Muslim Basketball

Are you not entertained?!?! Pete Brown with 20 and 14. Moe Masri with 15 points knocking down 5 treys. Raza with 12 and Austin with 12 of his own. They have size, shooting, speed and team chemistry. This is one of the most talented Weiss led teams in quite some time. I don’t see them relinquishing this top spot anytime soon. 

MVP candidate Jared See was not in attendance, but Baysan got the job done. Sal knocked down 4 3’s. Sohaib scored 10 points and Zain with an overall solid stat line of 9 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Another team that didn’t have the most efficient shooting night, collectively, but certainly clamped down when it mattered. That week 9 matchup is enticing.

Big Moose was out there doing Big Moose things last night. 20 points, 9 rebounds 3 assists and one block. AK added 18, Jay Wiggins with 11, with the remaining supporting cast locking up defensively. Not to sound like a broken record, but the beauty of this team is that they all know their roles and embrace it.

I am actually pretty disappointed that Ty Jackson’s 30-piece streak came to an end. Still 28 points, 9 boards and 4 assists aint too shabby. The Zubi’s knocked down 4 threes each and continue their stellar play. Mo Amin has been another huge addition has he stuffed the stat sheet with 9 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks. Nablus’ first real test comes next week against Qalqilya. 

After some friendly banter was exchanged on the MB Podcast between hosts, Lil O and Al-Quds came out victorious. Lil O led the way with a game high 19 points. Mustafa chipped in nicely with 17 of his, including 5 3PMs. Quiet game from Mr. XXL Tee, Amir C, but he did hit two timely three pointers that swung the momentum pendulum in their favor.

There was a point in this game where Al-Bireh was up by a healthy margin and were playing good basketball. Then suddenly, the ball movement stopped, shots weren’t falling, and Al-Quds capitalized. The backcourt was stemmed and as a result the team struggled. I know we have mentioned the collection of talent on this team, but it really starts with Towfeek and Shafic. I don’t want to see their forwards bring up the ball nor do I want to see 1 on 4 fast breaks. Shafic and Towfeek need to be the primary ball handlers and create for their teammates.

For starters, Shahzaib has the smoothest game in all of MB. Don’t @ me. Even when he misses it still looks pretty. 23 points 9 boards, 3 assists, would typically be POTW numbers. Until you look at Burooj Al-Mana’s stat line of 16 points, 21 rebounds and 4 assists. Khaled Sehwail and Hassan were each in double digits and overall, the team looked solid. If they can win 3 of their next 4, they could potentially head into the playoffs as a top 5 seed. 

Down double figures going into the half, this team came back strong in the second half but weren’t able to complete the comeback. Their shooting woes is what hurt them the most. John Harrison 1-11, Singer 5-16, Moe Dirt 4-13 and Mahrooz 5-14. Anytime your best 4 players don’t perform like we are accustomed to, winning basketball games are going to be difficult. And yet they lost by 5, just shows you how tough this Gaza team really is. I see better performances in their future.

If anyone has a size small Michael Jordan jersey for our beloved Hassan Chaabane, please DM me. The superstar guard needed more of his teammates not named Mahdy to pull this one. Kudos to the Areeha squad for making life difficult for the two stars, as they combined for 36 of the team’s 44 points. Bethlehem needs more out of Ahmad Abid and Omar Sehwail, emphasis on Omar because he is a matchup nightmare for forwards.

They played one of the league’s best team very tight, without arguably their best player. No Ali S for the Safad squad but they did make things difficult for Qalqilya. Fursan, Raied & Islam scored 41 of the team’s 53 points. Safad needs to get Jawad more involved and allow him to play his game if they hope to compete with the league’s elites. With Ali S back in the lineup soon, I am not concerned about this bunch.

Won’t win many games shooting 35% as a team, but their opponent’s shot even worse. The old timers took advantage of their size and experience and locked in on Bethlehem’s two stars and forced someone else to beat them. Jason Marshall led the team in scoring with 19 points and A-fay added 11 of his own. Favorably schedule remaining and it wouldn’t surprise me if they head into the playoffs on a 5-game win streak.

No Keion for Al-Wehdat but they still had Corey Chandler. Corey led the group with 21 points on 6-11 from the field. Yamin with a vintage performance, scoring 14 points on 4-7 from deep. Jehad & Jason each knocked down a pair of threes themselves. But here’s a fun fact, Al-Wehdat’s game outcomes this season: W, L, W, L, W …….

They ended their losing streak and did so by putting up 84 points as a team! If your name started with an “I” you were in double digits and same applied if your last name was “Popal”. No one questions this team to ability to score the basketball. We are all aware of their skillsets. It’s their lack of composure at times and falling in love with the 3ball that has played a role in their 3 losses.

Ughhhh Haifa Ya Haifa. Where do I begin? You guys are all too good of ball players to be yelling at each other mid game. Personally, I was a coach and I am certainly not, I would run the offense through Omar Qasem. Get him the ball around the free throw line area to mid post and work through him. Guards will then screen and cut, Deeb can be opposite post and shooters in the corner. But again, I am not a coach. 

There was a goat sighting, and I am not talking about Farhad. Mr. Edriss returned and got reacquainted with the 3-ball, knocking down 4. Farhad got busy and took advantage of Yaffa’s lack of size scoring 32 points and bringing down 11 rebounds. Nice outing from Hosam as well with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Scoring isn’t an issue for this team and quite frankly, team’s don’t have an issue scoring against them either. 

They definitely gave Nablus a run for their money, in the first half, but the second half a different story. The Afzal brothers did their best to keep it close but anytime you give up 16 3PMs, tough to overcome that. 

Man, I thought they were going to sneak this one out. Heck of a game from Nader, going 10-12 overall scoring 24 points is impressive. They just didn’t have anyone to matchup with Pete or Austin. 

No Ian in this one but it did seem that the shots were evenly distributed among the team. Back-to-back single digit losses. They are close.