Category: Basketball

Santa Claus paid a visit to Legacy Arena Monday night for the G League showdown between the Birmingham Squadron and Memphis Hustle.

And none of the 1,410 fans in attendance had to learn from ol’ St. Nick who had been bad or good – they saw for themselves.

Jalen Crutcher hit the game winning 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds left – the biggest of his season-high 39 points – and three of his teammates recorded triple-doubles as the New Orleans Pelicans affiliates held off the Memphis Grizzlies’ developmental club, 102-99.

“I just knew I was gonna shoot the shot, no matter what,” Crutcher said. “The way the game was going for me I was hot, so my mindset was just to take the shot at the end.”

It was a wildly entertaining game from wire-to-wire, one that saw T.J. Saint’s Squadron (6-6) take control early, lose its way in the third quarter, and rally at the 11^th hour to secure the “W.”

With Memphis (4-9) leading 99-97, Trey Jemison tied the game with a putback, and then a defensive stop gave Birmingham a chance to win it in regulation.

Crutcher made sure they did, drilling his trey from well beyond the arc.

The Hustle had a shot to tie as the clock neared zero, but the ball was off the mark.

“We just found a way to win,” Saint said. “It was super ugly … we were two of 18 (from 3-point range) in the second half, but I’m proud of the guys for fighting through. This was our sixth game in 11 nights, and we found a way.”

Crutcher’s 39 points was the headliner, but Jemison’s 16 points and 13 rebounds, Malcolm Hill’s 16 points and 10 boards, and Izaiah Brockington’s 11 point/11 carom performance was required to seal the deal.

“You guys can see it some on the court, but I see it in film, I see it in group text chats, I see it in practice, I see it in the airport – these guys are one of the most connected teams I’ve ever been a part of. We have 38 games or so to go, and it’s only gonna get tighter.

“I think the future’s really bright, but we’ve got to clean up some attention to detail like every team. But it’s a race, and we’ve got to get better than them.” 

GG Jackson led Memphis with 22 points, followed by David Johnson (14), Jason Preston (14), Matt Hurt (13) and Cameron McGriff (11).

The Squadron raced out to a 12-4 lead to start and held a 30-20 lead after one quarter. Crutcher did the bulk of the damage with 16 points – including four-from-four shooting from 3-point range.

He continued to set the pace in the second frame, making another three before finally missing, and ended the half with 21 points.

Despite Crutcher being the only Birmingham player in double figures, the home team went to the locker room with a 53-44 advantage.

The Squadron cooled off in the third quarter and the Hustle found the range, allowing Memphis to take its first lead of the game.

With the score knotted at 66-all, Johnson banged home a 3-pointer at the 2:40 mark to put the visitors in front, 69-66.

When the buzzer sounded, the squad wearing road whites were still ahead, 75-74.

Memphis looked to close things out in the fourth – bagging 10 3-pointers over the final 12 minutes – and led by as many as six points down the stretch.

Instead, it was the Squadron that came up with final score of the game, and it was the one that assured victory.

The ending was especially sweet for Crutcher, who grew up in Memphis.

“It would’ve been even better if I’d done it at Memphis,” Crutcher said, with a laugh. “But it was definitely special because that’s my city and hometown.”

With the win, Birmingham is fifth in the South Pod standings of the Showcase Cup, and is on the outside looking in for a spot in the eight-team Winter Showcase tournament.

Saint sets mark: Tonight’s game against Memphis was the 62nd time Saint had coached the Squadron. That means he has now coached more games than any other person in the history of Birmingham professional basketball.

The previous record holder was Mo McHone, who guided the Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association in 1991-92 and compiled a 27-34 mark during the franchise’s lone season in the Magic City.

McHone, incidentally, has strong ties to the G League – originally known as the NBA Developmental League.

He had two different coaching stints with the Sioux Falls Skyforce (and another when the franchise was in the CBA), and was also director of basketball development for the Austin Toros.

OTD in 1947: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Montgomery Rebels, 81-74, in overtime for their fourth consecutive victory.

Shag Hawkins, a former Auburn standout, led the winners with 21 points and his three quick field goals in O.T. secured the win in front of 400 fans at the National Guard Armory.

It was the Rebels’ first loss of the season.

The contest was marred by 56 fouls and when the game ended, Montgomery coach Len Rader charged referee Jack Stanford but the police intervened before any blows landed.

The Rebels featured four players who were part of the Birmingham Skyhawks of the ill-fated Basketball League of America franchise that folded the previous season.

OTD in 1991: The Bandits of the CBA fell to the Fort Wayne Fury, 103-96, for their seventh consecutive loss.

Jim Farmer had a game-high 32 points for the Bandits, who led for three quarters before being overtaken in the final frame.

OTD in 2021: The Squadron topped the Lakeland Magic, 97-88, for its third straight win.

Hill led the winners with 24 points, followed by Jared Harper (19), Joe Young (15) and Zylan Cheatham (14). Cheatham also dominated the glass with 18 rebounds to secure the double-double.

Next up: The Squadron is done with the 2023 portion of its home schedule. Birmingham plays at Osceola on Wednesday and Friday, and then heads to Orlando for the Winter Showcase.

If the Squadron doesn’t qualify for the tourney championship, it will still play two games while in Central Florida.

If there’s one thing predictable about NBA G League basketball it’s that NBA G League basketball is entirely unpredictable.

A day after the Birmingham Squadron handed the Rio Grande Valley Vipers a 19-point loss, RGV returned the favor – with interest – in a 132-99 thrashing of the home side in front of 1,631 fans Saturday at Legacy Arena.

It was the franchise’s worst loss since moving to Birmingham in 2021.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliates slip to 5-6 in Showcase Cup play, while the Houston Rockets’ farm club improves to 7-5.

The dynamic duo of forward Cam Whitmore and center Jermaine Samuels Jr. helped the visitors take the mystery out of this one early with buckets from all over the court – and they never let up.

Whitmore had 42 points while Samuels had a double-double with 29 points and 13 rebounds.

The Vipers led by as many as 51 points in the third quarter.

“It’s not just one of those nights … it turned into one of those nights,” Birmingham coach T. J. Saint said. “We missed a plethora of shots at the rim that led to transition points in the first half. They’re extremely talented, and some human nature stuff sets in and you just don’t feel as good about yourself, and it ballooned to 50.

“Obviously we weren’t going to win the game at that point, but we challenged them to win the fourth quarter, which we did (30-23). We’re building for the next 38 or 39 games, whatever it is.”

Rio Grande Valley also got 18 points from Jarrett Culver and 10 from Shawn Occeus while dominating the game on the boards, 57-40.

Izaiah Brockington paced Birmingham with 24 points, Trey Jemison had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Malcolm Hill, Devin Cannady and Pavel Savkov scored 12 each.

Jalen Crutcher closed out double-figure Squadron scorers with 10 points.

Savkov, the team’s lone 2023 draft pick, was a bright spot in the defeat. Playing just under 10 minutes, his 12 points came from four-of-five shooting from 3-point distance.

“He came in in the Memphis game and did kinda the same thing,” Saint said. “He always tells me he’ll stay ready and every single time he has been. Those minutes for him are minutes where you look at rotations, and he’s still earning his credentials like everybody else so those minutes were super important.”

The Vipers threatened to run the Squadron out of its own building in the first quarter, racing out to a 36-21 lead.

While Rio Grande Valley was scoring from the inside and outside, Birmingham was struggling mightily. The Vipers shot at a 64 percent clip, and the Squadron was hitting just 41 percent and going oh-for-seven from 3-point range.

Although Saint’s club finally broke the ice from beyond the arc in the second frame things got even worse, with Samuels and Whitmore taking over the game and RGV dominating in the paint.

By halftime the Squadron was staring up from a 72-47 crater, and Samuels was already good for 21 points and seven rebounds and Whitmore accounted for 17 points.

The third quarter was more of the same and with the outcome already settled, RGV coach Kevin Burleson made wholesale lineup changes. At one point he went up and down the bench and asked “Have you played?”

The eventual winners entered the fourth stanza with a 109-69 lead and shifted into cruise control from there.

Small ball: Cannady took a brief hiatus from the Squadron to participate in the USA Basketball AmeriCup 3×3 tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On December 2 he helped Team USA defeat Jamaica, 22-13, scoring four points and snatching four rebounds.

In a 21-12 victory over Argentina, he had seven points and three boards. That game was also played on December 2.

Finally – in an 18-16 loss to the Dominican Republic on December 3 in the quarterfinals – he tallied four points.

In 3×3 competition, shots inside the arc and from the free throw line are worth one point, outside the arc shots score two, and the halfcourt game lasts 10 minutes, with the clock stopping on dead balls and foul shots.

OTD in 1947: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Jackson (Mississippi) Senators, 54-47.

Wheeler Flemming helped the Vulcans rally from a halftime deficit with hot-shooting, closing out the contest with a game-high 24 points.

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL defeated the Nashville Vols, 74-72, for their fifth consecutive victory to start the 1948-49 season.

With the Steelers trailing 68-62, Darrell Lorance scored three quick buckets to knot the score and finished with 27 points to keep Birmingham perfect.

Next up: The Squadron closes out its homestand Monday when the Memphis Hustle comes to Legacy Arena for a 7 p.m. start.

It’ll be the team’s final home game of 2023.

With just five games remaining in the Showcase Cup portion of the 2023-24 schedule, the Birmingham Squadron is running out of chances to qualify for the Winter Showcase.

During a matinee on Friday at Legacy Arena, however, the New Orleans Pelicans’ G League affiliates got back in the hunt.

Malcolm Hill lit it up for a career-high 33 points and Tevian Jones contributed a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) as Birmingham snapped a four-game losing skid with a 109-90 victory over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

“We shot it pretty well from (3-point range), and we didn’t turn it over, which was huge,” Squadron boss T.J. Saint said. “Malcolm is who Malcolm is … one of the best vets I’ve ever been around. And Tevian is growing. He comes in every day, puts in the work, doesn’t complain, and he’s been like that since summer league. He’s got a bright, bright future.”

Saint’s team evens its record at 5-5 while the Houston Rockets farm club stands at 6-5.

Both teams are in the South Pod of the Showcase Cup and trail Mexico City and Osceola (7-4) and Oklahoma City (7-5) in the standings.

Izaiah Brockington netted 17 points for the winners, followed by Devin Cannady (15) and Jalen Crutcher (14).

UAB product Trey Jemison just missed a double-double with eight points and 16 rebounds.

“He’s a monster,” Saint said of Jemison, who also had five blocked shots. “We don’t win if he’s not here.”

Rockets assignment player Cam Whitmore was the top scorer for the Vipers, with Amen Thompson and Darius Days each scoring 14, Jermaine Samuels Jr. adding 12 and Jarrett Culver pumping in 10.

Although the Vipers outscored the Squadron 34-16 in the paint over the game’s first 24 minutes (and 64-38 overall), timely outside shooting helped make up the difference.

The score was knotted at 26-all after one – Hill already had seven points – and he added seven more in the second period to lead all scorers with 17 points.

Jones was flirting with a double-double by halftime (10 points, eight boards), and Jemison’s slam with :44 left in the quarter gave Birmingham a 50-49 edge at intermission.

The Squadron led by as many as 10 in the third quarter and looked poised to take control of the contest. However, the home team’s shooting cooled off and Rio Grande Valley continued to force the issue on the inside, and trailed only 82-79 entering the final stanza.

But Birmingham found its long-range groove again in the fourth and the Vipers – trying to make up ground from outside the arc – continued to miss the mark.

The hosts led 96-85 with 4:35 remaining and kept adding to their advantage from there, settling for a solid 19-point victory.

“We held the top scoring team in the league to 90 points,” Saint said. “I’m really proud of that.”

Hill said he just tried to play his game, and wasn’t worried about the losing streak or the Showcase Cup standings.

“It’s such a long season, almost every team goes through a losing skid,” Hill said. “Honestly, a lot of our losses were close games, and the start of the season we were winning those close games. The big thing for us is just staying consistent with what we do. I didn’t look to play hero ball or anything, we just want to find golden nuggets – things we can take from games even if we lose.

“It’s tough to learn from wins, so we took the opportunity to learn from our losses.”

What a start: Thompson, the No. 4 pick overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, made his G League debut on December 6 and did not disappoint.

The 6-7 rookie had a triple-double – 29 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists – in a 128-126 loss to Oklahoma City.

Thompson missed five weeks with a high ankle sprain before the Rockets assigned him to the G League for rehab.

STEM Fest: The theme for today’s game was STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), and kids from throughout the Birmingham area were at Legacy Arena to get hands-on demonstrations – and watch professional basketball.

The youngsters helped the Squadron draw 2,024 and created a great (and very loud) atmosphere.

OTD in 1947: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Memphis Legionnaires, 62-43.

Player-coach Wheeler Flemming led the charge with 19 points, followed by Bobby O’Brien (15), Manuel Dorsky (11) and Bubba Bell (11).

The Vulcans never trailed and their starting lineup played from wire-to-wire.

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL defeated the Laurel Oilers, 63-61 to improve their record to 4-0.

Bob Murphy tallied 19 points for the winners.

OTD in 1991: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association fell to the Oklahoma City Calvary, 106-102, for their fifth consecutive loss.

Jim Farmer was a bright spot for the Bandits, scoring 28 points. Marvin Alexander had a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds) in a losing effort.

OTD in 2022: The Squadron lost to the Memphis Hustle, 114-109, at Legacy Arena. Kenny Loftin led the winners with a game-high 24 points.

Kelan Martin paced Birmingham with 21 points while both Zylan Cheatham and James Kelly Sr. added 20 apiece.

The Squadron fell to 6-12 with the loss.

Next up: The Squadron and Vipers are back at it on Saturday at Legacy Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.