Disclaimer: predictions don't mean anything, which is why we play the game. Best of luck to all the teams this week.

Sana'a vs. Dhaka (big court)- Sana'a is fresh off a big win against Timbutku, looking pretty good at 2-0. Abdul being Abdul is putting up his usual numbers and the rest of the team has found their niche and contributing quite well. As for Dhaka, they are struggling. Not a start any of us expected for the 3 time champs, and perhaps its just been bad luck. How often will we see Farzad go 0-11?!?!?!?! Credit to Mombassa for their defensive game plan, but he's too good of a player to contain over the duration of a season. I want to say Dhaka, but something tells me AR knows how to match up against the champs, and Abdul takes this game over.

Jeddah vs. Tehran (small court)- I'm pretty sure this is the Tehran we can expect to see for the remainder of the season, defense and second chance points. Moe Amin with a solid and very efficient double double, Joey P made his debut and played sound basketball, while the rest of the team chipped in and did their jobs. Jeddah is a very experienced team who pride themselves on defense. The addition of Turan is huge! Fundamentally sound basketball player, won't blow you away on the stat sheet, but he does all the little things needed to win basketball games. Qasim should have a strategic game plan against his former mate, Jeddah takes this one.

Baghdad vs. Lahore (big court) - Jaber is still my guy for MVP, but it may be Jon DeJesus' award to lose. 21 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals and he makes smart plays. Controlled the tempo of the game for his team, which ultimately resulted in a win. Him and Herb know what it takes to win in this league and are leading this group of young pups. Baghdad is coming off a disappointing loss in which they lost in sudden death double overtime. Not sure if they can match up with Hern and Jon and quite frankly, I don't see this game being close, but hey predictions don't mean anything. S/o to Ahmad Saleh for having a solid game.

Granada vs. Lagos (small court) - GRANDA!!!!! The Ahmed brothers do not hang their heads when facing a deficit. George willed his team back into the game with 4 consecutive 3 pointers. They contained Kazan's perimeter game, and that was the ultimate difference. As for Lagos, this team looks too good on paper to be 0-2, but thats why we play the game. Might take them a few more weeks to gel with all that talent, so I am taking Granada in this one.

Timbuktu vs. Mecca (big court) - I know its only two weeks in but Mecca needs to wake up before Anas Zubi is forced to play on one leg.

Mombasa vs. Islamabad (small court) - Clearly Masta Weiss has no say in the schedule making. Jakarta, Dhaka and Islamabad to start the season isn't what you'd call ideal. Maybe little brother is the one to blame for that. Nonetheless Mombassa will always be there and are the Spurs of MB, so you can never count them out. Islamabad will stop your best player, stop your second best player and your third best player while they are at it. Mombassa will need a full team contribution to keep this close. This game will be high scoring, and a fun matchup to keep an eye on between Billal and Raza. Advantage Abbassi clan.

Cordoba vs. Amman (big court) - If you keep up with the forums you would think I have an obsession with Moayad, well I don't. But the kid keeps getting better, and he controls his teams outcome. The big 3 of Mana, Qasem and Moayad combined for 42 out of the teams 49 points. I'd expect Marwan to get in on the act sooner, rather than later. Cordoba coming off as well, won't be able to keep up with the speed of Amman. Unless Cordoba could use their size to their advantage, Amman will be looking at a 3-0 start to their season.

Jakarta vs. Beirut (small court) - s/o to John H! Anyway back to the game. Nice to see Nick Marquez play well against a team not named Mecca. Mingo with a very efficient 6/8 but I don't know if 14 points from your best player will win you games every week. MujKarta, Himey's disciples or whatever you want to call them, are coming off a nice victory. This game will deff be one worth staying for and unfortunately I can't pick a team here. Toss up.

Suba vs. Sarajevo (big court) - Rameez is going for 30 this week. Sarajevo FTW.

Damascus vs. Kazan (small court) - The younglings are an exuberant bunch. They show flashes of being a solid team, but have trouble maintaining that over the course of a ball game. I don't see any team out hustling them, and that may cause trouble for Kazan. Kazan has played both their games on the smaller court, and their full court press has caused fits for their opponents. Knowing that the last game was in the palm of their hands, I don't see Kazan taking their foot off the pedal this week. But what I do see is Damascus getting off to an early lead, but giving it up.

No raza this week

Sana'a/Dhaka- Sana'a has proven that they will play enough defense to to produce just enough offense to pull out and win games. They survive and I think they will continue to survive as long as they play defense. I'm a defensive minded individual and I love the defense I see In Sana'a. I over heard them having a team meeting after their last game and team captain, AR brought up how Islamabad plays team ball. Continuous cuts and ball movement, if they start playing that way, they will be a force to be reckoned with. Dhaka has been struggling, championship hangover? They are in the bottom half of the league in both defense and offense. Will they turn things around?

Jeddah/Tehran- Tehran turned things around last week and scored 56 points rather than the 28 they scored the firs week. They only allowed 47 points. They played the defense I expected week 1. They moved the ball and scored efficiently at 45% shooting and a whopping 47% from 3. I like what this team is doing.

Baghdad/Lahore- Baghdad lost a double-overtime thriller against a good team in Amman last week. That one stings. They play good, gritty defense but they are not producing enough offense just yet. Jon Dejesus and Co. have the offense to match Baghdad is defense and they are allowing less PPG than Baghdad. Ahmad Saleh had a great game last week. Let's see if he could keep it up throughout the rest of the season.

Granada/Lagos- Granada is the better team across the board. They score more PPG and they allow a lot less PPG than Lagos. They are grabbing more rebounds and dishing out a good amount of more assists. They are shooting a better overall FG% and a better FT%. The only thing Lagos has is 3pt%. I can't bet against Granada in this one.

Timbuktu/Mecca- The combination of Hamza Saleh and Ammar Idelbi clogging the paint has Mecca's defense 2nd in the league. Mecca is also number one in shooting percentage. Malik Zubi can get hot from 3 and he can just get in rhythm offensively. Jaber will orchestrate the offense. Ed has to take more shots if Mecca wants to be competitive. Timbuktu has Jeff who I really liked watching him last week vs Sana'a. He controls the paint defensively. He finished the game with 5 blocks, but Timbuktu doesn't have enough offense. They will have a tough time scoring against Mecca's top 2 defense.

Mombasa/Islamabad- Not going to predict my game. #footballseasonisout #STDWSI

Cordoba/Amman-If Omar Mana plays, they will win this game. If he doesn't, it will be tough. I think I still have them winning regardless, but Boobis will have to play big. Amman just know how to score that basketball.

Jakarta/Beirut- This game can sway either way depending on who wants it more. The Jon Mingo led team scores 56.5 PPG, but allows 51.5 PPG. The Yousef and Mujtaba combo will be enough offense to match Beirut. Himey likes his team playing defense. For that reason, and reason alone, I pick Jakarta.

Suba/Sarajevo- Sarajevo is in the bottom half of the league in every aspect of the game under than FG% and FT%.

Damascus/Kazan- Damascus will fight and fight until they have no more fight left in them. However, Ramzy doesn't start? I don't understand why he's coming off the bench. They got to figure that out. Patrick made 4 shots out his 30 attempts in week 2. Kazan should move the ball more, they have enough offense. They don't need one player taking as many shots as 30. Kazan figures it out and wins.

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