Muslim Basketball

1)      We have a new number 1! This was proclaimed by most as the game of the week and it sure did live up to it. Unfortunately, I do not have any stats to base this game off of but I will assume that Hart did his thing and so did Big Boi Will. At least Tex is getting his own team’s predictions right, other than the outlandish score.

 If you had told me that in the beginning of the season that Pat would average 13 ppg on 10 shot attempts and Cordoba would be 3-0, I would have laughed in your face. Well, behold, Cordoba is 3-0 and man do they look good. Chris Diaz, Pat and Craig are all averaging at least 11 points per game and Muhammad O is basically at 10 ppg himself. This team is no longer dependent of Pat’s 30 pieces but when they come and trust they will come, expect this team to be clicking on all cylinders.  

 Shot nearly 50% as a team from the great beyond, outrebounded their opponent by 15, not to mention their first half total, matched that of Suba’s final score…. Sana’a is cooking. The only reason I don’t have them higher is due to their inferior competition the past two weeks. Clayton and Joseph combined for 55 points on 12-23 from 3! They have the shooters and playmakers, but can they defend against top teams? We shall find out these next two weeks. 

They put the clamps on Delhi early on, allowing a total of 7 points in the first twenty minutes. Billal “Biggz” Abbassi led all scorers with 20, Lil O and Big O had 14 and 13, respectively and Mustafa added 13 of his own. Oh and they were missing Islam, who has the nicest mid-range game in the league. They play an old Jakarta team up next. 

Brandon Stew with 26 5 and 5 looking like a young James Harden. They probably had the most difficult schedule thus far and it continues against the 3-0 Sana’a squad. There’s going to be a whole lot of shooting on display come Thursday. 

Down go the champs, suffering their first L since week 4 of last season. They were without Tim Brown for a second straight game so take this defeat with a grain of salt. I would also like to add that Moe Rayyan is a sniper and may be the best shooter in the league. 

Back in the win column for last year’s runner ups. Shafic led the way with 20 but I am still a bit concerned about this squad. They don’t seem to have the same fire power, as last year’s team. I know the departures of Yanes and Bilal are vital but having the ball in Towfeek’s hands more isn’t a bad thing. I expect a big game from him this week. 

Tough loss after being up double digits heading into the half. Not sure what went wrong but they have a very favorable matchup against Granada this week. 

I want to say they limited Moayad but he had 14 free throw attempts, so I am just going to say they got lucky that Lahore missed 19 times from the charity stripe. Quite game from Ali but fortunately Connor Fox had 17 and 15 in addition to Yaqob going 3-5 from 3-point range. I expect their week 4 matchup to be a good one. 

Vintage Mino was on display, but it wasn’t enough. Kenny J has been doing his thing this season, yet this team is 1-2. Bright side, they play Delhi this week. And my prediction is Nick goes for 25 + and they win by 30. 

You cannot miss 19 free throws as a team and expect to win any games. Simple as that. 

Maybe the Yanes family experiment isn’t so bad after all. Musa and Jay combined for 35, Yahya added 15 of his own and they outrebounded Jakarta as a team 42-31. Track meet against Tripoli this week. 

I told you guys this team isn’t a bunch of pushovers. They are young and they play extremely hard. Hold up, Ramzy Saleh with 5 blocks?!?!?! Can someone say Ben Wallace? Nice game from Shahzaib with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. 

1)    Sheesh! Upset of the week! This team just looks slow, and really lack a guard at the moment. Sure they can post up and body you in the paint, but you need to facilitate the ball in order for all that to transpire. Without Ed, this team is far too predictable.

Singer needs help and fast. I did not expect them to lose to Islamabad but this is why we play the games. Moiz had an off night and can’t afford a repeat performance against Dhaka. This team is in desperate need of Anas to show up. With him they are easily title contenders. Without him they are bounced in the first round. 

 They need more than Mack and Omar. The two had 39 of the teams 42 total points. Omar Abuharthieh, you gotta be the third guy on this team. They are extremely lucky to be playing Suba in Week 7. 

Kudos to them for not giving up 90 and tripling their first half score. Their playoff chances do not look good moving forward. 

Fortunately for them MB games are only 40 minutes. They allowed 97 points. 97 points divide by 40-minute game = 2.425 points per minute! That means Sana’a did whatever they wanted when they wanted.