EDINBURG — The season – rather, the postseason, could come down to the next five games for the RGV Vipers.
The defending NBA G League squad champions are in ninth place with a 10-12 record and nine games remaining. They are three games out of sixth place, the final position to become eligible for the postseason. However, the next five teams they play have a combined 36-82 record (.299 winning percentage) and that string begins tonight at Oklahoma City (9-15, 11th place in Western Conference).
“It’s going to be a sprint,” head coach Kevin Burleson said last week. “But I think it’s going to be good. I’m always optimistic. We know what we have to do and we have to prepare for it.”
The Vipers have a 1-3 record since their third-place finish in the FIBA International Cup in Spain, during the NBA’s all-star weekend. They were swept by South Bay, defeated the Texas Legends then fell 109-100 to Long Island, which at 20-3 holds the best record in the G League.
“We had to come back ready to play,” Burleson said. “Finishing that trip with a win is always good. No matter what league you’re in, you have to put your best foot forward and I think we can take that momentum going into the final games.”
Following tonight’s game, the Vipers travel to Birmingham. The Squadron are 6-18 (.250), the worst record in the G League. Following that game, the Vipers return home to Bert Ogden Arena to play Greensboro (8-15) on March 8 and Iowa (6-17) twice on March 9 and 11.
Those games are especially critical because the Vipers final four regular-season games are against the top team in the Western Conference Memphis (17-5) on March 17 on the road, Santa Cruz (12-10 in seventh place) at home March 21 and March 23, then the regular-season finale at home against Long Island.
Darius Days and Trevor Hudgins have returned, recently on assignment with the NBA’s Houston Rockets, the parent team for the Vipers. Days is fourth in the G League in scoring, averaging 23.7 points per game to go with 8.9 rebounds. He’s shooting 48% from the floor. Hudgins averages 19.1 points per contest, is second in the league in 3-pointers made with 85 and dishes 5.4 assists per game.