SPRINGFIELD, MA (WSHM) -
It was an emotional end to the Springfield Armor's season on Monday night. The players are heading home after losing in the D-League playoffs.
You don't typically see basketball players with tears in their eyes. But if you stuck around after Monday's loss inside the MassMutual Center, you saw the players wearing their emotions on their sleeves.
"We put in a lot of hard work," says Armor forward L.D. Williams, as he fights back tears. "We put in a lot of hard work. It's tough. I don't know what else to say. We played hard. It's just tough, we all stuck in there and did what we could do but came up short."
L.D. Williams couldn't fight off tears after his Armor team couldn't fight off the Canton Charge. Springfield ends its season with a loss in the D-League playoffs Monday night. And the emotions followed shortly after.
"I'm not going to let a loss or two diminish what this team has accomplished," says head coach Bob MacKinnon, who was then embraced by player Zendon Hamilton.
"It was very emotional because Mac just poured it out to us. He said how proud he was of us and how great of a season we had and he's very happy to have been a part of this," says guard Jerry Smith.
Springfield ends its season with 30 wins. Compare that to the 20 combined wins over the past two seasons. There's plenty of reason for optimism towards next season already. But in the D-League, there's lots of turnover, so plenty of uncertainty as well.
"My only disappointment is that I don't get to go to practice tomorrow with them again," MacKinnon says.
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