Muslim Basketball

Solid season that concluded with their most impressive game of the season. They executed late in game to beat a terrific Tehran team. They’ve been somewhat inconsistent on both sides of the ball, but they have the championship pedigree to make a timely run. They also have the most underrated player in Muslim Basketball.

“Jonathon Mingo is not a top player in this league” LOL. The box score of this game is actually frightening.

A bad win, but a win nevertheless. We’ll leave it at that.

No Jon, no prob. Nick lead the offensive charge, while the whole team played terrific defense, holding an explosive offense to just 41, and holding an explosive player in Malik Zubi to just 9. They should be able to cruise into their week 9 matchup with Alexandria.

The Jon Mingo hate-train is absolutely blasphemous. This dude rarely sits, has the ball in his hand 75% of the game, runs the offense, cleans up the glass, and because he takes an extra 2 or 3 bailout shots he gets blasted? Nah. He’s not the highest percentage shooter, but he takes and makes tough, contested, and momentum changing shots. If I’m in a tough, close, physical game, I would much rather play alongside him than guard him. If you think otherwise, go defend him. Let me know when you’re bruised and out of breath five minutes into the game. John H. has also been playing at a very high level, stretching the floor and knocking down 3s.

Couldn't find a way to steal this one late, but that shouldn't be the biggest of their concerns. They defending well, but got blasted on the boards. Beirut has never been a team to get dominated on the glass, so this may have been an anomaly, but nevertheless it is concerning. If it wasn't for terrific defensive play, this game would have been much uglier. They'll need to tighten up on the glass as they play Damascus next week, a top rebounding team who grabs many second chance opportunities.

Often fall far too in love with playing in shootouts, they don’t get enough stops to come out on top. Fez is definitely one of the teams you have to be disciplined and aggressive against defensively. Mingo asserted himself somewhat, but still ended up with only 12 points. They’ll need to find a way to defend Mujtaba this week if they look to bounce back after what should have been a win.

Jon Mingo, in my opinion, never gets the respect he deserves. Looking at the MB Fantasy Draft thread, I scratched my head when someone said he wasn’t deserving of being up there. Yes, maybe other players were left out, he deserves to be left in. He can ball and when he gets its going and wants to dominate, I would not want to be the opposing team. They amount of pressure he puts on the defense with his shot making ability, driving capability, and then offensive rebounding desire, he’s as good as they come. Maybe not as pretty numerically and stylistically as Popal or Anas Zubi, he deserves to have his name on that list. His teammates feed off of him and Beirut actually wins games AND championships. Drops mic.

They’re back! Jon Mingo did his thing, but Nick stole the show. Looking at the stats, Sarajevo seemed to have the edge, but Beirut found a way to weather an outburst from Rameez. They’ll need to tighten up defensively and on the glass, but they have the pieces necessary to compete.