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

 

Basic Ball Men's Basketball League starts today





BASIC BALL 2011 OPENING NIGHT

Game 1 -Red vs Purple



The 1st game of the 2011 Basic Ball inaugural season featured the Red team  vs the Purple team. Purple had a solid effort from Neil Armstrong who scored 16 points and pulled down 17 boards and Raymond Edwards who scored a game high 23 points on his way to a double-double adding 11 rebounds. Rodney Norris also made a solid effort with an impressive 7 points and 4 blocks.
Despite their solid effort, purple came up short, losing 55-48 in their season opener.   In order for purple to better compete, they will need a better effort  from the rest of the team who was held to just 9 points.

Red was lead by the superb play of  both Maurice Wood who scored 20 points and had 5 steals and Nicholas King, who scored 14 points and pulled down  7 boards and 2 blocks. They combined for 34 of Red’s 55 points. Darrell Butler also played a good game adding 8 points 5 boards and a game high 5 blocks!

Game 2 -Black vs Yellow



In the 2nd game of the night, the wide bodies of the Black team took on the speed of the Yellow team. Black and yellow reminds you of a bumble bee, but in the end, the Yellow Team were the one’s who ended up getting stung as they dropped their season opener 61-59. Black broke out to a early 13 point lead largely due to Marcus Spence who controlled the ball well as the Black team’s floor general and Kenneth Orange who did everything else- and I do mean everything with a game high 20 points 11 boards  3 steals and 3 blocks on his way to a double double.

Yellow was plagued  by poor shooting . Phil Robinson, the yellow’s team speedy point guard, took and missed shot after shot, after shot leading to a 33-24 deficit at the half.

When asked, “what do you guys need to do to get back in this game” Darrell Reed of the Yellow team said, “We need to move the ball around and play better  D “. Apparently Phil didn’t get the memo as he continued to hoist ill-advised bricks throughout the 2^nd half occasionally sinking a basket or two.

By the end of the 1st half fatigue began to rear its ugly head as the Black team looked like they needed a team size oxygen mask. Black started to turn the ball over and miss a lot of shots. The Black team poor 2nd half performance allowed the Yellow team to get back in the game, even bringing the game within 2 pts (59-57) at 31 seconds left. However the Yellow team could not shake the “ghost of Poor Shooting Past” and could not take advantage of the winded Black team, falling in their season opener, 61-59.
The Yellow team was lead by Phil Robinson with 18 points and 5 boards.

Despite losing their season opener, Yellow has a pretty good team. Phil is a speedy point guard that can carry the team if he gets hot but with Jermaine Higgins who scored 14 points and grabbed an impressive 11 boards, yellow would fare better if they slow the tempo down a bit and get him and their other “bigs” more involved in the offense.

Game 3 –Teal vs Grey

This game was a nail bitter as it came down to the….(just kidding). The Teal team jumped out front early with a 7-0 run and never looked back. By the end of the 1^st half,  Teal lead 35-14. Teal looked like a veteran team who had been playing together for some time. They played great help defense and communicated well. On the other side of the ball, they made good passes and even better shots which lead to an impressive 24 assists as a team.  The entire team were in double digits except for Rodreen Howell who was 2 points shy with 8. Ron Magee lead the assist train with 6 and added 11 points.

Before this game started, I predicted the Grey team would win, they were taller, they looked more athletic and could jump. I was more wrong than Monique in Spandex. Why didn’t it come together for the Grey team? For starters, they never used their height to their advantage by establishing an inside presence, too  many jump shots, and not aggressive enough on “D”. Add those elements with the Teal’s team ability to consistently knock down shots, and it makes for a long night for the Grey- well actually a short night as the game was called at the 2 min mark (mercy rule).

Grey had a game that they would like to soon forget. With Grey’s athleticism, and height, if they can learn to play together, they can be a good team in this league. I don’t see them repeating this 1^st performance again.

Teal, put their stamp on this league and quickly established themselves as one of the best teams. I know it is still early but from where I am sitting, Teal will be hard to beat.

That’s all for now- Deuces



We Got, Now, Next and Forever!