Without point guard, Armor struggling despite talent

The Springfield Armor thought they had a pretty good rotation back in October during training camp. Willie Reed, who played for the Grizzlies returned. Dennis Horner, JamesOn Curry and Jeff Foote, who had started for the East Conference champs two years ago, decided to forego another year in Europe. Gary Forbes, who had starred for UMass and played for three NBA teams agreed to play again in western Mass.

And two talented young players who had been waived by NBA clubs, 6'5" point guard Lorenzo Brown out of N.C. State and 6'7" forward Adonis Thomas out of Memphis, decided they wanted to play for Doug Overton and Milton Lee. Then, the 76ers, needing a back-up point guard, called Brown up even before the season began.  It proved disastrous.

Brown had his best game for the Sixers in their blowout loss to the Trail Blazers Saturday, scoring eight points. But the Armor once again missed him in Springfield. The Armor, who had led most the game vs. the Maine Red Claws, fell apart at the end, losing 102-95.  Some of their bigs had good games --Horner finished with 12 and 9, Reed with 14 and 7-- and Forbes had a steady 15 point game, but starting point guard Justin Johnson, who's more an undersized shooting guard, finished with two assists in 41 minutes. Thomas is out with soreness in his knee.

After a promising off-season, the Armor are now 1-6 and next to last in the East, one game ahead of the Erie Bayhawks, the Knicks affiliate.

• Game Info: Red Claws at Armor - D-League
• Springfield Armor lose lead late, fall to Maine Red Claws 102-95 - Jason Remillard - Springfield Republican
• PREGAME: Springfield Armor's Willie Reed (Video) - Pete Sousa - Springfield Armor