Britt's Barbecue was already set up. Britt's had been a sponsor and supporter ALL season long for the D-Fenders and folks were lining up to enjoy their good food.
During the week, Mr. Steve Mason, of ESPN LA 710 had tweeted about singing the National Anthem and was able to speak to him briefly beforehand. Thank you, Mr. Mason, for coming out and showing your support, along with others from ESPN: Arash Markazi and Amanda Brown. After Mr. Mason sung the anthem, with accompaniment of an honorary color guard from a Girl Scout troop,
the first quarter saw
Brandon Costner come out, on fire, and ended quarter 1 with 14 points and
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| Brandon Costner did ALL he could with 39 points |
The Halftime Entertainment was phenomenal by the Black Diamond Drill Team and Dance Squad:
In the end it was just too much Warriors as Seth Curry, of Splash Bros 2.0 with Mychel Thompson, heated up in the third putting in 11 of his game total of 23. Cameron Jones also had a big third quarter, with 16, and ended the game with a team high 33. The Warriors 7 foot Center, Ognjen Kuzmic, also put up some BIG numbers with 23 and 18, well beyond his avgs of 6.8 points per game and 11.7 rebounds.
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| The Team Missed Southerland and Shawne was hurting |
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| Curry and Warriors too much |
The team entered the playoff "short-handed" as teammate James Southerland got a "Gatorade Callup" prior to gm 1 (NBA Pelicans). Andre Ingram, Guard for the D-Fenders, had this to say about James when I asked him what it was like as a friend and teammate to lose him:
"We love James and a lot of the guys on this team are close, and James is one of them. It is a double-edged sword...The first thought was definitely happiness for him...but sad to see him go...we missed him." I mentioned to Kiwi Gardner after the game that the team missed James and really felt it.
Kiwi Gardner, who plays guard for the Warriors, said," We felt it too," in regards to the loss of Mr. Southerland. The Warriors knew how valuable he was to the team and Mr. Gardner was referencing that it made things a bit easier in there for them without Southerland on the floor. Good luck to you, Mr. Gardner and the #scwarriors !
In addition to the loss of James, Shawne Williams was suffering through several ailments including a "turf toe;" you could tell he was not himself on the floor. In the two games, Shawne put up 22 points total. He averaged 20.5 ppg on the season.
The D-Fenders established new team high franchise records several times on the season beginning on January 28, 2014, at Citizens Bank Arena (Ontario) for the Dr. Buss Tribute game. They put up 150. They moved past that quickly putting up 155 on February 6, 2014. About a month after that (3/4/14) they posted 157 and went past 150 one more time on April 2, 2014 with 154. Manny Harris set two individual scoring records for the franchise at 49 and 56 (first game back after playing with the Lakers). Terrence put up a franchise record 50 between the 49 and 56 of Harris.
Manny, Shawne and now James Southerland ALL got NBA call-ups with other players on the team being watched closely.
Congratulations, D-Fenders, on a Great Season !
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| Asst Coaches for the D-Fenders Thomas Scott and Luke Walton |
Josh Magette, Josiah Turner, Andre Ingram, CJ Williams, Terrence Williams, Brandon Costner, Shawne Williams, James Southerland, Manny Harris, Gideon Gamble, Travis Hyman, Elijah Milsap
Coaches: Bob MacKinnon, Casey Owens, Thomas Scott, Nina Hsieh, and Luke Walton
#DFenderFAM is #LakerFAM
Thanks and Gratitude to ownership, Joey Buss, Management, Announcer Lawrence Tanner, Sales, Marketing, Security, Media and everyone else associated.
Thanks and Gratitude to ownership, Joey Buss, Management, Announcer Lawrence Tanner, Sales, Marketing, Security, Media and everyone else associated.
Thanks to the @LakerGirls as well.
