Muslim Basketball

Really not sure what’s left to be said of this team. They are the best. They will continue to be the best until someone can figure out how to stop each individual man on the court. You think you shut down Salman, but Ammer goes and has an extremely efficient double double. You keep Ali and Farzad at a combined 25% from the field, but Farzad finds a way to convert 9 of 11 free throw attempts and finish with a respectable 16 points. They did not even play that well (not a knock on them, Amman has some terrific defenders) but they still find a way to make their wins look easy. They irritated Amman with some full court transition passing and extremely tight defense. I want to say that they’ll be tested by Lahore next week, but if Fahad is healthy (not sure what the status on his ankle is) they’ll be able to handle Lahore. If it hasn’t shown already, I love everything about this team and I will continue to exude my affection until they show me otherwise.

It’s Dhaka………then Mombasa…then Mecca………………….and then everyone else. They may be the only team in the league built similarly to Dhaka. They have guys who can go off and add a major contribution in any game - there’s no pressure on a single player to perform week in and week out. In week 1, we saw what Raza can do when he takes over. In weeks 2 and 3, we saw newcomer Gurj show off his talents. This week, they were led by Raza, but were still very balanced. Gurj was a point and rebound away from a double double, John Diaz added 8 points and 11 rebounds on efficient shooting, and Weiss reeled in 8 more boards. They held a potent Lahore squad to 28 points, a feat that should concern the rest of the league.

Anas Zubi, man. He just finds a way to will his team to victory, although, this week he had some solid play around him. Billal Abbassi added an efficient 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Malik Zubi added 12 to complement his brother’s 24. Ammar was challenged all game long by the Omar bros, but he found a way to keep himself engaged and effective by grabbing 11 boards, even though he could not get a field goal to fall. If Anas continues to perform at this level and his teammates complement him and challenge their opponent’s entire defense, they will have a chance to make a run. They were inefficient and ineffective from deep, but they still found a way to hang up 53 on a stingy defense – very solid performance by this squad.

This is where things got interesting in ranking the middle-of-the pack teams. Lahore does not deserve to remain at 4 following their performance, but no one below them deserved to move up. Other than Bilal, they really did not get much from anyone else. I can hear Anwar and Waqas scoff at their stats and saying something along the lines of ‘we will never put up only 28’ – That’s why I am willing to leave them at 4. They are playing as a shell of themselves, this is not who they are and this is not how they will continue to play. Anwar and Waqas will take it upon themselves to score 28 individually next week. They’ll be challenged by Dhaka and I just do not see them getting that win, but oh boy if the Waqases and Bilal come with a vengeance next week, the viewers are in for a heck of a spectacle. They’ll be on court B during the primetime 11AM slot. Do yourself a favor and stick around for this one.

They beat a bad team who was missing arguably their best player…BUT they beat them by 38 points. The whole squad was cooking (peep the hyperlinked gif). I’m not going to mention names because that will be disrespectful for the overall game this team just had. They attempted 22 from deep, knocking down half of them, they shot over 50% overall from the field, AND they had 23 steals. I know Fez isn’t a great team but this was eye opening. We knew when the Masri brothers get hot, they get hot, but there is a wildfire in Egypt’s most beautiful city. Istanbul may need to toss them into the Mediterranean Sea next Sunday to cool ‘em off a bit.

It was tough seeing this group fall apart a bit near the end of the game. Unfortunately two players had to be escorted off, while a third fouled out. Dhaka will do that to good teams – they find ways to frustrate you, irritate you, and get you out of the proper mindset. Jawad had an alright game, his fifth foul ended his morning a little earlier than he would have liked. Omar Mana showed us again why he deserves to be considered one of the best bigmen in this league. He held Salman in check, outscoring him and outrebounding him. Unfortunately for Ammar, their emotions got the best of them. They will have a chance to bounce back next week against Baghdad – I’m sure Moayad and co. want to get this bad taste out of their mouths. The only piece they lack is an emotional leader – they play far too lethargic, uninspired, and laid back at times. Someone needs to step up and take control sooner rather than later. If they find that leader, they’ll climb the rank

Played in an evenly matched game, but eventually Kazan was just able to outscore them from the line. They sent Kazan to the charity stripe 30 times, lost the rebounding battle, and lost the turnover battle – not the keys to success. Adam continued his hot start with 17 points, but no one else really added much. They played good defense, but it’s tough to win when you send the other team to the line 30 times. They’ll face a tough test in Alexandria next week, who is coming of what could be called the best team offensive performance in recent memory.

Again, they struggled to put away a team after taking a 12 point halftime lead. They struggled to score to start the second half, but still found a way to hold on and get the win. Any win in this league is much needed as significant parody has developed below the top two teams. Everyone is beating each other and wins need to be had when available – they got it. A date with Mecca looms, a game that, rumor has it, Granada circled to start the season.

Week after week Mo Amin has a solid game, but it doesn’t really do much for his team. Against Suba, he was the MVP I believe he can be. 20 points on 16 shots and hauled in 17 boards. Raied Saleh made his Sana’a debut, adding a double double to Mo’s. AR also added double digit rebounds, helping his team outrebound Suba by 16. They did not get a 3 pointer to fall, but this team is built to play around the rim with their bigger guards and wings. Raied adds size (look at his gosh darn arms…do you even lift broski?) and aggressiveness to what was a passive offensive attack. They look like they have the weapons, but will it be enough to compete against the better half of this league? They’ll get a chance to display that offensive attack against a gritty Jakarta defense.

We knew that offense was not their forte, but they are not playing the level of defense we have seen in the past. They could not stop Anas Zubi when they needed to, a guy who Ramzy was able to contain a season ago. Offensively, an extremely inefficient 11 for Fursan did more harm than good, Ramzy is still cold from behind the arc, and Islam could not get anything to fall. Bright spot was Shareef Omar, who gave Ammar Idelbi all he could handle, in duel of experienced bigs. They’ll need to fix the defense or find ways to score effectively if they want to make a run. They have a very tough schedule going forward, so they may very well need to fix the defense AND find ways to score if they have any hopes of finishing this season with a winning record.

Back to back respectable wins for this group who looks like they’re finding their stride. Good game from Frank who was able to cash in on 75% of his trips to the line. Mark, who has quietly been averaging 16 points per game, also had a solid game, adding 16 points and 8 rebounds to help defeat a good Istanbul team. I will keep my eye on these guys, haven’t a chance to watch too much of their games, but look out for them to make some noise later. They have 2 winnable games followed by a week 7 matchup with Mombasa. I want to put them higher than 11, but I cannot, yet.

Ahmed Farag must’ve been watching some James Harden this week, putting up a double double and competing on the facial hair front with the soon-to-be NBA MVP. Terrible shooting by both teams in this one, combining for 21% from the field and 14% from deep. Some terrific rebounding numbers for both squads, but it helps when there are 93 missed shots in a game. Baghdad takes on what should be a hungry Amman team – they’ll need to shoot a better percentage to have a shot in this one.

First off, I want to sincerely apologize to this team for what may have come off as harsh comments. Nothing here is meant to offend anyone, it is simply a take on what’s going on around the league. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they’re going to have a hard time winning games in this league. Most of them are very young and lack experienced in organized basketball. When they go up against good team, they will be out played solely due to experience. That’s not a knock on them at all, but they were just not ready to face a team like Dhaka a couple weeks ago – there is no team in the league that is ready to face Dhaka. What Damascus showed this week was that they will challenge anyone who leaves the door open. That is a testament to the older guys, supporting the younger guys on this team. They deserve love for a tough fight against an underperforming Granada team. Hosam Karkis finally came alive, showing what he can do as a leader for his

Just a terrible shooting game – they got some buckets to fall in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough to make things interesting. They just need to make more shots, easier said than done. Suba next week, so they should be able to compete and get a second win.

They got 99 problems and not having Ed was one…that did not remotely change the outcome of this game. With or without Ed, they just struggled to defend the perimeter. Jason Weiss did his thing down low, but it is difficult to win games when your opponents hit 8 more threes and 13 more baskets than you from the field. It may also be impossible to succumb 15+ point games to four different players. That is not a recipe for success, regardless of who is on the floor. Kazan will really challenge this team next week – hopefully Ed is healthy so they can put their best foot forward.

Overall just a poor performance for this team. Anand’s hot shooting start cooled off dramatically, as he could only buy one bucket on 14 attempts. Ryan had an okay game with 6 points and 7 boards, but that was not nearly enough as Sana’a dominated every facet of the game. They have Tehran next week in a game both teams really need – look for Suba to come out hungry and try to steal their first win of the year.