Muslim Basketball

And just like that, we have a new number one. Finals MVP Wajdi picked up right where he left off since we last saw him and made his presence felt. 23 points, 7, 2 and 6 for the fan favorite, but it was a total team effort. Ameer Koyas added 16 points on 89% from the field. OQ and Omar Hussein had 12 and 14, respectively. They also contained Sarajevo’s guards and limited to them to one three point make as a team. 

Joey SHIESTY! The people’s champ balled out to start the season with a stat line worthy of POTW. 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Not to mention he guarded last season’s MVP all game. Quiet game from JoJo but it was nice to see Fursan get in on the action with 9 points. If JoJo repeats last season’s averages with Fursan giving them anywhere from 9-15 on a consistent basis, this team will be tough to defend. 

GAME OF THE WEEK WINNER! Shafic and Big Moose got their season off on the right start and forced Suba to commit 14 TO’s. We know their dynamic duo are going to prove the scoring week in and week out, but they can’t afford to shoot 7-30 as a team from the 3point line. But nonetheless, I don’t want to nit pick after one week. 

The best defensive team in the league and man did they make Kashgar work for every basket. But let’s start with some offense. Jawad Tamimi returned to MB and dropped a 20 piece on 8-14 shooting, Biggz had 18 of his own and locked down showcase stud Mahdy. Early favorite for DPOY Himey had 5 blocks, while guarding Kashgar’s rookie Ismael and making his night difficult as well. I don’t think they will allow 50 points all season.

Well, it looks like 10-0 is out of the equation, but they ran into the shiesty. Hassan was tasked with guarding Joey and vice versa, but still put up a respectable stat line across the board. Lil O had an off-shooting night, as did Hamza and Jehad. This team will rely heavily on their star-studded backcourt, but I don’t expect off nights like these very often.

No Omar Singer but no problem, as they invited star Anas Najib back. Rookie Mahrooz with a solid debut of 21 points and 8 rebounds. X-factor Elias had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assist, as Istanbul had no answer for the shifty guard. They forced 11 Istanbul turnovers and clamped their guards. Very good team win to start the season.

Ali Hassan vs. Shahzaib! The former came out on top in this one and had a lot of support from his teammates. Rookie Ali Suiafan with a nice MB debut of 12 points and 6 boards, and Muhanad Deeb 8 and 9 of his own. Omar Marachli scored 10 points and the star PG had 20 points to lead his team to a week one win. 

Me personally, I think they are fine. They just happened to run into the baddest dude in the league. Omar Mana with an absolute monster double-double with 30 and 12, although he did account for almost half of the team’s FG attempts. I would like to see more out of Amir Hassan and Raza, but they need the ball in their hands to do that. Not stressing this one.

The positives are, they kept it close with only 5 players and were playing without Farzad. The negatives, no ball movement whatsoever, 2 assists as a group and look very ball dominant. Rookies Ismael and Mahdy can be a lethal 1-2 punch, but they need to figure somethings out before they get there. 

They kept it close, but it just wasn’t enough down the stretch. Shahzaib had 21 but on 20 attempts from the field. Affan had 13 points but on 12 attempts and the next highest scorer was 4 points from Humza. 1-20 from distance isn’t going to cut it.

Too many team TO’s, not enough shooting and their best three players are all pass first. Zain with another Zain like stat line with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Sohaib added 13 of his own while Yo shah played as the primary ball handler. I don’t expect them to be near the bottom for very long.

No team should ever have 3 assists TOTAL as a team.  Aadil was the only one who showed up to play, as everyone else shot below 50% from the field. From first glance, too many guards and still only one basketball. Coach Abdelghani has quite the assignment heading into week 2.