Muslim Basketball

The Zain pickup was big, but adding Idris was also significantly important. Islamabad never had the guy that could effective play off Biggz and whoever the Islamabad big man is (formerly Big O and now Zain). Islam and Fursan are solid pieces, but they don’t have the knock down ability Idris has shown. He shoots with no hesitation, and does so at an unbelievably high percentage. 65% from the field, 60% from deep. Islamabad hasn’t had that caliber of shooter and it’s really making a real difference. Bilal draws so much attention, Zain clogs the paint, and Idris is the one ultimately putting the ball in the basket, taking what the defense is willing to concede. I’m not too sure what the defensive adjustment is - bigs have to stay on Zain, he’s shown he’s lethal from anywhere and very crafty when he gets under the rim. Bilal can do so much

Pete doesn’t even look like he breaks a sweat out there. Probably the most effortless 21-17 game there can be. Add five 3s from Mo Masri and the inside out game is unbelievable. Raza didn’t play a great game and they still managed to beat one of the better teams in the league. You know they’ll bring it when it matters most - my money is on these guys for now.

A lot of teams in this league have looked out of wack when one of their top guys are out. No Leonard for Sarajevo, 30 point win against a then 3-1 team. That’s less a hit on Leonard and more a testament to how explosive this group is. Monster game from Luke, Michael keeps doing the little things that keeps this offense rolling, Rameez didn’t have a great game, but it didn’t really matter. They held the Riyadh backcourt to 36 points on 37 shots. This steamroller might not feel another bump until they take on Kabul. Next REAL challenge will be the finale against Dhaka.

They look like they got it again. Faced a Pat-less Kazan squad that is better than they looked. This team is at its best when Salman is winning down low. Ameer has to be the main option, no disrespect to Farzad, but Ameer is far more consistent, far less streaky, and is a menace to guard. They are at their best when Farzad and Fahad are hitting shots off of Ameer’s creation. They have a tough opponent in Tehran coming up - Dhaka always finds a way to struggle against size.

No Pat. Next.

Utter smacking of what I believed was a terrific Cairo squad. Nobody was contesting anything from Ayatc, credit to him for making them pay. As great as Aytac was, oh man was Faraz Chaudry unbelievable. For a guy his size to give that effort to hold Goldberg to just 8 points, in a game where he was by far the biggest and best front court player, really inspiring play. Dude gave 200% on every defense possession, fighting for position against a much bigger and stronger player. No way should have Goldberg only had 8 and no way should Suba have won by 34, but both that happened as a direct result of terrific play from Suba. Hats off to them.

Looked a lot more human after facing Mombasa. They have another tough test in Cairo coming up, another team looking to bounce back.

No Kenny, no problem. Dominated from the start thanks to a monster game from Luke, who outscored Ahmad and Muhanad after they continued to talk smack. This team is solid when they play big - they did so and beat up on a smaller team.

They turned those close game loses from last season into wins this season. They’ve been in every game and have looked good all season long. Amir is clearly the guy, but the rest of the team finds ways to contribute and get wins. This week against Lahore should really give us an idea of how good they really are.

Solid games from Mo and Jake, but they need a little more if they want to do something. Need to either shoot the three ball better or opt for better shots.

I don’t know what that effort was. They’re too good to be losing games by double digits, let alone 30+. Cannot let a guy hit wide open after wide open 3s, you have to feed your big when he’s playing again a dude that doesn’t even reach his shoulders, and Adrian, why you taking 14 shots? They need to play off of Abdul. I have no issue if he’s taking 30+ shots and Goldberg is touching the ball and they still lose, but to lose the way they did against a heavily undersized team, that shouldn’t happen.

Just. Barely, Held. On. Ball was in, then it was not. 

Double OT against a team they should have beaten by 20. A win is a win. Wouldn’t have been if it wasn’t for a forty burger from Anwar, included the decisive 5 in 2OT to take it.

Not moving them down based on that smacking of Jerusalem, just feel this is where they belong for now. I think they’re going to give a lot of teams problems, but need to see it first.

Got hit very hard by Sarajevo and didn’t have a counter. They’ll learn from it.

Now there just isn’t the effort. Very quick frustration with the refs took them out of their game and they never adjusted back. Definitely have the pieces to beat the best in the league. On paper they matched up terrific with Islamabad, but they are just aren’t cut from the same cloth. They don’t bring the attitude necessary to be a good team. They have just as much, if not more talent than almost the entire top 15. It’s time they find a way to utilize it.

A half roll away from knocking off Beirut. They’re too good to be losing this many games though. Anas and Qasem need to find a way to coexist and play off of each other. Anas looked like he was keen on distributing while also scoring, OQ just hasn’t looked comfortable.

Hey a win!

C’mon guys.

Talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. 

AR got his squad fired up after last weeks loss and boy did they deliver.

Pushed Granada to the brink, but couldn’t take it.

Back to reality.

*facepalm*