Quick Hitters
East contenders make their moves, Davis has to wait
Toronto, Milwaukee and Philadelphia made their moves. Anthony Davis will have to wait until the summer for his.
The New Orleans Pelicans held onto Davis but dealt Nikola Mirotic to the Bucks, one of the Eastern Conference contenders who fortified their teams on Thursday before the NBA trade deadline.
The Raptors are getting former All-Star center Marc Gasol from Memphis. The 76ers, a day after acquiring forward Tobias Harris from the Clippers, sent Markelle Fultz to Orlando and will hope Jonathan Simmons can provide some production where the former No. 1 pick couldn’t.
All the trades were confirmed to The Associated Press by people with knowledge of the details because they couldn’t be announced before they were approved by the NBA.
The Lakers couldn’t put together a strong enough package to the Pelicans’ liking for the All-Star forward, who will go back into the trade market after the season ends. There will be other marquee names available then with a free agent class that could be highlighted by players such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard.
The Boston Celtics didn’t jump into the trading deadline fray but may try to get involved in the summer.
It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.
At least that’s how Thursday night’s 6A state tournament play-in game went for the Cibola girls basketball team at home.
The No.11 Raiders (17-2 AIA) had to fight off an early 11-point deficit to pull away late and beat No. 22 Copper Canyon (10-9 AIA) 47-35.
Even though the game ended up looking like a comfortable victory for Cibola, the team struggled early in the game against a team that it had beat by 28 in a non-AIA tournament game early in the season.
The Aztecs made two quick three-point shots to start the game and then started attacking the basket and getting the Raiders in foul trouble. The effort for Copper Canyon, mixed in with some cold shooting and indecisive play against the zone on the other end, helped the Aztecs pull out to an 11-0 lead.
“I thought our girls looked very tense and nervous,” Cibola coach Anthony Gerg said. “They were kind of a little shellshocked early. I think it took until that first basket to kind of loosen them up a little bit.”
Cibola scored its first basket of the game after nearly seven minutes when senior Arlyssa Underwood sparked her team with a steal and a contested and-one play to get on the board. Underwood had to be creative for the Raiders when the offense wasn’t working and she finished with 12 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and six steals.
While she started to get into a rhythm, her teammates weren’t at first. Senior Rylee Lakey battled foul trouble in the first half and the usually lights-out shooter, senior Arianne Burgos, could sink only one.
With those troubles, Copper Canyon took a 2015 lead into the break.
“That was not the way that we’re capable of playing in the whole first half,” Gerg said. “It was a little sloppy and a little tense. Shots weren’t falling. We shot 19 percent in the first half. Going into halftime we regrouped. We calmed down and we got them to attack the rim.”
After a sloppy first half, the Raiders came out of the locker room with more energy, while the Aztecs went cold and started committed some turnovers. At one point, Copper Canyon went over 10 minutes of game time without a made field goal.
Meanwhile, Burgos and Lakey finally got into the offensive mix for Cibola. A corner three from Burgos gave her team its first lead of the game at 23-21, and on the next possession she made a 17-footer to go up two possessions. Burgos finished with 13 points and nine of those came from behind the arc.
Lakey started attacking the basket and Underwood found her multiple times. Lakey finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while she only had four points at halftime.
“When we go inside-out, we’re going to have a lot more success,” Gerg said. “The defense collapsed on that. Arlyssa is great on that. I think she was a little hesitant in the first