Muslim Basketball

Overcame poor shooting by being balanced. Jon, Herb, and Scott are all guys that can score when points are needed and that is an extremely valuable asset. Add to that a very underrated center in Muhammad Darwish, a spot up shooter like Ahmed Saleh, and you have terrific core with contributing pieces around them. Really impressive win against a bigger Cordoba team. Lahore seems like one of those teams (just like the other top two teams) that could potentially benefit greatly from all playoff games being played on court A. Jon will be able to navigate and direct a much more free flowing and spaced offense, which is something that plays into Lahore’s advantage. 

Probably was in Damascus’ best interest to not show up

Jon, Herb, Scott. Pretty solid Big 3.

Gave Grenada a good 'ol behind whooping. Not the most impressive offensive showing, but the defense throttled Grenada all game long. 

Cannot score 60 and still lose. They’ve been able to keep games close enough for Jon to win on the offensive end, but no way are they giving up 82 and winning games.

Can’t kill them for giving a top 3 team all they could handle, doing so without their best player. My concerns though, would be their inability to move the ball late in the game and their inability to get stops late in the game - both concerns could be eliminated by having Jon on the court. Bottom line, not concerned about this group - they have 3 solid scorers and a pesky supporting cast.

No John and no Herb, but they brought Muhannad. Baghdad didn’t bring someone that could box him out or keep him from scoring. 16 and 12 for the big fella, a couple 3s from Tarik Salem, and some terrific team defense kept themselves from losing a game they should’ve lost. This kind of cast with John and Herb as the engine is a dangerous team.

Obviously Jon’s scoring ability jumps out when looking at Lahore, but they might be one of the better defensive teams in the league. They have guys that play both ends of the court and that was very clear against Mecca, a team whose offense should be potent. Jon and Herb will get theirs, but when you have a guy like Ahmad Saleh taking some attention away, that makes it even easier for your offense to run. They look like they have a solid recipe and will win a surprising amount of games.

Jon and Herb carried the load, accounting for 80% of the team’s points. That was to be expected, now can it be sustained? They’re both two of the better players in the league, I’m sure they’ll take what defenses throw at them. What I would like to know though, is who becomes the third option. They’ll need a lot of offense against this potent Mecca squad.