Sana’a/
Dhaka - though Abdul continues to prove why he has the most offensively versatile skill set in the league, Dhaka’s team ball (assuming that it kicks in this week) should be more than enough to outmatch sana’a’s offense, if not completely contain them
Jeddah/
Tehran - thought Tehran would easily be first in rebounding & points allowed from the get-go, picking up Mo Amin alongside Joe Z & having lock down guards like Joe P. Still feel as though they’ll end the season close to that, but I guess it needs some time. Should be a team stat-building win.
Baghdad/Lahore - not strictly choosing them because of the intensity they played with against my team last week, but this isn’t a group I would overlook. If they’re not locking up on defense, they’re knocking down threes. When they’re doing both, they become a legit contender. I feel as though they can match up with Jon (or at least hold him to less than 20), but the only concern would be guarding Herb.
Granada/Lagos - Granada’s looking more solid than most thought prior to the start of the season, & Lagos has been quite the opposite. Unless they realize how talented of a group they’ve put together, Lagos is gonna be handed their 3rd loss.
Timbuktu/
Mecca - layth, raied & khalied can all get buckets. However, pretty much everyone on Zubi’s squad can get buckets of their own, if not create for others. Very well rounded team. When both your back & front court can contend for the best in the league, you’ve done something right as a gm.
Mombasa/
Islamabad - not game of the week. I can’t be the only one that misses watching the raza-yousef duo that worked so well last season, even if they did end my teams playoff run. However, with raza still running it & Chris Paul (Sadat) continuing to drop times to a top backcourt, they’ll still probably go far. In the end though, you don’t beat Mombasa with offense & who better to give them the L than the defensive powerhouse of the abbassis.
Cordoba/Amman - we always start off 3-0 & then stop showing up (physically). So traditionally, we should get this w. Cordoba’s certainly looking more solid than past seasons though.
Jakarta/Beirut - this is the game of week. Have yet to see muj & Yousef play together, but their combined offense should be able to at least match that of Jon Mingo & nick, which would mean it comes down to the hustle plays & defensive execution. In which case, jakarta. But you can never underestimate Beirut!
Suba/
Sarajevo - I’m gonna go ahead & echo the rankings. It’s the name.
Damascus/
Kazan- we’ve all taken bad shots, & gathered up some bad days all together, but 4-30? I don’t think that’s properly sunk in. However, we’ve all had some good days where we wonder why the stats haven’t been put up 2 minutes after the game, but 39 & 13 shooting over 50%? Patrick’s lived through both extremes in the first two games of his career, & there’s not a team to put him to the test quite like Damascus. Unless they get out hustled & rebounded throughout most of the game (which Damascus is more than capable of), Patrick & mark should walk away with this one.
Edited by user Friday, February 9, 2018 10:33:51 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified