Muslim Basketball

Coming off an absolute 67-22 thrashing of Ramallah, this team has solidified itself as the one to beat. They sit at the top with no current equal in sight. There were some concerns of David Barber's role on a team that already featured the likes of Andy and Abdul W. They have won 3 out of 4 since his return, with the only loss being to Ramallah when the team was missing Andy, Abdul W and Saad Afzal. They seem to be a lock for the finals, but let's see how they fair against some of the bigger teams like Nazareth.

Most teams in this league would be unable to compete if they lost their best player. Not this team. Despite having their Captain Anwar go down with an ankle injury, Nazareth has won 3 of their last 4 games. A 54-36 win against Lod started this streak (the league was expecting Lod to a childabuse report), and their only loss was 45-48 against Deir Yassin where they played the last 10 mins 4 vs 5. Waqas has turned himself into a front runner for MVP and top two mid-range shooters on his team. The supporting cast of Matt, Amr, and Sumair have stepped up big time. Their most recent win came against Tiberias, one of the hottest teams in he league. If Anwar comes back full strength, they might have what it takes to take down Sheikh Jarrah.

After sleeping through the first third of the season (0-3), they have played lights out with an impressing 3 game win streak. The 3 wins came against Ramallah, Lod and Deir Yassin. Yes - those arent the top teams in the league and each of them were missing starting players, but if you watched the games they had complete control on both sides of the ball. They seem to have found their chemistry and started to click on all cylinders. Just when everything seemed to be clicking, they lost to an Anwar-less Nazareth in week 7. They are currently 3-4 and face Sheikh Jarrah next week. We might see them drop to 4th in the power rankings if they can't get the full team to show up to games.

"Who's going to beat us". "The rest of the league is full of bums". The loss to Ramallah in week 3 was worse than they could have imagined. Players started going on vacations, and by the time they opened their eyes, they were on a 4 game losing streak. Known for having the best shooters in the league, this team has really struggled to put up points. We everyone finally back, we expected them to get off to a fast start vs Deir Yassin, a team that most of the league does not fully respect yet. That was not the case as they fell behind early, and trailed 30-20 at half time. Captain Yaseen was rumored to have given a heck of a speech at halftime, and the team responded by almost doubling that deficit. Their true alpha James had enough and went off during one of their time outs as they trailed by 19 points in the second half. It really sparked them as they were somehow able to e

Hear me out here. Yes - their wins have come against shorthanded teams and a forfeit, but if you watch these guys play recently they have what it takes to be competitive. Case in point - they were up 19 points vs a full LOD roster. This could have been their signature game of the season, but resulted in a loss due to mismanagement of offensive possessions in the second half. Their biggest issue is figuring out what they want to do as a team. After the draft, Ahmad Kanan said their biggest weakness will be their ego. It seems to be pretty accurate so far. They have multiple guys that can score, but require a ton of shots to get there. They also have a guy in Usman that can straight beast in the paint. He has averaged a double double in past seasons, but is really struggling to get good looks. This team loves to shoot but cant see how successful Sheik Jarrah is because of thei

The best of the worst in the league. That would be too kind in describing them right now. Injuries have definitely hurt them, but this team looks lost on the court. Ismail went out, Devo is in. Then AR goes out and they cannot rebound, defend, or score. If you can't do any of those things, then you should only show up to MALV on Monday nights for pickleball. This started out as a very promising season but has turned into a nightmare the last few weeks. They could easily be 1-6 if it wasn't for a couple of last minute wins vs Lod in week 3 and Sheikh Jarrah (when they were shorthanded). However, despite all of their issues, with Drew leading that team, and the possiblity of AR returning for the playoffs, they can get their groove back. Message for Farhad - stop making memes and figure out how to get the best from your bench. You'll need to rely heavily on them until AR can