Muslim Basketball

Business as usual for Bethlehem. The team ranking of 11th in points allowed is misleading as no one has shot efficiently against this team, even with garbage time stats. Jay Wiggins led the defense, forcing a poor shooting night from Baysan’s top scorer.  Omar Hussein was unleashed in transition, with 31 points on 26 shots

Third week in a row talking about Amir Charrkas’ efficiency with 28 points on 15 shots. He’s averaging 27 on unreal 57/57/91 splits this season. Shahzaib took on the tough defensive assignments, leading to a close but comfortable win over a strong Rafah team. This was all without Deep, arguably their most important player.

Singer hit huge shots for Areeha, including 3s to break the zone and almost bringing them back at the end. Long term, though, it’s hard to see him taking more than double the next highest number of shots as the winning formula. Defense was a bigger issue, losing Andrew in transition and helping off Sal. Overall, they played well against a good team and fell short.

There were flashes of brilliance on both ends for Rafah, especially the run that erased a huge early deficit by half. With this team build, you need more consistency from the offense. Nabil is at his best playing at full speed but shooting 6-17 and Anas Najib missing some open threes hurt. No Zain but lots of teams missed players. Next man up.

Potentially controversial to keep Tiberias below the team they just beat but future outlook is a factor. Starting with the positive, Andrew is a POTW candidate with 37 points and 8 threes, and the guard screens were very difficult to stop with Sal adding 21. It’s hard to fault them, but they’ve been able to play to their strengths. They can launch up PR with a W vs Bethlehem. 

Good win for Al-Bireh, winning a physical game without multiple starters against two of the best players in the league. Towfeek worked his matchup well in isolation and Khalid fought his way to the line. Jenin worked hard to get their baskets, so the defensive plan was effective as well. Strong game across the board.

Another impressive victory for Al-Khalil whose winning formula has been  surprisingly effective. The team is full of strong defenders and they got 7-8 points from 4 players, all much needed in a close game. Mahdy, with 35 on 13-25, is playing like an MVP and when he gets a running start, it seems like no one can stop him or box him out.

Winning by the margin they did is a good sign for Safad, especially in a game without Omar in which the depth played major minutes. In a week filled with great stat lines, shoutout Aadil’s arrival this season with 27-12-5 and 5 stocks on 50%. Lots of room for improvement still, especially on open threes.

Every team is worse without their star, but Tulkarem feels too dependent on Mana. Given the roster’s talent, even just those available this week, it was a winnable matchup if they played well together. The defensive plan was disappointing, with how many layups Mahdy scored deep into the game during important minutes.

Complete dominance from the tip off to the final whistle for Jerusalem, which is great to see with all the talent on the roster. Nick Fajvan has been sighted, with 23 points on 10-19, and what has become a numbing 31 from Michael Knight. Hard to take away a lot from this game with the absences but they have enough upcoming matchups to start stacking wins.

Relying too much on one player is never sustainable over a season and the cracks started to show this week for Nazareth without Luis. They showed signs of playing smart basketball in previous weeks but this week they let the game get out of hand in transition. The inconsistencies will continue to be frustrating but they need to fight through and clean up the mistakes.

Wajdi returned this week but the struggles continued for Jenin. The offense, while it was hurt by a poor shooting night from 3 for Akrum, was manageable and looked better with Wajdi in the fold. The defense, on the other hand, gave up over 50% shooting for the third straight week. They need to make some sort of change defensively. Very soon.

Tough loss for Gaza who fought till the end despite missing a few starters. Not a lot of long term takeaways from this game given the opponent and available personnel. It was a big missed opportunity, though, as the schedule definitely gets a lot harder from here on out.

The team won’t feel any moral victories but Baysan had stretches where they looked very good. Ahmad Saleh looked good, adding yet another threat to watch out for on this deep and balanced team. Their strong shooting is a double edged sword, as a lot of possessions resulted in very quick 3 point misses and easy transition opportunities for the other team.

The story continues to be the same for Yazur, as they just don’t have the shotmaking to keep themselves in a lot of these games. If Alaa, Ali and Atef are going to combine for 3 baskets, it’s going to be a long night. Hicham continues to score with 16, which will be big if he can keep it up while others return more to their baseline.

It has to feel great for Yaffa to win, given the start of the season. Shoutout Jojo with a MB career high 36 points on 22 shots. They were also able to lean more on Malik who had a season high 17 points. Strong team defense to limit Ian enough to squeeze out the W. They’ll need to continue to fight on that end to compete the rest of the way.