Muslim Basketball

Masta Weiss ain’t no stranger to being at the top of the mountain. The Sabra squad had to make a few transactions and despite the turnover, still winning games. Pete Brown had a day, with 18 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists. The scary part is, this man can average those types of numbers if we actually tried. Raza returned to form, as he scored 14 points on 7-13 and couldn’t forget about Mo Masri and his usual 3 3PM. Their latest addition seems to be another monster big, who could cause havoc for defenses and give them another post presence.

Plug n Play!  That is exactly what captains Ammar and Kareem do and have been successful at over the past several years. Lose Joe Shiesty to a potential season ending injury and come in newcomer who I am sorry, I don't have the brother’s name on file yet. But for now, you will be called Plug. Plug had 22 points on 8-15 shooting to add to his 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Moe Dirty didn’t go Super Saiyan this game but still had 16 points of his own. As for the remaining two Avengers, I would like to say a more efficient outing from Singer, as we all know where he stands among the league’s PGs. We need ROTY Mahrooz back!!!

Down 2 spots, but they certainly can’t be mad at themselves. AK and Big Moose provided the scoring as they totaled 35 of the team’s 54. Quiet game from high flier Jay Wiggins but props to Sabra and their game plan. Looking at Qalqilya’s remaining schedule, there is no doubt in my mind they could start a new win streak and be a top seed heading into the playoffs. But I strongly recommend they don’t play down to their competition, as we have seen a few upsets ruin seasons.

No Zain, No Problem. But Welcome back Sal Rahin who did not waste anytime getting reacquainted with the 3-point line, as knocked down 4 of dem thangs. Sohaib led the way with 20 and 10, in addition to Jared chipping in 14 and 13. This team defends, shares the basketball and knocks down shots. With Zain back in the lineup they will be a top 4 team the rest of the season.

“When I come back like Jordan, wearin’ the 4 5. It ain’t play to games with you, It’s to aim at you”. Was that Michael Jeffrey Jordan last night or Coach Feek??? Towfeek had his best game thus far going 8-16 from the field. But Coach Feek wasn’t alone, Shafic had 17, Amir Hassan had 17 and Koyas had 13. Quiet game from the rookie but they got the much needed win.

Probably the highest climb in one week in recent memory but they looked like a completely different ball club. The latest addition certainly paid dividends and made his presence known early and often! Keion Osbourne led the way with 22 points and went 10-10 from the charity stripe. Next week, they face off against a struggling Al-Quds team.

Part of me knows their second was an anomaly but 9 points in one half is unthinkable. I have seen Hassan score 9 points alone in a matter of three minutes. 9 points?!?!? I expect them to bounce back nicely next week.

Another sneaky good matchup and they pulled it off. This time on the shoulders of Ali Suiafan, who shot 10-19 from the field for 22 points and 10 rebounds. Raied, Fursan and Jawad all scored double figures and played stellar defense on the Haifa guards. If this team continues to play great team defense and take advantage of offensive mismatches, they could very easily sneak up on some teams.

Ty Jackson is looking like the defacto best player in the league. His ability to score at all three levels is very impressive, but what is more impressive is his unselfishness and how much of a willing passer he is. Mr. Jackson led the way with 40 points on 8-11 from downtown. Mo Amin made his season debut and tallied 19 & 12, with Malik chipping in 11 of his own. This team has 4 scorers, but their achilles heel at this point in time is their defensive lapses.

It's amazing what some good old fashioned icy hot can do. Jokes aside, this team competed and almost pulled off the upset. A-Fay led Areeha with 21 points, although not the most efficient outing. Carl Magby with a monster game of 20 and 13 as he and Big O asserted themselves against the undersized Nablus squad. Omar Marachli continues to turn into the steal of free agency and will certainly help this team win ball games.

Three games played, three close ones. Personally, I expected them to win this one and I was wrong. OQ and Deeb have been their most consistent players. Kareem looks spry again which is always a bad thing for the opposition. All that is missing is Omar Hussein knocking down shots and this team could very easily be 3-0. HOT TAKE: They win 4 of their next 6 games. You heard it here first.

Man oh man. After losing a close game to Al-Bireh in Week 2, Yaffa couldn’t buy a bucket last night. Had I not known any better, I thought their box score was their upcoming 2024 tour dates. They need more efficiency and better shot selection. They have 5-6 talented guards, but someone has to slow the game down and not go one on three and expect the officials to give them the call.

Now I have a bone to pick with this team. They won their first game last night, again without Burooj Al-Mana (Tower of Mana, for my Non-Arabic speakers) and Shazaib has yet to have a Shahzaib like performance. Last night 4-10, 10 points on 40%, okay cool. But I want to see the 20-25 that we have fallen accustomed to. I know we have gotten spoiled. But kudos to him for allowing his running mates to cook, as Elias and Hassan each had 19 and 20, respectively. But seriously I want to see some flashy Shahzaib points.

They were without Amir C and apparently Lil O has left his jump shot in one of the computer labs at NJIT. They had five players, so obviously no subs and playing on the Court 3, certainly didn’t play in their favor. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt this week but I simply can’t due to the level of play we saw this week across the league. And Lil O, I know you are knocking down 5-7 3’s next week. I know it.

Did Hasnan see something that we didn’t the first two weeks but wow, they shot the lights out. Everyone knocked down a 3 and Salman hit 7 himself. They totaled 54 rebounds as a team and had 17 assists as a team. It’s only one week, but perhaps I was wrong about this team after all.

Ed where are you?!?!? Farhad with the superman stat line once again but it wasn’t the most efficient outing. Quite Frankly, no one of Shatila shot well. This team is sinking and fast!

Almost pulled off a major upset and it was a total team effort. Aadil led the way with 23 points and 14 boards. Abdul Kareem, Nader and Kareem Suleiman were all in double figures as well. As mentioned on the Pod, less Fortnite more basketball.

So they had their full squad for the first time all season and they went into the half looking great. It was a tie game, only allowing 27 points and looked like a basketball team. Where they seem to struggle is, they lack a true PG. Jake and Ian are scorers who want to shoot and attack the basket. Moe Rayyan and Raj are the shooters and are better off catching than creating for themselves. Ahmad Abdelghani, formerly known as Splash, needs to turn into Dime and get these guys open. But what do I know, not like I own a crystal ball or something.