Congratulations to the Iowa Energy on their 2011 Championship! They won the Eastern Conference, held the best record in the league, had both player and coach of the year, and to top it off now have the title. It wasn’t easy as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers pushed the Energy to a decisive 3rd game in front 9,000 at Wells Fargo Arena. Iowa really needed someone to step it up tonight because the MVP, Curtis Stinson, played sparinglingly after he injured his hip. Fortunately Stefhon Hannah accepted the role as he led the Energy with 31 points during the 119-111 win.
I was not able to attend the game tonight, but I was able to attend game 2 on Wednesday night. Although it was a loss, I still can’t believe the size of the crowd and atmosphere. The Seattle Supersonics may still be around if they were able to get crowds like that! The official attendance was over 14,000 in white Iowa Energy t-shirts, which was a D-League record. With a score of 141-122 you could imagine that little defense was played. In fact, I believe my old man would have dropped at least 10 on either team. The story of the game was Iowa couldn’t defend the 3 and the Vipers couldn’t miss.
I don’t have much info on how the final game went, but it looks as if we controlled the second half. I hope the city of Des Moines continues to support this team. They have given us a good show for the last few seasons, and Wells Fargo Arena is a great venue.
Go Energy! 2011 NBA D-League Champions!
http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/20110429/RGVIWA/gameinfo.html
