Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said after his team’s 142-118 loss to Osceola on Tuesday that he was looking forward to Thursday’s rematch because the Squadron usually fares well in “bounce back” games.
Usually, but not always.
And certainly not this time.
The Orlando Magic farm club turned in another dominant performance, thrashing the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate, 168-133, in front of 1,433 fans at Legacy Arena.
When asked what he could learn from a game like this Saint said, “It’ll be something in the offseason … I don’t know.”
E.J. Liddell gave Birmingham a 2-0 lead with an opening bucket but it was all Osceola the rest of the way as the NBA G League Eastern Conference pacesetters – who lit it up for 85 first half points – improved to 21-9.
The 168 points is a season-best for the circuit in 2023-24 and the most scored by a team since the 2014-15 campaign. That season the Los Angeles D-Fenders defeated the Reno Bighorns, 175-152, while Reno topped L.A., 174-169, in a rematch.
Mac McClung led the way with 40 points, followed by Jett Howard (27), Kevon Harris (25), Trevelin Queen (22), Chris Walker (15), Myron Gardner (12) and Miye Oni (10).
Queen had 10 rebounds and Walker, 13, to give the players double-doubles.
For the night the winners outrebounded the hosts, 63-35, and outscored the Squadron in the paint, 78-56.
The overwhelming show of scoring force overshadowed the 41-point showing by Birmingham’s Landers Nolley II, who was just three points shy of a franchise single game scoring mark.
Dereon Seabron added 27 points and E.J. Lidell was good for 26.
The Squadron fell to 14-18 and are assured of a losing season with just two games to go.
“There was some collective will that was not shown tonight,” Saint said.
Osceola set the tone for this one early, leading by as many as 22 points and holding a big 45-36 advantage after one. The Magic also held a 19-8 rebounding edge through 12 minutes.
The cushion inflated to 26 in the second quarter before Osceola settled on an 85-68 lead at halftime.
In the second half it was simply a matter of whether or not the Squadron could make it respectable.
The Magic was relentless, eclipsing the century mark at the 7:30 mark and entering the final period with a comfortable 129-100 margin.
Next up: Birmingham travels to Oklahoma City on March 27 to take on the Blue at noon. The game at Paycom Center will be the Squadron’s final road trip of the 2023-24 season.
OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association fell to the Quad-City Thunder, 125-102, in the first round of the CBA playoffs.
Jim Farmer led Birmingham with 28 points while Skeeter Henry added 15, although the duo hit just 13-of-34 from the field combined. The loss put the Bandits in a 2-0 hole against Quad City in the best-of-three series.