Category: Basketball

The Birmingham Squadron closed out its MLK Celebration Weekend with a performance worth celebrating.

Malcolm Hill scored a game-high 30 points and Kira Lewis Jr. and E.J. Liddell – assigned to Birmingham from the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday morning – provided plenty of help as T.J. Saint’s club nipped Raptors 905, 108-105, before 1,115 fans at Legacy Arena.

Lewis Jr.’s two free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining iced the G League matinee game for the hosts, who improve to 3-5 overall.

Raptors 905 out of Mississauga, Ontario, slip to 3-6.

“Credit to Toronto,” Saint said after the game. “(Eric Khoury) is a friend of mine and does a great job, but I give a lot of credit to our guys. It was a  crazy game, and it got a little too tight at the end because we had some self-inflicted wounds, but what I really like is our defense is getting better.”
Lewis Jr. finished with19 points and dished out nine assists, and Liddell and Trey Jemison each had 16 points to go with 11 rebounds. For Jemison, it was his seventh consecutive double-double and 11^th in the last 13 games.

Izaiah Brockington accounted for 11 Birmingham points.

Kevin Obanor led 905 with 21 points, Markquis Nowell notched the double-double with 20 points and 11 boards, and Justise Winslow scored 19.

Mouhamadou Gueye and Javon Freeman-Liberty closed out double figure scorers for the visitors with 16 points apiece.

With Birmingham leading 91-89 with 8:03 to go, the eventual winners stepped up the defensive intensity and outscored the Toronto Raptors affiliate 12-2 over the next four minutes.

Ultimately, that provided them with just enough of a cushion once things got hairy down the stretch.

“We switched to a coverage we call Drop 15 where we put Trey back in the paint instead of up on the pick-and-roll, and then we relied his development on defense which has just been great to protect the rim,” Saint said.

As for Hill, it was another good day at the office.

“I’m experienced, but I also think games like this are due to the work I put in,” said Hill, who was on the original Squadron roster in 2021-22. “But my teammates uplift me. Last game I played terrible, but the coaches and other players were still encouraging me to play well. Things worked out well today.”

Liddell wasted no time making an impact, scoring 10 points over seven minutes in the first quarter to help Birmingham grab a 30-25 lead. Hill – setting the tome for his big day – scored nine.

Hill continued his hot shooting in the second frame, ending the first half with 20 points. Although turnovers allowed 905 to briefly take the lead and keep things close, the Squadron went into halftime on top, 57-53.

There was little separation between the teams in the third, with Nowell, Freeman-Liberty and Obanor doing much of the scoring work for the guests.

But Birmingham kept the Canadians at arm’s length, and entered the final 12 minutes with an 84-79 edge.

Despite a frenzied fourth, the home team hung on.

“Pressure builds diamonds,” Hill said. “I feel like a game like this, when it’s really tight, brings out not only the best in me, but the best in us as a team.”

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League lost to Montgomery Rebels, 66-59, in front of 800 fans at the National Guard Armory.

Ther game was billed as a replay of a protested game from December 19, and the result gave Montgomery a league-leading 22-2 mark while Birmingham slipped to 12-13.

Frank Wheeling was the high scorer for Birmingham with 19 points while Kenny Spiker paced the winners with 25 points.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL beat the Laurel Oilers, 85-84, with 1,500 fans looking on at Municipal Auditorium.

Bob Murphy hit a free throw with nine seconds left in regulation to lift Birmingham to victory.

Joe Parker led the winners and all scorers with 27 points, while Murphy pumped in 19 – his last charity toss the biggest.

Next up: Birmingham hosts the Iowa Wolves on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

It’s College Night, and fans are encouraged to dress repping their favorite school. The first 1,000 fans will receive a Squadron flag and halftime will feature a seven-minute basketball game with members of the Unless U Unicorns.

After racing out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter, the Birmingham Squadron appeared to be in good position to extend its winning streak to two games.

But basketball games are never won in the first quarter, and it was the last three that helped put the New Orleans Pelicans developmental club back in the loss column.

Raptors 905 (3-5), G league farmhands of the Toronto Raptors, heated up from the floor from the second quarter on and took advantage of Birmingham (2-5) turnovers in a 112-98 victory on Saturday in front of 1,616 fans at Legacy Arena.

“Turnovers,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said, shaking his head. “They scored 112 points on 102 or 103 possessions. If we have normal turnovers, our defensive effort and rating would’ve been better than Memphis (a 122-111 victory on Thursday) but turnovers killed us. They’re demoralizing.”

While Birmingham’s 24 turnovers were actually one less than 905, they came at the worst possible times.

“Trying to pick up human morale when you’re dealing with turnovers is a trick I’ve got to figure out as a coach,” Saint said. “But the good thing is that it’s very correctible, it is on us, and we will be ready (Monday).”

Trey Jemison recorded his sixth consecutive double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), and Malcolm Hill led the home team with 19 points. Others scoring double figures for the Squadron were Jalen Crutcher (17), Izaiah Brockington (16), Tevian Jones (12) and Devin Cannady (11).

Raptors 905 shot a sizzling 51 percent from the floor and netted 12 more field goals than Birmingham.

Omari led six double-digit men with 22 points, followed by Jaysean Paige (20), Kevin Obanor (16), Mauhamadou Gueye (14), Drake Jeffries (13) and Markquis Nowell (11).

Gueye had 13 rebounds and Nowell added 11 assists to give each player double-doubles.

Birmingham controlled the first quarter, leading by as many as 15 points before settling for a 33-22 edge after 12 minutes.

Brockington and Jones had already accounted for eight points each, although Brockington was saddled with three personal fouls.

The team repping Mississauga, Ontario, however, stormed back in the second quarter, wiping out the deficit and taking the lead (44-42) at the 5:10 mark. Their cushion inflated to five before the Squadron launched a mini-rally and tied it up at 52-all with 1:47 to go before halftime.

But 905 got those points back – and more – and with 24 minutes in the books, held a 61-54 advantage.

The visitors threatened to end all doubt about this one early in the third quarter, scoring the first 14 points of the frame to secure a 75-54 lead.

Brockington’s 3-pointer finally ended the drought, but Eric Khoury’s team rarely cooled down, and led 91-73 going into the fourth.

From there, 905 put the game in maintenance mode.

Specialty unis: The Squadron wore theme uniforms for Saturday’s game, the first time in 2023-24 the team has dressed out in alternate colors. As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Weekend, the Squadron paid tribute to the Birmingham Black Barons by wearing black unis that featured the legendary Negro League club’s BBB logo on the jersey, and an outline of the Magic City skyline across the shorts.

The team will wear the same uniforms again for Monday morning’s MLK Day game.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the Southern Professional Basketball League beat the New Orleans Sports, 119-75.

The win at Municipal Auditorium, which improved Birmingham to 14-8, was also record-setting as the 119 points by the victors was an all-time high in a SPBL game.

Bob Murphy led the onslaught with 28 points, followed by John Murphy (27), Darrell Lorance (26), Joe Parker (23), and Lloyd Spitzer (11).

OTD in 2023: The Squadron lost to Salt Lake City Stars, 132-110, at Legacy Arena.

Feron Hunt led Birmingham with 24 points, Javonte Smart scored 21, and Kelan Martin added 17.

Both Zyan Cheatham and James Kelly Sr. recorded double-doubles. Cheatham had 18 points and 10 boards, while Kelly tallied 13 points to go with 14 rebounds.

Up next: The MLK Celebration Weekend continues on Monday as the Squadron faces Raptors 905 again to close out a two-game set.

Game time is set for 11 a.m., and Red Panda will perform at halftime.

Devin Cannady has been a professional basketball player for six seasons, and currently hones his craft as a guard with the NBA G League’s Birmingham Squadron. He averaged 10.2 points per game during the Showcase Cup portion of the Squadron’s 2023-24 season, and through five regular season contests is scoring 9.2 points per outing.

His wife, Katie Lou Samuelson, has six WNBA seasons on her resume, following a decorated college career with the UConn Huskies. She is now with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Hoops is likely a hot topic of conversation in their home, but so is parenthood; they welcomed their first child last August. And while all parents want their kids to succeed, Cannady decided to put his hopes and dreams for his daughter in writing.

Cannady is the author of Aliya Can, a book “for all parents who want their children to believe that they can achieve anything they set out to do.”

The book – set for release on Monday, January 15 – is illustrated by Danika Runyan.

“My wife and I were just having a conversation on the way to our honeymoon,” said Cannady, who’ll suit up for the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate tonight in a road game against the Memphis Hustle. “And we were just thinking, ‘Hey, how great would it be to write a book for our daughter about our daughter?’ She’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, that’d be so fun. How would you ever do something like that?’”

Cannady, who says he’s always looking to learn new things, began to investigate what such an undertaking would involve. So, he decided to Google “How to write a book.”

Eight months later, his book was written.

“That brings us where we are today, where we have a physical copy in hand and they’re ready to be distributed,” he said. “It’s really been a process of learning for me.”

Cannady said he hopes Aliya Can is something that his daughter can one day read and know that it was for and about her, but also provide a positive impact for other children and their parents.

“I guess it sounds cheesy or cliché, but I just wrote it from my heart,” he said. “When you think about children’s books, and study some of the classics with a rhyme scheme, you want to do something that’s quick-hitting and that kind of flows, almost like a nursery rhyme. So that’s what I had in mind from day one.

“When I talked about it with my wife, I was like, ‘This is the vision I have. Let me just speak from my heart and see what that end product could be.’ And honestly, it didn’t take very long for me to come up with what is now the final product.”

Although aimed at young kids, the message is universal.

“It blends in with my ethos of believing in yourself and having confidence,” he said. “I think that’s something that parents or anyone, for that matter, can embrace, and inspire kids to believe in themselves and achieve anything at a young age. That’s something I’m going to be preaching to my daughter her whole life. So, I figured I’d get it in book form. Once it’s out there, I can say that’s my philosophy.”

His Squadron coaches and teammates have been supportive of his project ever since they found out it was almost ready for publication a few weeks ago.

“A lot of my teammates just look at me like, ‘Are you kidding me … you’re doing that?’ So, they’re all super excited for me. I think a couple of guys, even coaches, are looking to purchase some for siblings and cousins, and it’s really exciting to have that support.”

And while fatherhood might not have changed his approach to basketball, it most certainly has changed him as a person.

“One hundred percent, yes,” he said. “Once you’re in that delivery room, and in the moment she’s born … it’s a feeling you can’t truly describe or put into words. But you feel kind of this overwhelming sense of joy, and also a sense of responsibility. For someone like me who’s been in the NBA, who has goals and aspirations and feels a need to give back, it just raises that level of focus and intensity.”

Aliya Can will be available through Barnes & Noble or you can get further information by clicking on Cannady’s bio link on Instagram at devin_cannady3.