Overall record: 11-7
Last week: 1-1
It was a relatively disappointing week for the Bakersfield Jam, who only managed a 1-1 split against the Erie Bayhawks, despite the fact that the Bayhawks came into the week at just 6-8. Regardless, the trio of Goodwin, Ennis and Warren was on display again, for the Bakersfield Jam, and they continued to have a large impact on the team, scoring 42.9% of the Jam’s points over the last seven days.
Prospect watch
After scoring just one point in the Bakersfield Jam’s 20-point victory over Canton, T.J. Warren was looking to bounce back against the Erie Bayhawks. He did exactly that, dropping 29 points in the team’s first game of the week.
Warren averaged 22.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in the Jam’s two meetings with the Bayhawks, which was certainly a positive sign, given his struggles in his first game back in Bakersfield. However, Warren was not the only Suns’ rookie to put up a solid performance after struggling in the prior week.
Like Warren, Tyler Ennis failed to make much of an impact in the first game of his second stint in Bakersfield, scoring 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting, while committing more turnovers than assists. Ennis looked much better in the last seven days, averaging 17.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2-to-1. Ennis was the only player on the Bakersfield Jam to log 30 minutes in both games this week, and he continued to show flashes of the type of point guard he could become.
Unlike the two rookies, Archie Goodwin did not have quite the storybook ending to his time with the Bakersfield Jam, as all three were recalled by the Suns on New Year’s Eve. Goodwin scored a total of 18 points over the two games, while shooting 6-of-19 from the field and 1-of-5 from three point range. The second year prospect out of Kentucky wasn’t able to put up the kind of video-game numbers that he had managed in his debut with the team, as he lowered his scoring average by more than 13.3 points per game.
Team performance
In the team’s first contest of the week, multiple players struggled from the floor, with five different members of the Bakersfield Jam shooting worse than 40% from the field, while the team as a whole shot just 23% (6-of-26) from three-point range. Outside of T.J. Warren, who dropped 29 points on 50% shooting, the team shot just 38.6% from the field (27-70), and really the only other player to have a solid game was Earl Barron, who scored 12 points, adding 13 boards for the double-double.
In the second game, Elijah Millsap was the one to step up, leading the Jam with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. Following one of his worst performances of the year, Millsap poured in a complete effort, adding eight rebounds and five assists, while knocking down 66.7% of his three-point attempts.
Despite Millsap’s performance, however, the Bakersfield Jam trailed by five points heading to the fourth quarter. Tyler Ennis would then put the team on his back, scoring nine points in the last 7:25 of the game, as the Jam would go on to win 119-116.
The Bakersfield Jam split the series with the Bayhawks, shooting just 31.4% from three-point range and 64.6% from the free throw line in the two games. However, it was nice to see the team bounce back with a 119-point performance on Tuesday, after failing to crack the 110-point mark in consecutive games for just the second time this year.
Numbers to note
1. Despite shooting just 14 free throws over the last week (7.0 per game), Elijah Millsap remains in first in the D-League with 8.5 free throw attempts per game. That number would be good enough for third in the NBA, behind only James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
2. Seth Curry scored 51 points in the Erie Bayhawks’ two meetings with the Bakersfield Jam, while Earl Barron scored just 22. That 29-point margin was enough to move Curry ahead of Barron (by 26 points) for first in the D-League in scoring. Barron currently sits in second with 373 points.
3. Only three players on the Bakersfield Jam have shot worse than 75.0% from the line this season (minimum five games). The Suns, on the other hand, have six different players this year shooting worse than 75.0% from the line, five of which are shooting worse than 70.0%.
4. Earl Barron and Elijah Millsap are currently in first and second respectively in field goal attempts for the entire D-League, and the two were at it again this week, attempting a combined 47 shots, despite many of the team’s looks going through the trio of Tyler Ennis, T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin.
5. After another turnover-free week, Renaldo Major added to his league leading 4.0 steal-to-turnover ratio. The 6’6 forward is 15th in the D-League with 24 steals, while committing just 0.4 turnovers per game.
Team outlook
The Bakersfield Jam will play three games in the upcoming week, starting with two road contests against the Idaho Stampede. After starting the year at 0-2, Idaho went on a 3-game winning streak, before dropping its last 11 games, five of which have been decided by 20 or more points. The Jam should go into those two games expecting to win, especially considering that the team has won three of its last four meetings against the Stampede.
The team’s final contest will come against the Austin Spurs, who are led by JaMychal Green (pictured above). Green is averaging an impressive 22.5 points per game on 56.0% shooting from the field, both of which are top-20 for the D-League, and he’s also been lethal at the free throw line this year, knocking down over 82% of his attempts. Unlike the San Antonio Spurs, who have lost 9 of their last 14 games, the Austin Spurs have been on a tear, racking up 11 victories in their last 12 contests.