Skyforce host G-League conference finals on Friday
Second-seeded Sioux Falls to face Oklahoma City Blue The Sioux Falls Skyforce, the No. 2 seed in the NBA G-League Western Conference, will open the playoffs against the Oklahoma City Blue in a one-game conference finals match at 8 p.m. on Friday. The Skyforce's regular season saw them go 22-12, earning them a 22-13 win and securing a spot in the G-league Western Conference. With a win, the Force would advance to the championship, a best-of-three series. The team's current roster is led by Cole Swider and Orlando Robinson, with an average of 24.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 games in Sioux Falls.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Matt Zimmer in Sports
SIOUX FALLS — After a successful regular season that saw them go 22-12 to earn the No. 2 seed in the NBA G-League Western Conference, the Sioux Falls Skyforce open the playoffs Friday night when they host the Oklahoma City Blue in a one-game conference finals matchup. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon.
Oklahoma City defeated Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday in the first round of the playoffs to earn their trip to Sioux Falls.
With a win, the Force would advance to the G-League championship, which is a best-of-three series. Sioux Falls and OKC split two meetings during the regular season.
The Skyforce are in the G-League playoffs for the second year in a row. Last year at this time they were getting knocked out of the playoffs, in Sioux Falls, in the conference finals by Rio Grande Valley. Most of the faces are different this time around, but the goal is the same. To take it one step further and play for a G-League title.
"No matter what level you're at, winning matters," said Skyforce center Orlando Robinson. "Competing for this championship — we've been at the top of the chain all season but these are the games that matter. This is what we've been working for."
The roster looks far different than it did when the season started, and some of the key players leading the way have only been in a Sioux Falls uniform for a short time. But they've assimilated quickly, and the chance to bring a championship to Sioux Falls matters to them.
"I think any time you can compete for a championship you want to go out and do it," said Cole Swider, the team's leading scorer. "I love all the people that are here. Our operations guy to our equipment girl to (coach Kasib Powell) — I know how important it is to all the people here to win. For everyone here I know it means a lot and I take that into every single game I play."
The Force's current roster is led by Swider and Robinson. Swider is a former Syracuse standout who's averaged 24.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 games in Sioux Falls, while Robinson (24.3 points, 11.8 rebounds) and Jamal Cain (23.7 points, 11.6 rebounds) have both been double-double machines. Justin Champagnie averaged 23.0 points in 19 games to help the Force off to their strong start, and that earned him a callup to the NBA, where he's currently playing for Washington.
Alondes Williams, a former Wake Forest guard, has averaged 21.7 points in 27 games for Sioux Falls.
"It just makes us harder to guard and harder to scout when you go into a game and don't know who's gonna be the leading scorer," Powell said. "That goes back to some of the things we talked about back in training camp and getting guys to buy in and play the right way."