Warriors Seek to Advance; Two Players win D-League Honors

By Pete Cafone

The Santa Cruz Warriors can't wait to step on the Kaiser Permanente Arena court Friday night when they try to clinch their first trip to the NBA Development League Finals before 2,505 of their closest friends.

"The crowds have been awesome," coach Nate Bjorgren said after Friday morning's shoot-around in preparation for Game 2 of the semifinals against the Austin Toros, who trail the Warriors 1-0 in the best-of-three series. "The energy and passion of the fans has been great, and the players feel it. They really care for the fans and want to have fun and play well in front of them."

The enthusiasm for the first-year team has helped the Warriors post a 20-5 record on the home floor (they are 32-18 overall), where they will be returning for the first time since capturing the first round 2-0 with a 110-92 victory over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on April 13. 

Tickets are still available for the 6:30 p.m. tip-off. Should the Warriors lose, a deciding third game will be played at the Kaiser Arena on Monday night at the same time.

Santa Cruz's starting lineup will include two guards who were awarded D-League honors early Friday -- guard Stefhon Hannah, who won Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, and  Cameron Jones, who was named Most Improved Player. Both came by a vote of the league's 16 head coaches. Hannah, who earned the honor last year as a member of the Dakota Wizards before they moved to Santa Cruz for this season, joined Derrick Zimmerman (2005-06) as the only back- to-back winners.

Hannah, a 6-1 guard who played at Missouri and is in his third D-League season, has led the defensive efforts on a  team that allowed only 96.8 points per game and held opponents to 41 percent shooting from the field. Hannah was tied for second in the league in steals with 2 a game; he has also found time to average 14 points and  5 assists on offense. Since the playoffs have started, he has even upped his offensive game -- averaging 19.3 points and 6.0 assists in three winning games. 

"Stefhon's great at pressuring the basketball, a real pest to other teams," Bjorgren said. "He disrupts the other team's offense and what they try to do. And his play carries over to the rest of our team. The hardest thing in pro basketball is guarding the ball  because this level is so good. And to get the entire team in this position to guard the ball. And that's what Stefhon does."

Jones won the improved award, which was instituted prior to the 2009-10 season and honors the player who demonstrated the most significant improvement through the course of the season. He becomes the fourth player to take the honors, joining Kenny Hayes (Maine, 2012), Dar Tucker (New Mexico, 2011) and Mildon Ambres (Idaho, 2010).

Jones, a 6-4-guard from Northern Arizona in his second season and first with the Warriors, averaged 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He began the year coming off the bench, averaging 10.4 points in 9 games in December, before entering the starting rotation and finishing the season averaging 13.8 points in 13 games in March. In the 3-0 postseason, Jones has averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists. 

With the Warriors concentration on defense, one of the Toros players they will need to control  is 6-3 guard Lester Hudson, who has upped his own game during the playoffs. After averaging 17 points per game during the regular season, Hudson scored 25 points and made five 3-pointers  in the 106-101 first-game loss.

Regardless, Bjorkgren will continue to do the things that have gotten the Warriors to where they are. "Expectations are always high," he said. "The goal is to do very well. And to work very hard during the playoffs. We get the players thinking that they want to be the last team standing, and that's been the goal  at every level since I started coaching. 

"I don't use a set pattern or predetermine when I'm going to make changes; I make changes when I feel the opportunity is there. The biggest challenge has been player changes (during the season when the roster has constant turnover) and changing rotations. But it's just getting everyone working hard. We have 12 players who are very capable, and different players have stepped up at different times. The key is getting the players to play hard for each other."

The team is stable now. And if the survivors play hard Friday night, the D-League Finals could very well be in Santa Cruz next week. Not bad, for the Surf City, who didn't have a team at this time last year.