Category: Anaheim Arsenal

The last couple of Arsenal games have shown real signs of improvement. First of all, I think the team’s offense is finally on-track — there was much better ball movement and players moving without the ball in both games. Second, the defense has improved, with a lot more help and defensive pressure when appropriate. The difference between the most recent games and the pre-season is huge.

On Friday night, the Arsenal handily defeated the Jam 103-85 for their first win of the season. We actually got impromptu upgrades to courtside seating, which was really cool — I’ve never watched a basketball game (apart from stuff like intramurals) from the sideline, and it’s fun to hear all the communication on the court. And, of course, I felt obligated to help the home team’s cause by trying to sow confusion in the Jam where possible. Fun stuff.

Last night, though, the LA D-fenders came to town and won a close one 99-95. The Arsenal never let the game slip out of reach, but, at the same time, could never quite get a substantial lead going. They were in it down to the final ticks, thanks to some timely rebounding, but couldn’t sink the 3s when it mattered. The only major statistical difference was, once again, foul trouble for the Arsenal — almost every other category was tight. Coby Karl (son of George Karl) had a great, efficient game for the D-fenders, going 7-for-11 for 19 points, including 3-of-5 from downtown. The president of the D-League was in attendance — hopefully he’s not looking too hard at the attendance figures at Arsenal games, which have been lagging behind those for franchises that lack major sports teams in the area.

A recent fixture courtside at Arsenal games has been Clippers super-fan Clipper Darrell. He’s extremely energetic, has a bullhorn for a voice, and loves to get the crowd going. His car is decked out in Clippers red and blue, and his wardrobe includes a similarly-colored outfit reminiscent of Two-Face. Not sure if he came of his own accord or was invited by the Arsenal, but whatever it was, it was a good move — he really livens things up. I assume we’ll only see him when the Clippers aren’t in town — apparently he hasn’t missed a Clips home game since 2001…

I saw a link to this article with a blurb about J.J. Redick:

Magic SG J.J. Redick said he had been frustrated enough with his lack of playing time that he wondered if perhaps he should ask about playing with the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA’s Developmental League.

I have to say that I would get a kick out of it if he were assigned — I could give him some crap about his video. (In TV commercials, it’s billed as featuring advice from “the best shooter in basketball history.” The website inserts a strategic “perhaps” in there…weak.)

The Arsenal lost 99-91 to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last night. The box score pretty much tells the story — the Vipers shot 90% from the free throw line (on 25 attempts), grabbed 16 offensive boards, and only turned over the ball 12 times. Compare that to the 71% free throw shooting, 20% 3-point shooting, 14 total free throw attempts, and 20 turnovers for the Arsenal. The Arsenal fell behind by 13 points during the first (then closed it to 9 at the break), came back to take a 2 point lead, then fell down 11 points and never recovered. The Arsenal play, both offensive and defensive, was inconsistent. There were stretches of good offensive and defensive possessions broken up by panicky, one-on-one play (or my other favorite, long 3-pointers early in the shot clock), and overly-conservative defensive play that let the Vipers either take uncontested shots, or beat their defender off the dribble to the hoop.

The quality of play and officiating is definitely improving, though. The first couple of games were marred by tons of clock problems, including a case towards the very end of the home opener where the clock started before a player received an inbounds pass. Given that the game went down to the last shot attempt, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the extra second taken off by the clock error might have had an effect on the outcome. The game last night had no clock problems, fortunately.

Since I can’t watch Cowboys-Packers tonight due to distribution issues with the NFL Network, I am watching the Celtics–Knicks game. The Celtics are absolutely drilling the Knicks, which, of course, brought to my mind the question of how well the Knicks would play against D-League competition. Another interesting tie-in: the Celtics’ Gabe Pruitt was assigned to the Utah Flash just in time to play the Arsenal in their home opener, in which he hit the game-winning shot. Two days later, he’s recalled to the Celtics. Life just isn’t fair sometimes…

UPDATE: Man, the Knicks can’t do anything right, entertainment-wise. They failed to let the Celtics double them up, and at the buzzer, Nate Robinson hit a 3 from halfcourt to prevent the Knicks from breaking their all-time lowest score (58). Weak.

Tonight is the home opener of the Anaheim Arsenal, versus the Utah Flash. I read this morning that the Arsenal started the season with a 120-113 loss to the Colorado 14ers (a name that, let’s be honest, does not roll off the tongue as easily as, say, the Sixers). Obviously this was a pretty high-scoring game, but I’m not too surprised — we saw a scrimmage between the Arsenal and the Bakersfield Jam last Friday night, and the tempo was pretty high throughout. I would say that most possessions ended with a shot when there was still 10-14 seconds on the shot clock, and the score of the scrimmage was deflated only by generally low-percentage shooting throughout the game.

It’ll be interesting to see if having a few more days of practice and work changes the pace of the Arsenal’s game. I thought that there was way too much one-on-one play during the scrimmage we saw, and not enough ball movement, but when the players actually were moving smartly without the ball, and setting picks for the ballhandler, something resembling a quality offense peeked out. I guess this will also be an opportunity to see what the team’s rotations will be, going into the season.

Not sure if there were roster cuts or whatnot before opening night, but it looks like a couple of players from the scrimmage (Derrick Franklin and Anthony Harris) are no longer on the roster. However, the roster also doesn’t include the recently-assigned (from the Magic) Marcin Gortat, who played in the Colorado game, so who knows what’s going on. I do know, however, that it’s pretty unlikely that this quote from the article was taken verbatim from Gortat, a Polish native: “Dwight (Howard) is a freak athlete and practicing against him has prepared me for the level of talent I must go against on a nightly basis in the NBA and the D-League.”

For my birthday (tomorrow), Sandy got us a pair of season tickets for the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBDL (at a very reasonable price, I might add). I’m pretty excited about this, as I’ve never been a season ticket holder for any sport. Ticket prices for the Clippers and the hated Lakers are quite high — when you look at the number of games in a package, and the fact that you’re buying for two, it can get expensive real quick. (I have to admit that when I was living in the Bay Area, I got spoiled by the Warriors‘ ridiculously low ticket prices. You used to be able to get lower bowl end tickets for $18, of which, let me tell you, I took full advantage.) I also can’t imagine being a season ticket holder for a MLB team — there’s just way too many games to attend! The 24-game home schedule for the Arsenal seems quite reasonable in comparison. I don’t know what the playoff structure for the NBDL is, though — I just know that apparently there is one, because last year I flipped over to the NBA channel on Sirius one day, and they were playing the championship game.

Looks like the first home game is on November 24th, versus the Utah Flash. Now I need to get up to speed on the teams and players down low…