Sacramento 89, Oklahoma City 72 (Slaughter rule game)
RIVER DOGS OVERWHELM LARIATS
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A fourth-quarter blitzkreig by the Sacramento River Dogs left a heroic scoring performance by Oklahoma City rookie Handsy Joe Potatoe in the dust, as the visitors warded off elimination with a convincing 89-72 road win.
The victory evened the series at one game each, sending the teams back to Sacramento for the decisive third game in this best of three Semifinals.
Unlike Game 1's low-scoring, defensive affair, these two squads traded healthy offensive exchanges, with the River Dogs unable to shake Oklahoma City for three quarters, thanks mainly to Potatoe's one-man barrage. But the fourth quarter was all R-Dogs, starting with a 4-point play on the opening time unit by Sacramento's Great Gruncle Terry. A 23-8 run then ensued, after which time the slaughter rule was enforced with 18 ticks left in the contest...both teams emptying their benches.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Proudly wearing his new Rookie of the Year laurel on his index card, Oklahoma City's HANDSY JOE POTATOE showed why he was the MBA's second-best scorer, rocking the River Dogs for a game-high 28 points. Eighteen of those points came in the first half, when the 6-5 point guard connected on 4 of his 5 3-pointers. After a horrendous Game 1 in which he scored just 3 points, Potatoe went 10 for 18 from the floor in this follow-up game, including 5 for 12 from deep. He was also 3 for 3 from the foul line, pulled down 3 rebounds and blocked 1 shot. It was clear that Oklahoma City coach Benny Gumm's strategy was to put the ball in Potatoe's hands and let him bomb away. He did so against the best defensive guard in the league, Great Gruncle Terry, sending Terry to the bench with frequent foul trouble and dominating him for the most part.\
Other 20-Plus GVP performers
-- Retiring shooting guard Potus Obama of Sacramento had his way with the much smaller Hurricane Furrwizard, scoring 16 points, grabbing 4 boards, registering 1 assist and swiping a game-high 2 steals.
-- All-MBA, Hall of Fame center Tree Fiddy of Sacramento led the way in scoring for the victors with 22 points while getting 4 rebounds and handing out 1 assist.
-- The POG from Game 1, Doo-rag Dripp of Sacramento contributed 15 points, led his team with 6 rebounds and added 1 assist.
-- Sacramento small forward James "Cherry Challenge" Payne held up his end with 12 points, a game-high 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
-- Veteran Oklahoma City forward Anurag Dickshit controlled the boards with a game-high 7 caroms, tied for team-high in assists with 3, blocked 1 shot and scored 9 points in the loss.
NEXT UP: Milwaukee at Seattle, with the Greyhounds looking to finish off a scrappy Stampede squad that just lost its MVP to injury.
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