Santa Cruz, Calif. –
Thursday night the Santa Cruz Warriors play the Canton Charge in their opening game of be inaugural D-League Showcase Cup, held at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
As hosts, Santa Cruz Head Coach Casey Hill said there’s a little extra incentive to win the D-League’s first mid-season tournament since they’ll be playing at home.
“Anytime you’re in a tournament the motivation is always going to be there,” Hill said. “If you’re playing at home there’s always that extra amount to make sure you secure the win.”
Coming off recent back-to-backs against the Charge two weeks ago, Hill indicated pre-game that Warriors were well-prepared.
“It’s a lot easier finding out you’re going to play Canton.” Hill said. “We know their personnel well because it’s fresh in our minds.”
Golden State Warriors center Ognjen Kuzmic has joined Santa Cruz for the Showcase on assignment from the NBA level team.
Hill said he expects to have “Kuz” for the duration of the tournament, but that can change at any time based off Golden State’s needs.
For the time being, Hill said the team needs to make sure they’re putting the big man “in the best possible situations for him.”
Thursday night game is one of three possible games the Warriors might play in the Cup.
They’ll play again on Saturday in either of the championship or consolation bracket regardless or the outcome Thursday night.
The possible third game would be for the Cup Championship, the only game in Santa Cruz this week that wouldn’t count towards each team’s regular season records.
With that in mind, Hill said it will be interesting to see how the tournament plays out and that the Warriors will approach each game “just like a regular season game.”
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