Muslim Basketball

Sheikh Jarrah deservedly stays at #1 this week after an impressive performance in week 4. David Barber's debut was about exactly what we had been hoping for, he got to the free throw line, and grabbed 11 rebounds, his impact was felt. I have to give a shout-out to L who had a season-high 19 which definitely propelled them today. This team is good, great even, and for that reason they'll continue winning and staying at 1 if they keep playing like this. 

So the key with this team is Waqas staying home right? No, but actually, a convincing win over Lod in week 4 for Naz. Although Lod was missing 3 guys, you play with what you've got, Nazareth seemed to understand that, Lod on the other hand, yeeeah we'll get to that. Anwar A and Matt L combined for 30 in this one, it was just never close, and for that reason they'll slide up the power rankings.

Lod was missing 3 key guys in their loss today, but, it was just, ugly overall. It was very obvious they needed team captain Yaseen Z out there today, they would've also benefited from at least 1 of their 3pt specialists in Dawud or Ethan. Either way there's really not much to say here, the team played badly, 2 losses in a row hurts for Lod, looking for them to try to make a turnaround post-bye week. 

They have awoken. With no Ayan they went out and handled business. This is the youth team I was expecting in week 1, but we had to wait till week 4 to get it. I still think they're better than this. Maaz M had a great day today 17 pts, 10 rb. I'm just happy these guys finally got it on track for a win and honestly, I hope they can keep the momentum and start putting together some wins back to back now. 

So here's the current issue with Ramallah, they NEED Abdul-Rahman. Both games without him they've gotten smushed like a bug. AR has had some health issues this season and I just worry about his availability down the stretch. Drew had a Drew day today, with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but the role players on this team simply can't do enough to get wins without the engine of AR. I'm curious to see how this team figures this out down the line, cause I'm getting worried that this may be a massive issue. 

So first of all, credit to Saad Q who exploded for 26 in this weeks game. Missing Usman totally hurt them, so did a bunch of jersey penalties. I just haven't been convinced yet that this team is one to be reckoned with. They battled hard against a great team and kept it close, maybe if you drop those penalty points, they win this one, but that's not how it works, and unfortunately they lost in a really important game.