Category: Basketball

The G League is a developmental circuit for the NBA, but Tuesday night at Legacy Arena the clash between the Birmingham Squadron and Texas Legends seemed more like a throwback to the late, great American Basketball Association.

Played at a dizzying pace and featuring 38 3-pointers, 96 points in the paint, 18 lead changes and some hot tempers that resulted in three technical fouls, Birmingham took a 134-121 victory in front of 1,389 fans.

The win improves the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate to 4-1 in the Showcase Cup standings, while the Dallas Mavericks’ farmhands slip to 2-3.

Two-way guard Dereon Seabron had a phenomenal performance in the win, netting a career-high 37 points and dishing out 11 assists to secure the double-double. It was the second most points ever scored by a Squadron player in a single game.

“I feel like I was due for it,” Seabron said. “That first game (on Sunday) I had to get used to playing with new players because I’d been in New Orleans since the summertime, and I had to adjust to everybody’s playing style and what spots they wanted to be in.”

Malcolm Hill also had a big night for the winners with 24 points, followed by Izaiah Brockington (17), Landers Nolley (16), Devin Cannady (14) and Jalen Crutcher (13).

“Dereon’s a very unique player,” Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said. “His IQ is really high, he’s very quick, he’s powerful. And over the last year since I’ve had him, his development and decision making is just way better. He’s a special dude. I think he can earn an NBA contract.”

Greg Brown III led Texas with 26 points and got plenty of help from former UAB standout Jelly Walker, who finished with 20 points.

Dexter Dennis contributed 17 points, A.J. Lawson added 16, Juston Jackson scored 14, Theo Pinson had 12 and Joe Wieskamp closed out double-figure Legends with 10.

Brown had seven 3-pointers before finally cooling off.

Leading by just six entering the fourth quarter, Birmingham asserted itself with solid defense and dead-eye shooting.

The Squadron moved in front 122-109 with under six minutes remaining and – with the Legends finally misfiring from beyond the arc – hung on for the victory.

“There’s a lot of talent on the floor,” Saint said. “Brown, and A.J. Lawson’s played a lot of games. And they’re really good and very talented, and they’re not even all the way healthy.

“And I think our guys are gonna get even better throughout the year. I hope the fans keep coming. They’ll see some good basketball.”

UAB product Trey Jemison opened the game with a dunk and Walker followed with the Legends’ first bucket, setting the tone for a frenetic first quarter.

Jemison picked up his second foul four minutes in – forcing him to the bench early – but hot shooting from Seabron and Nolley helped negate the size disadvantage.

Cannady and Brockington came through with some timely 3-pointers, and Birmingham led 37-33 after one.

Brown and Walker continued to have a hot hand for Texas in the second stanza, allowing Jordan Sears’ charges to quickly erase the deficit and move in front 65-59 with 3:06 to go before halftime.

But Birmingham reeled off three straight buckets to tie the game at 65-all with 1:22 on the clock.

Taze Moore scored a putback for Texas to put the Legends back on top but a Hill trey – as well as a pair of free throws and a technical foul shot – gave the Squadron a 71-67 edge in the waning moments.

Brown, however, beat the buzzer with his fourth 3-pointer of the first half and cut the Birmingham lead to 71-70 with 24 minutes still to play.

After the teams combined for 25 3-pointers over the first two quarters, it was more of the same in the third.

When Birmingham and Texas weren’t dropping it in from long range, they were racking up points in transition. The result was another frenzied period, and when the horn sounded the home team was clinging to a 104-98 lead.

In the final 12 minutes, the hosts were finally able to put some distance between themselves and the visitors.

Birmingham won the rebounding battle, 45-43, and had just 12 turnovers to 19 for Texas.

“There’s something new we’re doing this year,” Saint said. “There’s offense, there’s defense and we have a third thing called ‘crashense.’ So, we’re sending four to the glass no matter what. It’s something (assistant coach) Joe Barrer, who was the head coach in Lakeland for the last two years, did, and something that I really liked.”

Trey vs. Jelly, Part 2: Jemison dealt with foul trouble and was limited to eight rebounds and six points.

Walker’s 20 points included six from 3-point range, and he also had eight assists.

The two-game set in Birmingham is the last scheduled meeting between the two teams this season – and the two former Blazers.

Making history: With the Squadron’s third season underway, head coach T.J. Saint has already entered the record book.

How?

Well, in the annals of Birmingham pro basketball, he is the first coach to lead a Magic City-branded team into action to start two consecutive seasons.

Of course, it helps that the G League team has survived more than one campaign – a feat no other local pro hoop franchise accomplished.

In 1947, Fred Lewis logged a 17-5 record as coach of the Birmingham Skyhawks of the Professional Basketball League of America. That circuit folded before finishing its first and last season.

The Birmingham Vulcans (1947-48) of the Southern Professional Basketball League went through three coaches – Wheeler Fleming (13-13) to start, then Cherry Foster (5-8) and finally Jim Price (7-7), the team owner who served out the year as coach.

The Vulcans folded but in 1948 the Birmingham Steelers joined the SPBL, and head coach Ben Chapman was 8-2 before leaving the team. (Chapman was better known as an all-star baseball player for the New York Yankees and later manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. He disgraced himself by shouting racist slurs at Jackie Robinson during the 1947 season, and was ultimately fired by the National League club).

Price was owner of the Vulcans as well, and again took the coaching reigns to finish out the one-and-done season, going 14-11.

Jump to 1991 and the Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association; Mo McHone was 27-34.

And Ryan Pannone held the top job when the Squadron came to Birmingham in 2021-22, leading the club to a 27-20 record.

Saint’s first team was 17-33 overall and he is off to a 4-1 start in 2023-24.

Next up: Birmingham hosts the Memphis Hustle on Sunday at 3 p.m. The theme is “Commander’s Birthday,” and the first 1,000 fans will receive a stuffed animal version of the team mascot.

The theme for Sunday’s NBA G League clash at Legacy Arena between the Birmingham Squadron and Texas Legends was “Sitcom Night.”

When 48 minutes were done, it was the Legends who got the last laugh in front of 1,252 fans.

With six players hitting double figures and the Squadron turning the ball over 22 times, the Dallas Mavericks’ affiliate knocked the New Orleans Pelicans’ developmental club from the unbeaten ranks with an impressive 119-105 victory.

“We jumped out 21-11, but then we had 22 turnovers for 24 points, and those are really backbreakers,” Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said. “In one of our first three games we kept our turnovers low, but it’s been an issue (in the other three) and our defense has been able to recover, but that’s certainly something that has to be better Tuesday when we play them again.”

Texas evens its Showcase Cup record to 2-2 while Birmingham stands at 3-1.

Two-way player Dereon Seabron was in the Squadron lineup for the first time in 2023-24, scoring 15 points. Still, it was an adjustment for both him and his teammates.

“That’s the G League,” Saint said. “That’s how it always is. He’s very talented and we need him, but we haven’t practiced with him. He got here (Saturday) after our practice.

“We did a light walkthrough, but he didn’t know some of the stuff, so it’s part of the G League as it normally is. We’ll get better Tuesday.”

Seabron has played five games for the Pelicans this season, averaging 2.8 points and 10.4 minutes per game for the parent club.

Trailing 86-78 going into the fourth quarter and shooting just 31 of 75 from the field, the Squadron needed to flip the script in order to stay unbeaten.

Instead, the Legends led by as many as 18 points on their way to winning the first of a two-game set.

A.J. Lawson led the victors with 24 points, followed by former UAB standout Jordan “Jelly” Walker (22), Greg Brown III (19), Joe Wieskamp (15), Theo Pinson (12) and Dexter Dennis (10).

Devon Cannady had the hot hand for the Squadron with 24 points, a team high through four games. He was six of nine from 3-point range.

Landers Nolley II had 19 points, Seabron and Jalen Crutcher each tallied 15, and Tevian Jones was good for 12.

The Squadron was out of sync for much of the first quarter, plagued by turnovers (eight) and poor outside shooting, going just one of eight from 3-point range. That – along with nine points from Brown, the Legend forward – helped Texas to a 25-23 lead.

A 3-pointer by Walker gave the visitors a 34-27 edge with under eight minutes left in the second quarter, and another trey by the former Blazer made it 37-27 moments later.

Birmingham clawed back, getting a pair of threes from Jones and another courtesy of Malcolm Hill, but the Texans always seemed to have an answer.

However, Cannady bagged four consecutive 3-pointers to aid the Squadron cause, pulling the hosts to within three at 55-52 in the waning moments.

At the break, Texas held a 57-52 advantage.

The third quarter was mostly a rinse and repeat, with Birmingham struggling to find the range and the Legends finding success from beyond the arc.

With 12 minutes remaining, Saint’s crew was down by eight, 86-78.

Trey vs. Jelly: The sidebar to the main story of the game was the reunion of Trey Jemison and Walker, who played together at UAB and helped the Blazers reach the NIT Finals last season.

This time they were on opposite sides, but got together immediately when the Squadron’s Jemison was called for goaltending on the first shot of the game – which came from Walker.

At halftime Jemison already had 11 rebounds and eight points while Walker had netted 10 points, including a pair of threes.

By the end of the night, Jemison owned 16 rebounds – the fifth highest total in Squadron history – and Walker was his side’s second leading scorer with 22 points.

“I say it all the time … Birmingham is like my second home next to New York,” Walker said. “I’m glad I was able to play well. I started off the season a little rough. It’s different from college to the professional game – very different, and way faster. But having my coaches believe in me, my teammates trust me and know how good I can be … it was just great to do it in Birmingham, where I made a name for myself.”

Walker said it was “a blessing” to get together with Jemison again, even if they were on different teams.

“We’ve had bad days together, we’ve had good days together,” Walker said. “You know, we’ve won championships together. We went to the tournament together, so we’ve been through a lot together, especially my two years at UAB.

“Just seeing him and knowing we made it this far after being with each other in college in the same locker room, it’s a blessing. It’s a testament to both of our hard work, and what we’ve done at UAB and obviously, (UAB coach) Andy Kennedy helped us tremendously and got us to this point.”

Jemison agreed.

“We got to talk the day before the game and we get to play each other again on Tuesday,” Jemison said. “I look forward to doing it again.”

Putting the work in: Before the season started, I asked Jemison what he wanted to improve about his game.

“I want to be better around the rim,” he said. “You know, I’m gonna play defense, I’m gonna hustle hard, and I’m gonna rebound.”

So far, so good.

He came into Sunday ranking third in the circuit in rebounds per game average (9.7) and had five blocks in the first quarter of his G League debut on November 10 against the Austin Spurs. Through his first three games, Jemison was seventh in the league in blocks with 2.7 per game.

After tonight’s contest, he has collected 45 rebounds and blocked nine shots.

“It’s been an amazing journey, man,” Jemison said. “I’ve learned so much about myself and my game, and it’s a learning curve. I’m learning about myself as a player and a man, and this process has been huge.”

History lesson: On this day in 1991 the Birmingham Bandits won their third consecutive game after an 0-3 start to the 1991-92 Continental Basketball Association season with a 138-120 victory over the Omaha Racers.

Michael Ansley led seven Birmingham players in double figures with a game-high 40 points, while Jim Farmer added 22.

The game was played before 1,681 fans at State Fair Arena.

Next up: The Squadron and Legends are back at Legacy Arena on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. tip.

Three games into the 2023-24 NBA G League season, the Birmingham Squadron – affiliates of the New Orleans Pelicans – boasts a 40-point opening night victory over Austin as well as a two-game road sweep of the Capitanes de Ciudad de México. Now 3-0 in the Showcase Cup in-season tourney standings, the team head coach T.J. Saint said would be hot-shooting and fun to watch is off to its best start since coming to the Magic City in 2021.

“Actually, our offense can get a lot better,” Saint said Friday afternoon before practice. “I think I want to take even more threes. We’re a really good shooting team – I think we’re fifth in the league right now. But our turnovers are keeping us from attempting even more, so we need to cut down on those.

“The thing that I’m very, very happy with is our defense. We’re second in the league and our rebounding is really good. And to build an identity as a team and then eventually get a call to the NBA, you have to be an elite system defender and we’ve got a lot of good buy-in so far on the defensive end, so I’m super happy with it.”

In Mexico City the Squadron took two hard-fought victories against a club that has plenty of talent.

“I love playing down there,” Saint said. “The fans are engaged, it’s loud … it’s a big-time arena. They’re a really, really good team with a lot of veteran players that know how to play and we went against some very, very intense defensive pressure from them.

“And I really am proud and happy with the team essence. We had to overcome a lot of in-game adversity and pull through it and to be honest, it’s an experience that I will never forget. It’s one of the coolest basketball moments of my entire career.”

Up next for Birmingham is a pair of games against the Texas Legends (1-2), who are based out of Frisco and linked with the Dallas Mavericks.

A.J. Lawson – in his second season on a two-way deal with the Mavs – has made two appearances for the Legends and leads the team in scoring with a 26.5-points per game clip.

Justin Jackson scores 23.3 per night, followed by Greg Brown III (14.5) and Dexter Dennis (10).

Oliver-Maxence Prosper scored 19 points in his one game with Texas this season.

The Legends also feature Jelly Walker, who – along with Birmingham center Trey Jemison – helped UAB reach the NIT finals last season.

“I think it’s pretty exciting for fans to see two players from UAB go against each other,” Saint said. “Who wouldn’t be excited about that if you’re a Blazer fan? Trey has improved a lot since we first signed him. He’s a very, very quick learner, and I’m talking about within a game he can do multiple different things. We changed coverages three different times in the second half in Mexico. And he wasn’t perfect, but his ability to change with that on the fly made a huge impact.

“Like, we started switching all pick-and-rolls with him, something we didn’t do a lot in camp, to try to keep (Mexico City guard) Trey Burke out of the paint and just make him take tough shots over Trey, and Trey did that pretty well.”

Jemison and E.J. Liddell have been forces on the glass, with Jemison pulling down 9.7 rebounds each time out and Liddell snatching 9.3.

As a team, Birmingham is third in in rebounds with 53 per outing.

Malcolm Hill is currently second in the G League in 3-pointers made with 12, while the Squadron ranks fifth (40) in that category and fifth in 3-point percentage (36.4).

It was Hill’s trey with 0.3 seconds on the clock that forced overtime in Birmingham’s 108-102 victory over Mexico City on Monday night.

Jalen Crutcher, who led the team in scoring with 18 points, tallied the game-winner as the Squadron reached the O.T. target score (first team to score seven points).

In Sunday’s road opener against the Capitanes, Landers Nolley II tallied his second consecutive double-double with 27 points and 12 boards in a 108-103 conquest.

Hill hit for 25 points, Crutcher scored 21, and Liddell chipped in 18.

Hill is one of six Squadron players who averages double figures in the team’s perfect start, accounting for 19.7 points per game through three outings.

Nolley II scores 19 points per contest, followed by Crutcher (16.7), Liddell (14.7), Izaiah Brockington (13.7) and Tevian Jones (11.7).

Sunday’s game between Birmingham and Texas is set for 3 p.m. at Legacy Arena, and the two are at it again on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“I think it’s really cool to see how the guys are building a true connectivity and camaraderie with each other,” Saint said. “They’re very connected right now. Trey’s one of the leaders in that with his voice and just how he plays and yeah … I think we’ve got some future NBA players on our team.”

For ticket information, go to birmingham.gleague.nba.com.