Week 6 10/24 & 10/26

Game 1 Black vs Grey

Marcus Spence made 
winning
basket, scored 20 pts

 Just when we were ready to pull the plug for the Black team and start making funeral arrangements, they were revived  by some new additions to their roster and by better play from old players. It was a hard fought game on Monday night and despite Donte Goodman making it “rain” with his excellent 3 point shooting, Black pulled together and snapped a 3 game losing streak and got their 2^nd win of the season with a 71-70  victory. With this win Black improved to 2-4  while Grey dropped to 1-5.  After only losing to the best team in the league, (the Red team) by 7 last week,  Grey found themselves only up 1 at the half against the 1-4 Black team. Grey started out strong and were up  by 10 early.  Marcus Spence, Black's floor general came a little late but once he got in the game, Black started to get it together to pull within 1 by half time at 33-32

In the 2^nd half  Grey tried to go on a run lead by their sharp shooting guard Donte Goodman, and the solid play of Shawon Watson. But Black stayed close, and these 2 teams traded buckets and exchanged the lead several times throughout the 2^nd half . Donte Goodman hit 2 3’s in a row early in the 2^nd half for 6 of his game high 22 points to make Grey go up 52-46.  But Black wisely did not get too anxious, they took their time and players like Kenny Freeman stepped up, who finished with a season best  17 points.  

This game came down to a last second shot and Marcus Spence was more than happy to take it. He drove “coast to coast” to score 2 of  his game high 20 points to  give black their 2nd win of the season. Black newest pick up, Doug Strobel  added 15 points  to give them some much need scoring power.

Game 2  Orange vs Teal

 This was a “dirty” kind of night as Antoine “Doo Dirt” Brown had an all around game leading to the 1^st triple double by any player of the season. He finished with 11 points 11 assist 11 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block. Teal never lead in this game and despite some small runs, they could not get past this Orange Team who was lead by James “Jim Bob” Pope and Antoine "Doo Dirt" Brown. Orange topped Teal  76-63 to move into 3rd place.

Antoine "Doo Dirt" Brown
had a triple double 

Lead all scorers with 21 points

Orange came out early and knocked down a 3 to take the lead 6-2.  Early hustle by Jim Bob Pope with his signature high arcing  shots extended Orange ‘s lead even greater. He got hot in the 1^st half  on is way to a double-double with a game high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Teal defense was lackluster at best in the 1^st half. And while Teal shot selection was pretty good, they missed several close range baskets.

Teal found themselves down 9 at the half (42-31) despite two straight 3’s by Charles “Chew” Bostic late in the 1^st half.

The 2^nd half started much like the 1^st; with big plays by Orange. Doo Dirt Brown got a steal to go up 44-31. Teal continued to play poor defense and Pope continue to exploit this fact. Doo Dirt Brown controlled the ball well and seemed to cruise to a triple-double with ease.

Teal was not happy with the officiating and they made that known, but it just wasn't a teal kind of night, Orange easily won this game and with this lost Teal dropped to 4-3.

Game 3 Red vs Blue

Ok the Red Team won, what else is new? But Blue did not go down without a fight. Both Sherman Malone and Al “Hollywood” Cole came late, and both are important factors for Blue. Hanif Edwards used his speed to blow by every one which caused match up problems and foul trouble for Red.  Al Cole came late in the middle of the 1^st half but he began making an immediate impact on the game.

While Red never trailed they had a slow start. Dre Fraizer struggled missing his 1^st 3 shots. But with a team average of 82 points/game Red has plenty scoring power. Players like Nicolas King and Maurice Wood stepped up. Red went up 15-6 to start the game. Blue’s 1^st 6 came from Hanif Edwards on 3 very fast lay-ups. Red seemed to struggle trying to keep up with him. Blue kept it close and was only down 5 (28-23) late in the 1^st half.  

After a timeout Red regrouped and began to converse on Hanif which seemed to be effective. At the half red was up 36-29.

Red clearly was upset with only a  7 point lead at the half. Red’s Dre Frazier said to his teammate “…in the 2^nd half we are going to do what we do”. And that they did…

Nick King scored
a game high 21 points

They came out aggressive and determined to not to let the speedy Hanif blow by them like he did in the 1^st half. But Blue has more weapons than Hanif and two straight 3’s by Sherman Malone (the other half of Blue’s backcourt) told us this much. With those 2 buckets, Blue brought the game within 5 at 40-45.

But all of sudden as if a light went off Red went on an unbelievable 22-2 run and put a new meaning to “red light special” in the process. Fast breaks, steals, 3’s, you name it the Red stared doing it. It was an impressive display of team chemistry and talent. The game was called at the 2 minute mark at 82-59. With this win Red moves to 7-0 and remain the only undefeated team in the league, while Blue fell to 1-6. Nicolas King had a great game and scored a team high 21 points  and a game high 11 boards to snag a double-double

 Wednesday Night

Game 1 Teal vs Blue

The last time these two teams met, Blue won in overtime in a hard fought battle. It looked like Blue was on their way to another win as they jumped out front early. But Teal who started the game with only 4 players had another idea. in the end Teal won this battle 57-56. 
Blue's Brandon Wicker got going early and helped Blue jump out to a 14 point 1st half lead- he finished with 18 points. But Teal started to go on a run lead by Ron McGee who hit several big shots to go into the half down by only 8. 

Lead his team in points and
to the "W"

The 2nd half of this was a close. Teal started to come back and a 3 by Shotty Bell at around the 5 minute mark brought Teal within 2 at 49-47- the closes the game had been since the beginning. Ron McGee who led his team in scoring with 15 had 2 turnovers late in the game and it looked like Blue was going to steal the game. But both teams committed turnovers and missed foul shots and neither team was able to pull out in front by any significant margin. Despite some poor plays near the end Teal made enough good plays because at the final whistle, they were up by 1 and got a "W" to add to their record. Blue's Al "Hollywood" Cole was visibly upset, when asked how they lost he pointed to turnovers, "turnovers killed us" he said. While both teams had their share of turnovers Blue missed 8 foul shots in the 2nd half alone. And It's hard to win games when you shoot so poorly from the line. So while turnovers did take thre toll on Blue, poor foul shooting can not be ignored.

Game 2 Green vs Yellow

Game 2 of Wednesday triple header feature Green and Yellow. Both teams are better than their record would suggest. We thought this game would be a lot closer but this isn’t the 1^st time we were wrong. (those who are advent readers of the blog remember that we picked the Green team to win it all. Wile that remainst to be seen, we kind of jumped off that band wagon). Green mopped the floor with Yellow in this 92-66 blow out of a game that was called at the 2 minute mark before anymore yellow blood was shed.

Yellow started out on a 7-2 run but green answered with a 9-0 run of its own to make it 11-7. This game was eventually tired at 11, then Green never looked back. From then on out they played exception ball and earned them the title Green machine.

Yellow’s point guard Chaz Franklin tried to get the team going early and with their new big Man, Lonny Perry, Yellow were still “in the game” by the middle of the 1at half. Lonny finished with 16 points and 11 boards for a doubdle –double debut. Although most of his points came in the 1^st half. Taron Fraklin, tbe other half of the  Fraklin brothers, was as hot as ice, missing shots that he normally makes. Jermaine Higgins, Yellows agile swing man was visibly upset with his lack of touches, at one point he stopped playing “D” and stayed down the offensive end of the court. This prompted a vociferous  heckle by the Blue team’s Al Cole who was still in pain after losing to Teal by 2.

Dawuad Morris had the
hot hand tonight, scored
game high 24 points

Green capitalize on this team discord and went on a run and put on a show lead by Dawuad Morris who hit 4 3’s in the frist half. By the end of the half Green was comfortably on top  by 19 at 55-34.

Green continued their basketball clinic in the 2^nd half. Morris continued to knock down 3’s  and fished with a  game high 24 points. Shaw King played an exception game also, he finished with 23 points, 7 boards, 5 assist and 3 steals. Yellow tried to get going, Chaz Franklin started to heat up a late in the 2^nd half although, not nearly enough, he finished with a team high 21 points. But the other half of the Frankling duo, Taron continued to struggle, even missing an easy lay-up- it just wasn’t his night as he finished the game with 7 points well below his 20 point plus average. Yellow defense seemed to take the  night off and David Taylor .who made a loud celebetory scream almost every time green scored in transition couldn’t be happier.

The  game was finally called and in the end yellow fell to 1-7 while green went to 4-2 in this 92-66 massacre.

Word to the wise, usually when teammates began to argue and players began to slack off for one reason of another, that spells trouble for them. And that’s what happen Wednesday night. At the point when Jermaine stop playing defense (the grown man version of a pouting) Yellow was only down 5  at 24-19 . After that incident they seemed to get to deflated and distracted. The focus became get Higgins the ball and into the game and not get the best shot. We still fell that Yellow has a good team, they just has to learn how to play together

Game 3 Purple vs Black

Fresh off a win the 2-4 Black team showed up with just 4 players to start the game against purple who has the 2^nd  best record and the league’s leading scorer, Tim Chip Rawls. I don’t think their was a person in the building that really thought Black would win and that’s including the Black team themselves. But the game began and nature took its course as Purple easily won this game 81-50.

Purple’s Reggie Strickland seem to enjoy they “exhibition” and tried to get a triple double. He finished just shy with 10 point 8 rebounds and 9 assist .

Greg "Just Greg" Corbin
scored 20 points in his
debut

Despite their clear miss match Black tied hard to beat the purple team. Greg Corbon known to many as “Just Greg” the poet put on a impressive display of shooting on his way to become Black’s game high scorer with 20 points in his Basic Ball debut. Greg admittedly have not played in a while and at times in looked it as he’s usual boyish grin turned to a fatigued frown. Despite his fatigue he contied to kock down shots throughout the game game as he proclaimed, “we’re not going down with out a fight!’”

Greg and Kenny Freeman were  the only two Black team players in double figures. Kenny is playing much better basketball and has averaged 14 points in Black last three outings, up from his 4 ppg average in their 1^st 4 games. But the one two punch of Greg and Kenny could not put a real dent in the armor of the Purple Team. They we’re lead by Bryon “B-Money” Abney who easily score 23 points in Purple’s route.  

Thats All for now deuces 

Week 4 and Runnin'

Welcome to another addition of As the Basic Ball Bounces-the Blog for the Basic Ball Men's League sponsored by Ballers4Life

Last week's games (week 3) were skipped due to circumstances beyond our control. Sorry to our readers for the inconvenience. 

10/11/11

Game 1  Orange vs Blue

This week’s Monday night games were played on Tuesday because of Columbus Day. Boy, what a difference a day makes. In this 1^st match up between Orange and Blue both teams struggled to shake off the rust created from the extra day of rest.  We painfully watched as these two teams missed easy shots, made numerous turnovers and air balled (credit the air balls to Basir "Beeg" Crandall who air balled 3 shots in the 1^st half) their way to half time. In the end it was Orange on top of Blue 71-56. With this lost Royal Blue dropped to 1-4.  A royally dismal start to the season.

Blue who were without their leading scorer Al “Hollywood’ Cole got behind early and Orange managed to take an 11 point lead into halftime at 33-22 lead by Antoine "Doo Dirt" Brown and Xaiver Williams.

By the beginning of the 2^nd half  the Orange team seemed to loosen up, while Blue continued to struggle. Orange started the 2^nd half off on a 6-0 run to take a 39-22 lead. This was due in part to the fundamentally sound play of James "Jim Bob" Pope who finished with 18 points off the bench.

The Blue team started to get into gear and tried to go on a run lead by their very young back court, Sherman Williams and the lighting fast Hanif Edwards. Both of whom are what we call JPP’s (Just-Pass-Puberty). In the middle of the 2^nd half, Hanif who we affectionately nicknamed “Sonic” got the ball on a quick outlet pass and zipped down the court to a waiting Doo Dirt Brown who couldn’t “Doo” much  as Hanif blew by him for a lay-up. The two “Baby Blue”guards combined for 30 of the team’s 56 points. Blue tried to muster up a comeback but only on the offensive side and just as you can't fly a plane with one wing, you can't win a game one side.

Every time Blue tried to make a run Doo Dirt and the Orange gang turned up the intensity to keep them at bay. Orange was lead by their talented three; Antoine “Doo Dirt” Brown who had an all around game and finished with 16 points, 11 boards, 7 assists and 5 steals.  Xavier Williams who finished with 20 points and Jim Bob also added to the blue teams woes as he finished with 18 points off the bench. Orange improved to 3-2 with this win to move into 3^rd place in the league.

Game 2 Black vs Teal

What can be said about the Black team that hasn’t already been said about Afghanistan, they were bombed, depleted and had a lack of resources. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Black team was blown out and skidded to 1-4 in their 80-50 lost. Teal however improved to 3-2.

Getting beat that bad by a team wearing Teal is worse than getting robbed by a guy wearing skinny jeans!

Black never led and despite Teal starting off with a little “rust” of their own, they were able to take an early 8-2 lead forcing Black to use their 1^st time-out.  The time-out didn’t seem to help them much as Teal went on a 9-0 run which was finally ended by a sweet spin move and lay-up by Kenny Freeman who finished with a season high 12 points and 7 boards. But that only seemed to anger Teal as they scored another 5 unanswered points for a 16-2 run. By the end of the 1^st half Teal was up 39-24 .

In the 2^nd half it was all Teal and they seemed to enjoy it. A mid-air between the leg pass late in the game by Charles "Chew" Bostic showed us this much.

Teal’s Isaiah Russell lead all scorers with 24 and Lamarr Singletary dropped in 22 of his own while Ron McGee lead the team in assists with 6 and added 11 points.

Despite Black’s dismal performance, we love their heart and passion (at least in the 1^st half). Black clearly felt they could win and they tried their best. Black was led by Marcus Spence who finished with 16 points and Kenny Orange who finished with a double-double, 12 points, and 10 rebounds

Game 3 Purple vs Yellow

Yellow picked up a few new players which added some much needed scoring power. But that didn’t seem to matter much this game as Purple topped Yellow 78-64. Purple was led by their big man Tim “Chip” Rawls, no relation to the late Lou Rawls, but just as smooth. He finished with a league high 40 points giving Purple the 2^nd best record in the league at 4-1.

Yellow’s notable “pick-ups” were the Franklin brothers Chaz and Taron. These two speedy and sharp shooting guards were a much needed addition. They compliment Yellow’s linky swing man, Jermain Higgins fast pace game. While Yellow seemed to have the elements of a good team, their 1^st half was marked by turnovers and missed shots as they struggled to find a collective rhythm to compete. At the half, Purple was comfortably out front 39-16.

Yellow’s leading scorer, Jermain Higgins played with an apparent elbow injury that clearly effected his game, he scored just 2 points in the 1^st half

 By the 2^nd half Yellow stared to get it together as the Franklin brothers played a 2 man game. Chaz finished with 21 points and his brother Taron finished with 18 points in their debut. But that wasn’t enough to topple Purple who was led by their “Fireman Duo” Tim and Brandon “B-money” Abney. They combined to score 54 points. Tim went to the foul line almost every time he touched the ball and Yellow had no answer for him. He also pulled down a game high 16 boards. Abney is a fast penetrating guard that can also shoot the “J” when needed. His game goes well with the dominate inside game of Tim Rawls. Those two coupled with Raymond Strickland who at approximately 6’3’’ can rebound, score and handle the rock. It’s no wonder why they’re 2^nd in the league.

10/12/11

Game 1 Orange vs Yellow

The 1^st game of Wednesday’s triple header featured Doo Dirt Brown’s Orange team vs Jermain Higgins and the rest of the Yellow gang.

This game started out slow for both teams and despite Orange’s several 1^st half turnovers, they managed to get the W and move to 4-2 with a 83-77 win over Yellow.

Taron Frankin of the Yellow team scored an impressive 36 points in this up and down, hard fought game. And he did it in a barrage of ways, from “behind the arc” in transition and by good ol’ fashion grown man moves to the basket. Yellow had the top performer in every category, points (Taron with 36) Rebounds (Jermain with 13) assist (Chaz with 6) , steals (several tied with 3) and blocks (Jermaine with 2) Despite this solid effort Yellow could not come out on top.

 How could Yellow lead in every stat but still drop the game? Because of the team effort put forth by Orange. Four players were in double digits and two more players were just 2 shy with 8 points. Orange responded to pressure well, as a result they were able to hold off a late run by Yellow to get the win.  They were lead by Xavier Williams who scored 19 points and pulled down 10 boards on his way to a double-double. Orange also got a solid performance from  Basir "Beeg" Crandall who made up for Tuesday night’s air balls by scoring 17.

Game 2 Red vs Grey

The 2^nd game of the night put the undefeated, red hot Red team against the tough and talented Grey team.

Red had been on a roll beating teams by an average of 24 ponits. Most of their games were over in the 1^st half with them well out front. But Wednesday night Grey tried their best to hand Red its 1^st lost but to no avail. Red squeaked  by in a 79-71 victory to move to 5-0 and keep their title of the only undefeated team in the league.

Red jumped out to a 8-0 lead with 2 quick 3’s by John Ashmore. But Grey answered with a run of their own to tie it at 8. Red’s Dre Frazier thunderest 1^st half dunk ignited the crowd and sparked a small run. But Reggie Strickland and the rest of the Grey team met this challenge to finish the 1^st half only down by 7 points at 43-36 despite Red hitting 7 threes in the 1^st half.  

Grey continued their aggressive play into the 2^nd half and Red struggled to maintain the lead. It was not John  Ashmore’s night. He’s usually good for about 5 3’s a game, but Wednesday night he struggled behind the arc and finished with only 9 points, well shy of his league average 22 points. However, he had a game high 12 boards.

Grey brought the game within 2 at the 11 min mark in the 2^nd half due to two straight 3’s by Donte Goodman for 6 of his 17 points. But Maurice Wood seemed to be determined as he played like a man on a mission. The mission: not to lose and destroy his team’s  undefeated record. He was all over the court on both sides of the ball and even putting his team on his back at times when others struggled. He finished with a game high 25 points, and added 2 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Although Grey never led, they kept it close throughout, but they seem to lose their steam and will at the 2 minute mark and let this game slip away. They dropped to 1-4 after this lost.Although Grey got stellar play out of Shawon Watson who scored 19 points, Reggie Strickland who scored 18 points and 7 boards and Donte Goodman who scored 17 points, that’s not the only reason they almost won.

The Red team overall did not have a good game in the 2^nd half. This however is what makes this team so good and very tough to beat. When one player is off, the others step up. Red have at least three players; Maurice Wood, Dre Frazier and John Ashmore that can be the game’s leading scorer on any given night. Plus, they play hard for 40 minutes each and every game no matter if they’re up 30 or down 10. They give each game a strong effort.  They will be back in action on Monday 10/17 at 8:15 against Royal Blue. If Royal Blue’s entire roaster shows up, this should be a good game.

Game 3 Purple vs Green

The last game of the night featured Purple minus Tim “Chip” Rawls and Green who only had 5 players.  Purple didn’t start out too strong, they missed lay-ups played poor “D” and was out muscled. Despite this, Purple was only down 2 at the half 36-34. But Green loss their steam in the 2^nd half as the lack of rest by this 5 man team took its toll and they lost 72-52.

Green’s David Taylor caused problems for purple early with several 2^nd chance buckets and some strong moves inside. He finished with 17 points and 8 boards. He was tied for a game high in points with Bobby Bouknigh who also scored 17.

Green didn’t play good “D” in the 2^nd half and Taylor started to wear down. Purple went on the offensive and exploited Green’s fatigue, they finished with 5 players in double digits. Purple’s Keean Rand and Raymond Strickland were tied for a team high 15 points. Raymond also had a game high 11 rebounds to grab his 2^nd double-double  of the season. Purple fast and tenacious  guard, B-Money also played a solid game on both sides of the ball and finished with 14 points and 7 boards.

Green dropped to 3-2 with this lost and Purple maintained their 2^nd place status at 5-1.

That’s All for Now, until next time deuces 

Written by Ballers4Life

We Got Now, Next and Forever

The 1st installment of Week 2's wrap up

GAME 1 Orange vs Grey

The 2nd week of Basic Ball’s inaugural season did not disappoint. Orange and Grey started Monday night’s action off with a close, fast tempo game as both teams battled for their 1^st win. The Grey team’s Reggie Strickland seemed to be a one- man-scoring machine on his way to a game high 22 points. Despite Strickland’s efforts, Grey dropped their second straight in as many games. Grey’s Shawon Watson grabbed everything that came near him and finished with a game high 15 boards, but even with both game leaders in points and boards on the Grey team , they could not keep pace with the fast, speedy tempo style of the Orange team.

After Orange’s first lost, they wisely made some additions to their roster. The most notable was Antonie “Doo Dirt” Brown, he lead them in both scoring and rebounds, with 19 points and 7 boards in their 51-46 victory to capture their 1^st win of the season moving to 1-1.

GAME 2 Royal Blue vs Yellow

The 2^nd game of the night featured the Royal Blue team vs the Yellow team. The Yellow team was without their leading scorer, Phil Robinson, yet they managed to get the ‘W” due in part to the superb and sometimes selfish play of Jermaine Higgins who scored a team high 27 points and pulled down 16 boards to grab his 2^nd double-double of the season.  Darrell Reed of the Yellow Team had a solid game with 13 points and 5 rebounds while Kesh Spencer scored 15 points and grabbed 4 boards for them

Yellow jumped out early with a 17-3 lead and all signs pointed to a blowout. But yellow began to get sloppy and cocky and Blue capitalized on it. By the end of the half, Blue had fought back to bring this game within 6 at 28-22 due in large part to their agile big man Al “Hollywood” Cole. The Yellow team seem to have no answer for Mr Cole as he went “hollywood” on them on his way to a game and league high 30 points!

The only answer Yellow could come up with was to turn the game into a sprint and with the speed and stamina of Yellow’s Jermain Higgins, that was enough. For all things that the Blue team are, one thing they are not is fast. Built more like an offensive line than a basketball team, they could not keep up with Yellow eventually losing 60-54.

Despite their lost, Blue has a really good team, especially in Hollywood Cole, John Adderly who pulled an astonishing game high 18 boards and Tyreik Harrison who scored 13 points and grabbed 7 boards.  We look for “Big Blue” to be a team to be reckoned with in this league.

Game 3 Red vs Black

This game started out close (0-0), but after a few minutes into the game, it was evident that Black was out matched. Even though Red started out flat, they quickly got it going and it was all down hill from there for the Black team. Red were just too fast, too aggressive and just plain ole too good for Black. Not one player on the Black team scored in double figures. Their leading scorer, Kenneth Orange was held to just 7 points. This game was stopped at the 2 minute mark before Black lost any more self-esteem in this brutal 74-38 massacre.

 By the end of the 1^st half, the score was 36-21 with Red in the lead. Mustafa Sulliman, the Black team’s former player turned coach, lit into his team with a expletive- loaded “pep talk” about the lack of defense and poor effort displayed in the 1st half. But when you’re playing a team that is that much better than you, sometimes you need more than just defense and a dream.

Red was lead by the Maurice Wood who scored a game high 23 points and Nicholas King who scored 20 points. Both players combined, scored more than Black’s entire team! And if that wasn’t enough Andre “Dre” Frazier added17 points and had a game high 5 blocks as well.

But the thing that impressed us most about Red wasn’t their sharp shooting, or how well they ran the floor or even their, athleticism. The thing that impressed us most was their passion. Late in the second half, with the Red well out front, we watched as they continued to play aggressive on “D”, take and make good shots and complain about foul calls as if they were losing! Add their passion for the game combined with their sheer talent and what you have is a red hot problem for the rest of the league. Stayed tuned. They should be fun to watch.

Written By,

Ballers4Life

A recap of Wednesday's night action soon to follow

Part 2- Week 1 Season's Opener

Game 1 Green vs Royal Blue

The first game was supposed  to feature the Green team against the Royal Blue team but the Green team won by forfeit because not one member of the other team showed up by 630 pm, game time.  And too bad because I really wanted to see the green team play. But fortunately I did get to see a glimpse of them as they played their "salty man 3 on 3" ( the game you play amongst yourselves while waiting and hoping that the other team shows up). They looked like a bunch of former college players with their crisp passes, sharp cuts to the basket and aggressive defense. And yes I know this was just a salty man 3 one 3 but I still think they are pretty good. With a fast, solid jump shot shooting,  good defender in who I assume to be their point guard number 2 (did not yet get their names because they did not sign the book due to the forfeit) in addition to number 2, their other players looked pretty good. Some of their wide body big men look like the kind of tough looking guys that you don’t want to run into alone in a dark alley!

Side bar: Just exactly why would you be in a dark alley is none of our business but you just better hope that the green team ain’t in there with you.

I look forward to seeing how they match up against the smooth team play style of one of this league’s elite- the Teal team, but we will have to wait until October 26^th because that’s when these two powerhouses finally meet.

I think my "money" might be on the Money Green team.

We can’t wait! Can you technically call it a band wagon if the band hasn’t started playing yet? Well whatever you call it, we are on it! 

Don’t let us down Green, or we will jump up shouting, “Back Door, back door, let me off this bus/wagon!” as if  we are on a septa bus that just missed our stop….

PS: Now I think I know why the Royal Blue Team didn’t show up, maybe that were hiding in a dark alley . #RoyalDissappointment

Game 2 Purple vs Orange

The 1^st real game of the night featured the Purple team vs  the Orange Team. Both teams started out slow as their poor play early on made me ready to go ask for a refund, until I realized I didn’t pay to get in here. In spite of the slow start the game quickly got under way as Purple was the first team to score with a 3 pointer making it 3-0.  Rodney Norris for Purple started out aggressive on both sides of the ball. But Orange responded incorrectly to this aggressive play by taking several haphazard jump shots that only helped to pad the purple team rebound stats as they followed that purple brick rode to a “W” leading to a 1-1 start to the season by winning 56-47.  

Purple is a fit team that likes to run the floor, while orange is a slow wide body team that would much rather play in a half court set. Definitely not your run and gun team, more like your jog slow and breath hard team. 

But still this game was a close game early, tied at 9-9 at the 11 minute mark. But Orange began to trail because they couldn’t keep Tim “Chip” Rawls off the glass or  out of the score’s book who had a stellar 11 boards and 13 points at the half.

Chip is the kind of “in shape” player that “out of shape” players want to kick in the leg just to slow him down. And since fortunately no one acted on this urge, he was all over the court, moving without the ball, passing, taking fairly decent shots and how could I forget… REBOUNDING, on his way to a double double with 20 points and a game high 12 boards as purple got their 1^st win of the season.

 Chip also got the Orange team in early foul trouble because almost every time he touched the ball he got fouled. In the end, he proved to be too much for them.

Chip Rawls and his teammate Brandon "B-Money" Abney, who scored 14 points and pulled down 7 boards was the one two punch that this team needed. (You have to be tough to give yourself a nick-name like B-money in a recession!) If Purple can get their best 3 in Chip, B-Money and Reggie [Strickland] to all show up on the same day they will be a powerhouse of a team and one to watch out for.

The Orange team’s Deandra “D” McClurkin and Hakim Crandell could be strong  inside forces for this team if they are used right. If the Spurs had the “Twin Towers” in Duncan and Robinson , then these two wide bodies are the “Twin Trucks” (Mr. Cadillac and Mr. Escalade) . If I was coaching this team I would have  put “Big D” or Hakim on the block and let them back Chip down and force him into foul trouble. Orange needs to do a better job with using their weapons and playing to their strengths.

The main scorer for Orange was Xavier Williams and Cornell Miller who finished as the only 2 members of the Orange team in double figures with a game high 24 points for Xavier and 11 for Cornel.  Xavier also grabbed a respectable 7 boards.

GAME 3 Teal vs Yellow

Before we talk about this game let me go on record with this very early prediction.

It will be GREEN vs TEAL in the championship series!

Now after just possibly putting my foot in my mouth let’s get down to business….

The last game of the night featured, the Teal team vs the Yellow team. The Teal team came out strong and played great team ball as usual. For a minute it seemed like Yellow was going to try to actually win as they seemed to match Teal’s intensity level by playing  aggressive on “D” and taking better shots this game (a big contrast to their opening day performance). This extra hustle by the Yellow team made it a contest early. They were only down by 3 at the 10 min mark 18-15. But as time went on Yellow seemed to lose steam and dropped their 2^nd straight losing 71-51 in a game that had to be called early with  3 mins 46 seconds left on the clock, due to an extremely slippery gym floor where several people on both teams slipped. Good job refs for calling the game before somebody got hurt.

Early in the game, Yellow played as if they had a team meeting after their 1^st poor shooting performance the other night and saw the error of their bad shot selection ways. But any chances of that being true quickly faded when the Teal team began to pull away.  Yellow reverted back to their old ways of individual basketball as they tried desperately to put an ‘I” in team where their isn’t one.

Phil Robinson, Yellow’s speedy, trash talking (although he can back it up) point guard didn’t seem to be 100%.  He limbed around the court the entire night with an apparent knee or some kind of leg injury. Despite this, he still managed to hit 3 straight tre’s  late in the 2^nd half as he tried to put his team on his back. Although they proved be too heavy to carry on his bad leg, Phil finished with 15 points, 2 boards, 3 steals and 2 assist ( not bad on an injury). Jermaine Higgins for his part finished with 19 points, 4 boards, 3 steals and 3 assist. It’s clear that Phil and Jermaine could be that needed one two combination for Yellow but the way this league is shaping up, that might not be enough.

For the Teal team, it was another great display of team work and great defense. Lamarr Singletary seemed to have his way on the court scoring 12 points and grabbing a game high 17 boards. And he did it all while smiling the whole time making it look easy. Cam Milton controlled the ball well and worked to get his teammates involved as he racked up a game high 7 assist and grabbed 9 boards. He only had 7 points but that had more to do with his desire to get others involved in the game more than anything else. Ron McGee also played a solid game as his girlfriend lead his cheering section from the scorer’s table as the sole member of the Ron McGee Fan Club. She lead the “club’s cheer” as she exclaimed a loud “Go Babe” or “Yeah Babe” whenever Ron did something cheer worthy. Shot out to you,  “Ron’s Babe” for your support. (Sorry I don’t know her name) It’s hard out here for a brother and sometimes all we need is a little support! Great job!

As we wrap this blog up and put the first week of 2011 Basic Ball in the books, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention  2 things…

 One- the move Ron put on some yellow team guy (didn’t get his number cause he was laying on it- and I know he is probably glad I didn’t because on this blog- Ballers4Life WE GO IN and I would have called him out)  Ron did a behind the back pullback dribble move on this guy in transition that made him literally do a back flip , well more like a back roll but it still looked bad for him. Great move Ron- Go Babe!

 And Two: Tim or Chip of the Purple team or whatever you call yourself, don’t ever, ever, EVER  do a corny, anti-climatic dunk like the one you did near the end of the game again. Next time, if you know you’re going up weak just lay it up. A strong layup is better than a weak dunk any day. This leads to a new and unofficial rule in this league, “Don’t fake the funk on a weak ass dunk” (translation: go hard or get the hell out!)

That’s all for now see you guys next week as Grey square off against Orange in game 1 of Monday night’s triple-header, followed by Royal Blue vs Yellow (if Royal blue shows up). Then capped off with the Black team against the Red team. And that’s only Monday. It going to be a great week of basketball next week at the Basic Ball league hope to see you all there.

Note: This league is run by Ron McGee and Mustafa Sulaiman’s organization, Basic Ball, Its sponsored and enhanced by us, Ballers4Life. If you are planning a league and you would like us to sprinkle our B4L mojo on it. Fill out the contact form on the contact us page and someone will reach out to you soon.

That’s all for now, unit next Time- Deuces