D-Fenders Lose Game 1 of NBA Development League Finals

EL SEGUNDO, CA - Justin Harper shot an airball on a potentially game-tying 27-foot 3-point shot with 4.5 seconds left, ending the Los Angeles D- Fenders comeback hopes in a 104-99 loss to the Sioux Falls Skyforce Sunday in Game 1 of the NBA Development League Finals.

The D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Development League affiliate, trailed 75-68 entering the fourth quarter. The D-Fenders used 9-3 and 6-0 runs to tie the score, 84-84 with 7:19 to play.

Sioux Falls, the Miami Heat's NBADL affiliate, regained the lead on back- to-back baskets by Keith Benson and Greg Whittington. A 3-point basket by Rodney McGruder and two free throws by Jarnell Stokes gave the Skyforce a 97-91 lead with 2:34 remaining.

Harper's 3-point basket with 26.2 seconds left cut the lead to 101-99, but the D-Fenders were unable to get any closer.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be played Tuesday in Sioux Falls, where the Skyforce were a league-best 22-3 in the regular season and 2-0 in the playoffs.

Game 3, if necessary, would be played Wednesday, also in Sioux Falls.

D-Fenders forward Vander Blue score a game-high 31 points, while forward Ryan Gomes added 24, Harper, the team's center, 21 with four-three point baskets, and guard Josh Magette 14 before an announced capacity crowd of 550 at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, the Lakers practice facility.

McGruder, a forward, led Sioux Falls with 30, including four 3-point baskets. Stokes, a 6-foot-7-inch center and the league's MVP, added 22 and forward Jabril Trawick 13.

Whittington, a forward, added 10 and Benson, a center, nine as the Skyforce bench outscored the D-Fenders bench, 23-2.

Former UCLA guard Larry Drew II, had two points and three assists in 11:20 off the bench for Sioux Falls, but his plus-12 plus-minus was the best for any player. A plus-minus is the number of points a player's team outscores, or is outscored, while he is on the court.

The D-Fenders scored the game's first 11 points, with Blue scoring the first seven, including making a 3-point basket, and Gomes the next four. The D- Fenders were outscored 11-5 during a 3:55 stretch of the first quarter and when the quarter ended, they led 22-21.

Sioux Falls led 51-45 at halftime and never trailed in the second half.

The D-Fenders had the worst regular-season record among the eight teams qualifying for the playoffs, 27-23, while Sioux Falls had the best regular-season record in the league's 15-season history, 40-10.

--City News Service, photo courtesy of the D-Fenders