance in his game, but his performance off the bench was welcome as Squeaky Johnson was ineffective and all the other Toros were just giving the ball away in the first half. Cheyne also got two under-the-radar blocks that weren't recorded.

- Justin Bowen had a bad shooting night. He seemed to be forcing some shots late to increase his numbers. He had a tough assignment on D most of the game; with Ian sticking to Darvin Ham, Bowen was left to cover the much larger Cory Underwood. Thunderbirds coach Jeff Ruland tried to exploit the matchup, but Underwood could only manage 10 points on 12 shots.

- Kenton Paulino was behind the bench in street clothes with Eric Dawson. Pittsnogle was not present.

All in all it should have probably been an easier win than it actually was especially since Albuquerque had no assignees, but I can chalk up the so-so first half to more roster upheaval. I expect the Toros to take care of the ball and defend the Thunderbirds better Saturday. I'll take 11-0 at home any day.

[TDMVPDPOY]

i still dont know why the spurs let go DJ....

this guy is proven in the nba for scrub minutes....

he wouldve been helpful against smallball the last few games we lost...

[ChumpDumper]

They might bring Johnson back later, but for now the Spurs want to check out Richardson.

[Bruno]

Mahinmi has some nice offensive stats. 13-16 from the field and 29 points. :clap

Do you think That Spurs will do like they do with James White last year and call back Mahinmi in a couple of weeks to have him with the team during the rodeo road trip ?

[mystargtr34]

Wheres D Wash?

[Bruno]

Wheres D Wash?

He has signed a contract with a Greek team.

[djohn14]

I wish Ian would be called up sometime this year. I want to see him play.

[tomcat]

Maybe Marcus was pressing in the first (you said he was sloppy) half due to the re-emergence of Johnson and Langford.

How was Johnson's defense and rebounding? He seems awfully laid back on that end of the floor for someone trying to make it back to the league.


You said Langford played the point in the second half? I see where he did have 7 assists 7 rebounds with his 25 pts............

Do you think they will start to play him at pg and make him more of a combo guard due to his size?

Why the move over to the point in the second half?

[Spurs Dynasty 21]

any chance Ian is back on the Spurs rosters this season?

[ChumpDumper]

Maybe Marcus was pressing in the first (you said he was sloppy) half due to the re-emergence of Johnson and Langford.

How was Johnson's defense and rebounding? He seems awfully laid back on that end of the floor for someone trying to make it back to the league.That's probably the biggest thing that is keeping the Spurs from retaining his services.


You said Langford played the point in the second half? I see where he did have 7 assists 7 rebounds with his 25 pts............

Do you think they will start to play him at pg and make him more of a combo guard due to his size?He has always brought up the ball a fair number of times each game this season, and that kind of reflects what the Spurs want out of any guard.

Why the move over to the point in the second half? I think he specifically ran the point last night because the other point guards combined to take a total of one shot from the field in 40 minutes. We'll have to see if he cuts into their time any further.

[ChumpDumper]

Mahinmi has some nice offensive stats. 13-16 from the field and 29 points. :clap

Do you think That Spurs will do like they do with James White last year and call back Mahinmi in a couple of weeks to have him with the team during the rodeo road trip ?That's possible, though it would take a little shine off the proposed GTG. I'd want him in town for that one since the Flash have some real monsters playing center.

[Bruno]

So Langford practices at the PG spot with Spurs and is now playing some PG in Austin. Interesting.
ChumpDumper, do you think that Langford could make the transition to the PG spot and do you think it's where he could have a NBA future ?

[ChumpDumper]

I've guessed a few times here that Langford's best shot at the NBA would be as a combo guard given his size. He's not an overly creative passer, but he takes care of the ball pretty well and mixes distribution and scoring decently when manning the point.

[Bruno]

Thanks. Maybe it could work well with Manu helping him to create plays. Langford seems to play more under control than Washington.

[ChumpDumper]

Saturday's game should be more competitive since the Suns reassigned Alando Tucker to the T-birds.

[gusboy]

dude, underwood was good and i heard it was his 1st game, i can't wait to see him sat. i watched the birds practice today and @ 6'10 he shoots the nba 3, handles and has a deadly mid-range jumper...where did he come from??