Vipers head into All-Star break with back-to-back road games

Buoyed by the biggest win in club history, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers take to the road for back-to-back games at Fort Wayne today and Springfield Wednesday and then head into the NBA D-League’s All Star break.

The Vipers (22-8) hope this road excursion goes better than the last one in which they lost two of three at Albuquerque last week. The Vipers face Fort Wayne and Springfield for the first time this season.

“We got two new opponents so our prep work is going to be high, obviously, because we have a back-to-back and have to fly in between,” Vipers coach Chris Finch said. “We can only worry about those things we can control and be ready to play.”

The Vipers’ roster has shifted since Saturday. Guard Garrett Temple was called up to the Houston Rockets on Monday. Guard Will Conroy, whose 10-day contract with the Rockets expired Monday, has returned to the Vipers and will join the team on the road trip. In addition on Monday, the Vipers signed guard Russell Carter, who began the season with Austin.

The Vipers own the best record in the Western Conference. Fort Wayne and Springfield occupy the bottom two spots in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s important for us to finish the pre-all star break strong,” Finch said. “We want to give ourselves as big a cushion as we can for the second half of the season.”

The Vipers should have plenty of momentum. They blasted Reno 109-76 at home Saturday in what was the largest margin of victory in team history. The 22 wins is the most ever in one season for the Vipers. The victory also erased an ugly stretch of two games in which the Vipers basically stunk in up in their final two games in New Mexico.

“That’s behind us,” said Vipers’ forward Julian Sensley, who scored a season-high 22 points on Saturday. “That’s the good thing about this league. We’re moving forward. Our goal is to win a championship and each game is preparing us to get to that point. We’ll be fine. Those two losses we had in Albuquerque are long gone.”

Most of the Vipers will return to the Valley following Wednesday’s game except for Mike Harris and Antonio Anderson, who were selected to the NBA D-League All Star Game, which will be held Saturday in Dallas. Finch and his staff will coach the Western Conference all stars.

Following Wednesday’s game, the Vipers don’t play again until Feb. 20 when they start a back-to-back against Maine. That starts a four-game home stand. They’ll also face Springfield on Feb. 26 and Bakersfield on Feb. 28.

David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can also reach him at (956) 683-4442.