With very little fanfare the Tulsa 66ers NBA D-League team is having their best season in 5 years. Right now, as the NBA is enjoying their All-Star break in Los Angeles the Sixers are sitting at 24-10 and on top of the D-League’s Western Division. The 66ers nearly clinched their first NBA D-League Championship since moving from Asheville, North Carolina , where they won two D-League titles.
The success of the Sixers has mirrored the parent club in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have been enjoying their best season since moving from Seattle in 2008. The 66ers have kept their big brother well stocked with players on call ups to aid in their success. Cole Aldrich, a standout from the Kansas Jayhawks is currently part of the Thunder’s lineup, but in 19 games with the 66ers he averages 10.2 points per game.
Ohio State product Byron Mullens is on assignment to the 66ers from OKC but played in the 2010 NBA Playoffs last season and has moved between the Thunder and the 66ers several times. In the NBA D-League All Star Game played on Saturday Larry Owens, who spent time on a call up to the San Antonio Spurs earlier in the season scored 12 points in what the media on site called a “solid performance”.
The Nate Tibbets-coached 66ers enjoyed an extra long stretch of 14 victories in a row, a record before being defeated by the Maine Red Claws 109-106 on January 30th. Despite that, the Sixers seem poised for a playoff run that will end more successfully than it did a year ago when the final game of the championship was won literally in the final seconds of the game when the Rio Grande Valley Vipers snatched the game away from Tulsa with a last second bucket.
The next game for the 66ers will take place on February 24th when they face the Erie Bayhawks at 7pm in the Tulsa Convention Center. That is the first of 3 games at home for Tulsa, who will entertain the Texas Legends on Saturday February 26th and the Sioux Falls Skyforce on February 27th.
Tickets for all Tulsa 66ers games can be purchased at the Convention Center Box Office or at tickets.com For more information log on to nba.com/dleague/Tulsa or by calling 918-585-8444.