Sports stats



Florida Flame Update

April 7, 2006 - NBA G League (G League)
Florida Flame News Release


The Florida Flame will round out its 2005-06 NBA D-League regular season tomorrow night at Germain Arena with a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Fayetteville Patriots. Florida must win in order to earn a playoff spot in the 2006 NBA Development League Championship Presented by Delta Airlines. With a victory, the Flame will make the postseason round for the first time in team history, but with a loss, Florida will be eliminated.

Currently, the Flame (24-23) holds sole possession of fourth place in the D-League standings, a half-game ahead of the fifth place Austin Toros (24-24) and Arkansas RimRockers (24-24). The Toros closed out their regular season schedule with a 98-94 loss to Fort Worth last night which gives Florida the chance to control its own destiny.

With a win, the Flame would meet one of three teams who have already qualified for the postseason (Fort Worth, Albuquerque, or Roanoke) in the semi-final round on the weekend of April 14-15. But a Florida loss on Saturday would eliminate the Flame, as Austin would qualify for the playoff round by virtue of their 4-1 head-to-head record against the Florida this season. Austin also holds the tiebreaker over Arkansas.

Florida is 7-4 on the season versus Fayetteville (15-31), but the Patriots have won three of the last four meetings with the Flame. Fayetteville is led by former Michigan State Spartan and NBA veteran, Mateen Cleaves, who is expected to return from a foot injury this weekend. Cleaves is averaging a team-best 18.7 points and 6.9 assists per game. The Patriots have also benefited from two players on assignment from the Detroit Pistons, forward Amir Johnson (16.6 pts, 7.0 rebs) and guard Alex Acker (18.1 pts, 4.7 ast).

Standings W-L Pct. GB
Fort Worth Flyers* 28-18 .608 ---
Albuquerque Thunderbirds+ 25-21 .543 3
Roanoke Dazzle+ 25-22 .531 3½
Florida Flame 24-23 .510 4½
Austin Toros 24-24 .500 5
Arkansas RimRockers 24-24 .500 5
Tulsa 66ers 22-24 .478 6
Fayetteville Patriots 15-31 .326 13
*clinched No. 1 seed in playoffs
+clinched playoff berth

TODAY'S GAMES
Roanoke at Fayetteville, 7:30 p.m. ET
Albuquerque at Tulsa, 7 p.m. CT

SATURDAY'S GAMES
Fayetteville at Florida, 7 p.m. ET
Fort Worth at Tulsa, 7 p.m. CT

SUNDAY'S GAMES
Albuquerque at Fort Worth

FLAME NOTES:

FLAME TRENDS: Florida has won three of its last five games, but lost 13 of its last 17 games overall.

POST PRESENCE: Newly acquired forward Elton Brown has made quite an impact since joining the Flame on March 30. The 6-9, 255 rookie out of the University of Virginia is averaging 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 54% from the field (21-39) in his first four games with Florida. Brown registered his first double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds at Fort Worth on April 4. Brown also posted 10 points and eight rebounds in his debut at Arkansas on April 1, then tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists versus the RimRockers on April 2.

AWESOME AUSTIN: Flame swingman Austin Nichols is hitting his stride offensively. The 6-6, second-year D-Leaguer from Humboldt State ('04) is averaging 18.0 points and 5.0 rebounds, while shooting 58% from the floor (36-62) in his last five games. Nichols scored 18 points at Roanoke on March 28, 19 points at Arkansas on April 1, 20 points along with 13 rebounds against the RimRockers on April 2, and tied for the game-high with 24 points at Fort Worth on April 4.

GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK: Since returning from a foot injury that caused him to miss eight games from February 23-March 18, Bracey Wright has averaged 22.9 points, 5.4 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in the Flame's last seven games. The 6-3, shooting guard on assignment from the Minnesota Timberwolves has led Florida in scoring in five of the last six games. Wright returned to post a game-high 26 points with six rebounds and five assists on March 24 versus Roanoke. In the Flame's 96-82 win at Roanoke on March 28, Wright tallied a team-high 20 points. The D-League's #2 scorer (21.8 ppg), Wright is averaging 23.3 points, shooting 46% from the field (95-207) and 47% from three-point range (20-43) in his last 13 games played.

BARRETT CALL-UPDATE: After earning a second 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors on March 26, Flame point guard Andre Barrett is averaging 4.6 points, 3.2 assists, and 15.8 minutes through 11 games with the Raptors. In 13 NBA games overall this season, Andre is averaging 4.6 points and 2.8 assists in 15.0 minutes per contest. Barrett earned his first GATORADE NBA Call-Up with Phoenix on March 1 and appeared in two games with the Suns, averaging 4.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest. Following his release from Phoenix on March 14, Barrett was signed to a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors on March 15. Barrett posted a season-high 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting along with four rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes for Toronto versus Phoenix on March 31.

SMUSH STILL DELIVERING FOR LAKERS: Former Flame point guard Smush Parker is off and running with the Los Angeles Lakers. As a starter through the first 76 regular season games for the Lakers, Parker is averaging 11.4 points, 3.7 assists, 1.68 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. Parker currently ranks #10 in the NBA in total steals (128) and #12 in steals per game (1.68). On April 2, Smush tallied his second double-double with 15 points and a season-high 10 assists in a 104-88 win over Houston. Parker posted a season-high 24 points and 12 rebounds with 6 assists and 3 steals versus Golden State on Jan. 14th. Smush also hit for 22 points in a 113-108 loss to Minnesota on Dec. 2. Parker has hit for a trio of 21-point performances; Dec. 1 at Utah, Nov. 3 versus Phoenix and Nov. 8 at Atlanta. The 6-4, point guard from Fordham appeared in a total of 23 games with 19 starts last season for Florida, averaging a team-best 19.1 points, 9.1 assists, and 3.0 steals per contest, ranking among the D-League leaders in three categories.

• Discuss this story on the NBA G League message board...

NBA G League Stories from April 7, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central