Muslim Basketball

May not be the popular opinion, but they have the best record and best win thus far. Thriller against Mombasa in a game that could’ve gone either way. Difference was essentially possession and the three ball. Cordoba controlled most of the game, more importantly, the second half. Add to that five more makes from downtown and that 6 point deficit was quickly erased. They’ve come a long way from that week 1 blowout loss - Luke in an MVP worthy player and Kenny looking like “30+ Division Kenny.” Add to that an overall huge lineup and they’re a tremendous team. They have two tough games coming up, either their stay at the top with be short-lived or it will be solidified.

Tough game to lose, but it’s not easy to go this long without a hiccup. They have some impressive wins on the year and the loss to Cordoba is a very minor blemish. Three very tough games coming up to close out the season. Look at this as a 1B ranking and Cordoba as the 1A just for the time being - a lot can change.

This is less of a move down for Kazan than a move up for Cordoba. Terrific win over a tough, physical, and scrape rivalry game against Beirut. Patrick’s been unreal all season long, now add a game winner to the resume of this rookie MVP candidate.

Jon, Herb, Scott. Pretty solid Big 3.

Nail-biter against Granada. Just got enough done to eek out a win. This was a tough week for some teams that should’ve won in much easier fashion than they did. It should not have taken a borderline no call on a backcourt violation followed by another clutch Omar Qasem shot to have knocked off a struggling Omar Singer-less Granada. Defensive efforts like this one could really keep this team from going as far as they should be able to.

The Shahsamand show was in full effect. Very difficult team to beat when the bros put up 41.

Another team that needed some late game heroics to beat what should have been an underwhelming opponent. Bottom line though, is that they made the shot they needed to in order to win - that matters.

Quietly 6-1 and tops in points allowed. Aymen deserves the MVP consideration - he plays both sides of the court with effort and hustle. Suba will be getting testing this week, taking on a Mombasa team looking to start another win streak.

You’d think the second ranked defense would have a higher point differential, but the Islamabad offense has not been what it has been in the past. Unbelievable note: Islamabad has the most assists per game, but are bottom in FG% and bottom 4 in 3P%. They find ways to get very good shots, but they’re not falling at the necessary rate to consistently outscore opponents. I don’t want to go as far as saying that they are too unselfish, but it’s starting to look like that. 36 points on 74 shots is not a normal occurrence.

When Dhaka rounds out the top 10, you know you have some SOLID competition in the league. They look like they’re back to their old ways. They disposed of Timbuktu pretty early, but let up a bit. Fahad splashed, Ameer doubled doubled, Farzad dished. There’s a reason why they’ve won three straight championships.

Hung in there, made a run, but just couldn’t find the 2-3 successful possessions to take the game. Everyone knows Abdul or Steve going to try to make the play. Neither of them look for someone else to make a play, making it pretty straightforward for defenses to stop. Both are tremendous offensive players, but the fact that neither of them pass off the initial attack weakens this group.

Gave Kazan everything they could handle, but bottom line, they couldn’t get the stop when they needed to. Terrific fight, but the difference between winning and losing sometimes is one shot. They didn’t play their best game, but neither did Kazan. Would love to see this rematch come playoff time.

They’ve had their ups and downs all season, but they haven’t been able to beat a real quality opponent. They gave Jakart

They deserved this one, but Omar Qasem had to cause more pain.

Ohhhhh that’s interesting. Caught Islamabad on a bad day, but they did their part and took advantage. Solid win.

Looked straight up flat.

Made Dhaka work a little harder than they should’ve in the second half, but couldn’t get enough going to make them sweat.

Someone had to win it.

They get in these close games, but have still not been able to make the play to get the win.

I am at a loss for words.