Santa Cruz Warriors Clinch 2017 Playoff Berth After Win @ Salt Lake City
The Santa Cruz Warriors clinched a 2017 playoff berth after their win Monday visiting the Salt Lake City Stars.
ALSO: Jabari Brown named Performer of the Week.
The Santa Cruz Warriors (30-19) secured the fourth and final playoff seed in the NBA D-League Western Conference on Monday after their 128-123 win over the Salt Lake City Stars (14-34) at the Lifetime Activities Center-Bruin Arena in Utah.
Jabari Brown led all scorers with 31 points on 11-for-17 shooting from the field, 4-for-7 shooting from behind the arc, and 5-for-6 shooting from the free throw line. He added four rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes off the bench.
Five other Santa Cruz Warriors players finished in double-digit scoring against the Stars, including Golden State Warriors assignee Damian Jones, who finished with 18 points (8-12 FG) and six rebounds.
James Southerland posted a double-double with 16 points (6-12 FG) and 12 rebounds, while Alex Hamilton notched 15 points (6-9 FG) and seven assists. LaDontae Henton added 13 points (6-10 FG), and Phil Pressey dropped in 11 points (4-10 FG), five rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes.
Jabari Brown Named D-League Performer of the Week
Jabari Brown was recently named the NBA D-League Performer of the Week for games played between March 20 and March 26.
Over the course of that time period, Brown averaged 25.7 points on 50.0 percent shooting. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists over the three games played that week, helping Santa Cruz to go 3-0.
Brown was acquired by Santa Cruz on March 2 via a three-team trade with the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Northern Arizona Suns. Since then, Brown has solidified his spot in the rotation, proving himself a formidable scoring force off the bench. While the sample size may be small, Brown could possibly be the most dangerous sixth man in the D-League as of today.
Santa Cruz Warriors Playoff Picture
In the past five seasons the team has spent in Santa Cruz, this is the fourth time the Warriors will be making an appearance in the NBA D-League Playoffs.
Santa Cruz will finish out the D-League regular season on Friday when they host the Los Angeles D-Fenders (32-15) at Kaiser Permanente Arena at 7:00 p.m. PDT. Santa Cruz defeated the D-Fenders 134-124 at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, CA last Saturday.
The D-Fenders could possibly finish with the best regular season record in the Western Conference and the second-best record in the D-League when it’s all said and done, in which case, Surf City would end up hosting the D-Fenders in the first game of the first round of the NBA D-League Playoffs.
The Sea Dubs currently have a 1-2 regular season series record against Los Angeles.
The NBA D-League postseason officially kicks off April 4.