Muslim Basketball

A season that started with championship aspirations has now turned into a mindset of survival. Jaber came on late in the year, Marwan provided a much needed spark to fill some of the void left after Anas’ injury. Malik had his best scoring and shooting season in his still young career. They won the games they should’ve won and lost the games they may have won if they had Anas.

Jaber, we see you.

If Jaber’s gonna do that in Anas’ absence, they’ll challenge some teams. Big time start from Marwan who got hurt after dropping 16 in as many minutes of play. If Jaber plays the two man game with Ammar and Obada, they’ll force teams to have to play some tough defense. I’m not fully convinced yet though, this performance was an anomaly for Jaber this season, but he’s shown in the past that he’s a very respectable point guard. He just needs to utilize the weapons at his disposal.

They’ll be tested every week and they can no longer just rely on Malik’s prayer 3s. Jaber and his bigs, Ammar and Obada, need to start running some more fundamental sets to free themselves up. This has to be a full team effort if they want to end the season with more than 3 wins. I believe Jaber will be able to create chemistry with both Ammar and Obada to give Mecca a chance in all these games. Also, they need to get the perimeter defense tightened up - you cannot give up 7 threes to a single player, one who has a reputation of hitting threes. Throwback to Nick Marquez’s game winner against Mecca a few seasons back.

Anas is out for the foreseeable future, but I foresee Malik and Jaber leading this team. But damn, they have some tough games coming up. With Anas, they could possibly win out, without him, they need to find a way to grab at least 2. More than that would be a blessing, less than that would be understandable. They are a good team without Anas, 5-5.

Not a very inspiring win, but they are starting to look better in Anas' absence. Even with 9 assists, Jaber looked very ball dominant. Malik was feeling it from 3, but he needs to find more ways to get the ball besides putting the pressure on Jaber to drive and kick. Would like to see more of Ammar, especially while Anas is out. Good game from Yousef who's shown in the past that he's a respectable center. That 3-21 mark from Jaber and the lack of scoring in the second half as a whole team leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'll move them up solely because the got the win in a game they could have let slip away.

With Anas Zubi, they are a top team. Without him, only Malik has shown the ability to score and contribute consistently. The trio of Ammar, Malik, and Jaber must take this team over in Anas’ absence. He tried giving it a go, but my sources have whispered that some more time may be missed. We’ll see. On the bright side, they held Abdul to his season low of ‘only’ 25.

I’m really not sure what to say. With Anas every part of this team clicks – Malik’s 3s fall, they run in transition, they secure the ball, and they get boards, but without him, they have looked just flat out terrible. Jaber is supposed to be a guy who has run and has lead a D1 team to a championship, and now has had 2 opportunities to be the leader of Mecca and has not been able to do so. This team is back to square 1 – live and die by Anas Zubi. And to be honest, that may not be as bad as it sounds. When he returns, so will Mecca, but for now…?

If it wasn’t for an unfortunate end to Anas Zubi’s day, Mecca would probably be sitting at the top of this list. With Anas, Mecca again will compete for the championship. If he is out for some extended time, Mecca will still be competitive. Jaber can play the role of distributor and attacker, while Malik does his thing beyond the arc. If they up the defensive intensity and rely less on constantly trying to hit homeruns in transition, Mecca should be fine without Anas for the short term.