Assalamualaykum wa rahmatullah,

Muslim Basketball North Jersey started the new year off with a great week 5. As always, thanks to everyone who showed up and competed, most of the games were competitive as usual. Before getting into the predictions for this week, I just wanted to echo what was stated on the podcast and make sure that we all understand the true goal for this season: remembering, advocating for and supporting our brothers in Palestine.

On this Saturday, January 13, 2024, there will be a protest happening in Washington, D.C. I urge everyone to attend so that the event can be more successful than the one that occurred in early November. There is only strength in numbers and unity. Below is the link for more information in regards to the protest. I know that many of the local mosques will also be assisting with transportation and if anyone needs any more information, please feel free to text the Player Chat on Whatsapp.

https://march4gaza.org/

In addition to this, we also have our own small campaign running for Palestine through PCRF and we are at ⅔ of our goal. We are also ⅔ of the way into the season, so we’re right on track but let's all make the effort to smash the goal and raise much more. Link is below to donate, please share with all other friends and family.

https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/MB24

If you are unable to do any of these, please do not stop advocating for the cause and making supplications to the Almighty, and supplications are the best way to help, God willing.

Now, lets move on to the upcoming Wednesday as it pertains to this league. To be honest, as the records show, these games aren’t always that hard to predict. Most of the time, it comes down to guys that are missing so I just want to say to all the teams that haven’t been on the right side of these predictions consistently, it's kind of a unanimous agreement. I hope that these predictions fuel everyone reading them to prove the Crystal Ball wrong.


So here are the standings for predictions:

Hassan: 28 - 8 (didn’t predict week 1)

Towfeek: 32 - 13

Crystal Ball: 31 - 14

Omar: 30 - 15

Looking into the Crystal Ball…

Al-Quds - Baysan

Starting the week off strong, we have two teams with a winning record. The Al-Quds side has now logged two impressive wins in a row, and I’m sure that has done wonders for their momentum. Going into the break, things were looking bleak, but all that has changed and the chemistry that we expected is starting to show. On the Baysan side, it was expected that they would come out with a bigger win, but they were without arguably their best player in Jared, so I will cut them some slack. Not to mention, they were going up against a decent squad. As mentioned before, they are still one of the favorites.

I love the way Al-Quds has bounced back, led by their 3 guards, Omar, Mustafa and Amir. In my opinion, the biggest reason they got the win last week was their switch to a zone defense and I thing they should deploy the same tactics coming into this matchup as well. Now, here’s where things get difficult. Baysan has this guy named Zain and he salivates when he sees a 2-3 zone, especially with the shooters he is surrounded by this time around. Overall, Baysan can diffuse the size that Al-Quds has benefitted from in past games, and they have strong guard defenders that will make life difficult for Al-Quds on the offensive side of things. As is apparent, all these comments point to one conclusion.

Baysan by 12

Nablus - Qalqilya

Man, these 7:30 games have been a doozie all season and anyone coming early will probably want to stay by the netting separating Court 1 and 2 to keep track of both of these games. Nablus is now considered a powerhouse, and that is not an overstatement. Ty Jackson continues to impress and there hasn’t been a sign of him slowing down. Let's put things into perspective with numbers. 35 PPG, 7 RPG, 5 APG, with 2 SPG on 60% shooting from the field with 50% from 3 and 87% from the line. There’s no question that this man is on another level. Now, a player of this caliber makes things easy for the rest of his teammates, obviously, and the rest of the Nablus squad is no slouch, as mentioned before. This is a well constructed team with the MVP of the league at the helm.

On the Qalqilya side, they had an unimpressive win last week, by their standards, especially after all the talks of them running the score up, which is what the Crystal Ball predicted as well. This team believes that hustle, pride and desire is enough to get by and that simply hasn’t been the case, as other teams in the league are proving that they want to shut this team up. Yet, they are still 4-1 and beat two tough teams in Baysan and Al-Bireh to start the season.

This is the game of the week and probably the most difficult to predict. Ty Jackson is now going up against a top team in the league, something he hasn’t faced before. I think Nablus has the edge when it comes to size, but Qalqilya has the more versatile team as all 5 players can handle the ball exceptionally well. The Crystal Ball always predicts an outcome and this one took the longest to decide, but the only proof is in the pudding, and Qalqilya is 16-1 with a full squad, dating back to last season, with their only loss coming to an undefeated Sabra team. While Nablus can be summed up as Ty Jackson and Co., which is enough in most cases, Qalqilya has 3 top guys and that’s where the slight edge comes.

Qalqilya by 1

Ramla - Al-Khalil

Third game of the week, two teams with completely different trajectories. In stonks terms, Ramla is extremely bullish, while Al-Khalil is extremely bearish. Why does the Crystal Ball say this? Ramla now is at full strength, boasting a Big 3 of Cologne Connoisseur Zaib, Burj Mana, and Hassan Farhat. They made things look relatively easy in just their first game together against a tough Haifa squad, giving them their worst loss of the season. On the Al-Khalil side, the same old story and its starting to get a little tiring. We heard the talk that these guys are going to take the league by storm, and that is part and parcel why talkers have been so harsh. Not only do they have size, but they have big guards as well which is making this all very strange. One week there’s a guy that’s the player of the week, and the next week he is only putting up 5 shots. It seems like Salman and Moazam are the most effective scorers so far, and Zeeshan has been all but impressive. We also have not seen Ali Baig since the break and he was a guy that seemed to be an integral part of the offense. Instead of one guy putting up a ton of shots, there has to be more of a spread in shot selection. I don't know how many other ways to put it.

Al-Khalil has size and this can give them somewhat of an advantage in most games, but sadly it wont do them much in this game. Ramla has a more potent offense and stars who are willing to share the love/play as a team, which are both necessary for TEAM success. I don’t really need to get into the one-on-one matchups because it seems like Ramla can win the game with just those advantages, as Al-Khalil has lost all of their games by double digits so far.

Ramla by 13

Sabra - Gaza

Props to Gaza for coming back to life and making that game interesting last week, which was against the predictions. Gaza stayed within arms reach of one of the top teams, and they didn’t even shoot particularly well. Johnny Wiz went 1-11 but did have 10 free throws. Now this could be a statistical mishap, as shot attempts where players are fouled should not count (Let’s get the stat keepers informed on this). Regardless, it seems like this team just needs to build more chemistry and figure out a way to make things work with the talent they have. Mahrooz and Omar Singer have to be better. However, Baysan was without Jared See who is a huge difference maker. Now Gaza comes into week 6 with their 3rd tough matchup in a row, this time against the best in the league. Sabra was not as impressive last week, and I’m not really sure why but my guess is they were met by a team who hasn’t won a game yet and really wanted to prove people wrong. It will take more than that against this team and their mediocrity is still enough to beat most teams. I will say though, Raza and Mo Masri have taken full advantage of the focus being applied to Austin and Pete. This is what makes this team even more dangerous than what has been mentioned up until this point.

Gaza has some size and they also have guys who can put pressure on opposing offenses single-handedly. We saw last week that this can give Sabra some trouble. Now, the recipe for beating Sabra is obviously working the offense from outside in or making the Twin towers step out of the paint to find easy buckets inside. Gaza has guys who love to drive though, and I think this makes it difficult based on the defense Manager Weiss has deployed so far. Although Gaza is no slouch and much better than predicted last week, I don’t think they’ve figured it out fully just yet. Of course, crazier things have happened before.

Sabra by 14

Safad - Yaffa

Safad really showed their grit last week as they went toe to toe with a 4-1 squad without their best player in Ali Sufaian. As predicted in the beginning of the season, this team can not be overlooked, just based on the effort they bring on the defensive side of the ball. Although they aren’t the tallest team, all 5 guys on the court are strong and play with IQ. Also, Fursan, Islam and Raeid are 3 brothers who wear the badge and are seasoned veterans that hate losing. Yaffa is shorthanded and has some defensive holes. They also still have some chemistry issues that need to be ironed out if they want to make a deep playoff run, which they are definitely capable of. Much like other teams that are more toward the bottom of the standings, this team does not have a very even shot chart in most games, other than last week. It was a breath of fresh air seeing Ishaq Shah finally prove to himself and his team that he is capable of being a valuable scorer. Moving forward, they must move the ball more and get players in positions where they are most effective, starting with the best on the team, Swishhh, AMP and Ace.

Usually, most teams will find a slight advantage in the lack of “size” in both of these squads, but that is not the case this week. Safad prides themselves on defense, High IQ and ball movement and Yaffa,polar opposites, prides themselves on high skill level, playing fast, and the 3-ball. The Crystal Ball predicts that the team who can take a little bit from the others’ play style and incorporate it into their own will come out with the win. For that reason, I’m taking Yaffa as I think they have enough guys who are willing to bite down on defense as well as bring a more unselfish approach. Safad is great at teachable skills but Yaffa has the edge skill-wise.

Yaffa by 4

Al-Wehdat - Al-Bireh

To be honest, I didn’t expect Al-bireh to become so stagnant when facing a zone defense. All the momentum they built moving the ball and setting each other up went away as soon as the 2-3 zone went into play, and it doesn’t help that their best shooter was 0-10 from 3, which is the most basic way of breaking a 2-3 zone. This week, they are without their Lebanese tandem who are stepping away from the Hoop Heaven and meditating in the ocean after the terrible loss by their standards. Meanwhile, Al-Wehdat now has a formidable duo, Corey and Keon. If these two are consistent in showing up every week, then we can start talking about Al-Wehdat as being a serious contender. They also have a solid supporting cast who are playing smart and being efficient on both ends, which has paid dividends and helped them to a winning record.

This game is easy to predict only because Al-Bireh is shorthanded. I will say though, Amir Hassan, Mo Alzubidi and Ameer Koyas should use this game to gain confidence and look to have big games. There’s always a puncher’s chance in MB and they have Mustafa Barakat and Suqi who are more than willing to take care of the dirty work. Hopefully, they come with a full 5 and make it a competitive game.

Al-Wehdat by 10

Bethlehem - Haifa

Wow, this is really an interesting matchup. Haifa, as mentioned before has had an extremely tough schedule so far, and that has caused some internal conflict as there is a lot of pride on this team. Many of these guys have been playing in the league for a while and they are all hungry to get wins every week as they look to improve their standing going into the playoffs. As always, they will need Kareem and Omar H to be efficient. I mention these two particularly, because I feel like the others on the team have been somewhat consistent. I also think they need to get Deep more involved in the offense as he’s a guy who can really be a difference maker, given the opportunity. On the Bethlehem side, they are a one-trick pony, or should I say two-trick pony. Sadly, half of their game plan is gone this week after he failed his king and put another stamp on the debate, proving again that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. To add to this, his brother Ahmad is on the road with him too, a player that was looking like a difference maker as he made his way back from injury last week.

That leaves me with not much to say to be honest. Can Omar Sehwail step up and be that second guy? Ehh. Can any of the others produce enough offense where Mahdy won’t have to score 50 for them to have a chance in this one? Ehh. I don’t see them having a chance with the Chaabane brothers away, as they lose a ton on both sides of the ball. Haifa is due for a statement win and I think it finally comes this week.

Haifa by 11

Shatila - Qibya

Another interesting matchup in the 9:30 slot, with two teams who have been on a slump. Shatila, at this point in the season, has a guy in Farhad who is going to show up every week and produce big numbers. Moving on from that, there aren’t too many other bright spots. Ed looked better last week coming off his 86th men’s league championship in his decorated career, but I wouldn’t rely on him as the second guy. There are two other guys that could possibly help Farhad lift the weight, Hosam and Tariq. Both of these guys are big dudes and they both have been pretty efficient but I think the only recipe for true success is when all 3 of the aforementioned supporting cast have great games. On the Qibya side, they have finally made it out of the gauntlet. They faced 5 of the top 7 or 8 teams to start the season, and they can finally look forward to a more decent matchup. Breakout game from Nader was much needed and although they didn’t get the win last week, they proved to the league and to themselves that they really can hang with anyone.

Aadil, Abdelkareem and Nader are the leaders of Qibya and success starts with them.I like that the shot chart was more even last game but I think they can still be better in terms of ball movement. This game is their chance to get a team win, and have a bunch of guys in double figures. I also think they have enough to make life tough on Farhad, while still controlling the other guys on Shatila, which I mentioned earlier. This is a game that has some playoff implications, and it will be interesting to see if the teams come out with that sense of urgency.

Gimme Qibya by 6

Jenin - Areeha

So Jenin has 6 guys who can hold their own and really produce on the offensive side. They also do this in many different ways, with some who like to work their way inside and others who like to light it up from 3. To start the season, the goal for this team was to really make an effort on defense because the offense is surely there. With Jake coming consistently, that side of the ball has been better and I assume they will continue to grow. Now, they must work on spreading the ball more rather than just giving Ian complete control of the offense. It is a work in progress, these guys have never played together, and I have a feeling that they are trending in an upward direction. This week they go up against Areeha, who got a much needed win last week and we finally saw that shot distribution in their win, taking the advice given in the predictions. Now, they have to build on that while continuing to excel on the side they love most, defense. Jason Marshall, Afay, Big O and Omar Marachli can all be double digit scorers and I think their recipe for success is finding ways to get all of the guys mentioned in double figures simultaneously. That, of course, requires sacrifice and setting teammates up for success. Shouldn't be a problem for this team as most of them have been playing this game for YEARS.

Areeha definitely has the side avantage over Jenin in this one, but the age gap is something to take note of. I also think Jenin is going to play a very up and down style of basketball and they will be on Court 3. This will give them two advantages: Tiring the Areeha side out and moving the ball seamlessly. If they can contain the slow, methodical offense of Areeha, I think they do have the upper hand in this one and I think there are more ways Jenin walks out of the gym with a dub than Areeha. It’s always tough going against the veteran guys, but I think this is the week Jenin finally gets that win they are desperately awaiting.

Jenin by 6

As always, this ain’t Lonzo Ball, this ain’t Lavar Ball, this is the Crystal Ball

Edited by user Monday, January 8, 2024 9:20:54 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified