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 26th 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 1st 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 1st
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 2nd
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 1st 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 2nd 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…
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
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