Muslim Basketball

Is anyone honestly surprised??? This team doesn’t seem to lose. The last time the Yanes brothers and Jay Wiggins lost a game together was 12/14/2022…… That was almost a year ago! Big Moose led the way in this one with a team high 18 points. They’ve opened the season against two of the league’s best and their schedule doesn’t get any easier with Sabra up next.

The best offense and the best defense? Leading in both categories after week 2, Ammar and company are off to a great start. Moe Thirty was in a sharing mood as he took a backseat to Mr. Shiesty in this one. Mr. Capone led the way with 23 while Dirt and Mahrooz added 16 and 12, respectively. Doctor Singer made his debut and once he gets his superpowers back, the Avengers are going to be tuff!

Hassan Lebron James Iverson Chaabane with a modest 22 points and 7 rebounds. Rumor has it he ran out of soda before the game and resorted to water, which led to the lackluster performance. But we cannot forget about the other superstar in Mahdy with, wait for it, 22 points. This two seem to be in sync! Could use more help from the rest of backstreet boys but it’s still early.

No Raza in this one, but the Sabra vets know how to win. Another day in the office for Pete Brown and Mo Masri. Not sure if my eyes are playing games but it seems that the Sabra newcomer decided to take Weiss’ name for the day and honored the OG admirably, with 12 points and 4 boards. Vintage Weiss statline or whoever he is.

Nail bitter, but they went up against arguably the league’s best team. Jared See with a game high 23 points as the Jared and Zain combination is proving to be formidable. Unfortunately, they did not have the 3pt success from week 1, but with Sal’s return nearing closer, this team is only going to get better.

Sometimes the toughest games are the sweetest and Al-Bireh played one heck of a game. Rookie Mohammed Alzubidi led the way with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Amir Hassan had 12 and 10 on a very efficient night and rookie Muhammad Elhindi hit 4 threes. Still waiting for the Towfeek and Shafic glow up game but it will come. 5 starters in double figures and they displayed great team chemistry. They could have easily lost this game, especially with all the momentum going Yaffa’s way.

Almost a picture perfect ending, but they just came short. Fun Fact, the Shah family outproduced the Popal family 38-32, just in case anyone was keeping score at home. On to more serious things, Ismael is a bucket and was hitting tough shot after tough shot. AMP showed flashes of scoring champ AMP from a few seasons back.

So no matter where I place this team, they’ll never appreciate Mr. PR :(. Personally, I think the 8th spot for now is perfect, but again they are entitled to their own opinions. No Kareem Ahmed in this one, but the Omar brothers balled out. OQ with a team high 20 points and OH contributed 12 of his own. Mr. Walking double double, Muhannad Deeb had 15 and 11, while playing some stellar defense on the Shatila bigs. Not sure what dua Kareem is making while performing Umrah, but he still managed to score while making tawaf. Now that’s talent!

Okay, let's say I owe these old geezers an apology. Those YMCA workouts are definitely paying off, and maybe you guys could hang with the young pups. Not to mention Big O does not lose to Islam & Fursan Abbassi, been that way since diapers. A-Fay led the geezers, I mean Areeha with 14 points as he continues to make his case for MB GOAT. Nice games out of Carl and Jay Marshall who each were in double digits.

A dead clock is right twice a day. The same can be applied to basketball because Farhad doesn't have these types of games regularly. 8-25 is extremely uncharacteristic from one of the league’s best but kudos to Haifa for making it difficult on him. Tariq Yasin picked up the slack with 21 points and Hosam also scoring in double digits with 10. I would like to see more from Ed, who as we all know isn’t afraid to shoot the rock.

It’s not too often a team can replace someone as valuable as Abdelhadi within 24 hours. Insert Mr. Ty Jackson, who put up 32, 8, and 4! POTW?!?! This team could be on to something, especially when they get Mo Amin back from injury. Medo Zubi had another solid performance and is solidifying himself as a solid number 2 option and Malik also did his thing with 17 points. I could see this team making some noise in the weeks to come, especially if they continue to get productive play from their bigs!

For starters, Lil O is really making me look bad. I crowned him the best shooter in the league and he continues to thank me with mediocre performances. C’mon O! Luckily for Al-Quds Amir Charrkas AKA Mr. XXL AKA Professional bucket getter, was able to handle his business with a team high 15. Al-Quds will need the Abbassi’s to get it rolling if they hope to contend with the league’s elite. And Woooohooooo Jean had double digit rebounds!

Down one going into the half, I thought they had the advantage of playing on the larger court, against an older team. But this is why we play the game! Safad struggled from deep as well as losing the rebounding battle. Nice to see Ali S, get in on the action, but need to see more consistency from their backcourt.

Starting 0-2, I can't judge this team as of now, especially when they are missing one of, if not the best player on their team, Jake. Ian Felix is creating a name for himself and making the claim for the best scorer in the league after averaging 39 points through the first two games. Splash had a solid game with a near triple double, but I'm waiting to see who will step up and be that second/third scorer on a consistent basis. Im going to give this squad a couple of more weeks before we can make any assumptions, but with Jake hopefully being back next game, they could make a run for their first dub!

Last week, I noted that I regretted ranking them where I did. Well, today not so much. They were without Week 1 phenom Jay Mustafa but Gaza simply put the game out of reach in the second half. Hoping they have a full squad come Week 3 because Bethlehem is up next.

Omar Mana, where art thou??? This team needs your 24 points and 24 rebounds. On the bright side, Shahzaib was doing Shahzaib things, 22 points on 7-12 shooting. As for the rest of the supporting cast, 20 points as a whole is not going to cut it, but I see brighter days ahead for Ahmad Saleh and his crew.

They almost pulled off a huge upset. Had it not been for some uncharacteristic inefficient shooting from their stars, Aadil & Nader, the outcome would have been in their favor. No Ammar Suleiman in this one and his presence may have been the difference maker.

I was hoping my preseason rankings were just temporary but here we are two weeks in. It seems that Zeeshan and Ali are the players to watch on Al-Khalil. The scheduling team was not kind to Captain Hasnan & friends.