A 17-point Surge win, this season’s second against Vancouver, put Calgary back into first place in the Western Conference, leap-frogging their western rivals.
A slow, 11-point game from Jameer Nelson Jr. was masked by Olumide Adelodun and Javonté Brown combining for 28 points off the bench.
The seven-foot Brown, who was signed by the team on June 13, finished Sunday’s matinee with four rebounds and two blocks on top of his 11 points, playing big minutes with the team’s usual starting centre, Greg Brown III.
Brown III said that he “loves” the team’s midseason acquisitions, like Brown and Jamorko Pickett.
“They’re big bodies, big presences, first of all, I love that, because teams usually make me the big presence, but since they’re in the game, it’s like, ‘OK, now I can be a little bit more sneaky,’” Brown III said.
“But they can play, I’ve seen it when they came in practice, I’ve seen how they walk around and carry themselves. They can play.”
Brown III said that it is the job of the team’s existing players to help the newbies adapt to head coach Kaleb Canales’ offensive and defensive systems.
Canales agreed, saying he was impressed with the new players.
“As soon as we get a new player, we just start pouring into them and teaching them and teaching them and coaching them and helping develop as players,” Canales said.
“Javonté, to his credit, he played tremendous today on both ends.”
Coming off a loss in their neutral-site game in Red Deer against Edmonton, Canales said the team knew they had to move on.
“We say we win or learn. We just had to learn and grow from it. We got down 17 in that game, but we made a great comeback, had an opportunity to win, the ball just didn’t go through the net for us,” Canales said.
“We knew we had to get ready for this (Vancouver) team. We know they are a really good, well coached team. Every time we play them, it’s going to be a battle.”
Brown III said that Sunday’s win sets the standard.
“We come in and we gotta handle our business. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, but that’s gonna tell how good we are, how locked in we are, and how focused on how we progress throughout the season, how our chemistry keeps growing and growing every game that we play,” he said.
“That’s gonna be a great showing of what we built this season.”
