The Delaware Blue Coats celebrated their first championship in team history Thursday night.
The Sixers’ G League affiliate clinched the title with a 114-110 Game 2 Finals win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
NBA dunk contest champion and Sixers two-way player Mac McClung led the team with 30 points and eight assists. Braxton Key posted 22 points, five rebounds and four assists.
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Sixers guard Jaden Springer was named Finals MVP following a 21-point, nine-rebound night. The 20-year-old had a massive Game 1, scoring 43 points and blocking four shots. Over the Finals, he went 8 for 13 from three-point range.
Before the Sixers’ loss Thursday to the Heat, head coach Doc Rivers reiterated his belief that Springer will become an “elite” defensive player in the NBA. While a Year 2 NBA leap hasn’t materialized as Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey forecasted ahead of the season, Springer has looked good in a few garbage-time appearances and said in late February that taking and making more threes this year has been “the biggest growth in my game.”
When he’s been up in the NBA, Springer has worked with Sixers coaching consultant Phil Beckner, who trains Blazers star Damian Lillard and other NBA players.
NBA
“Really details, man — the little things,” Springer said in February of what he’s focused on with Beckner. “My base, my foundation, my posture. Even just moving through (drills), nothing lazy — don’t have any bad posture, hanging over. Just keep your body up straight. Stay focused. And he always coaches the little things — how I carry myself, how I walk in. All that stuff matters.”
Springer, McClung and fellow two-way player Louis King are now set to join the Sixers for the tail end of their regular season. The NBA squad would clearly love to match its G League affiliate’s playoff result.