Muslim Basketball

Another respectable performance from Josh and team. Playing with 5, they came up just short on upsetting Timbuktu in the regular season finale. Although they are going into the playoffs as a 22 seed, I can definitely see them stealing a win first round. Josh needs to continue to be the main guy with the ball in his hands, and let him create for the rest of the team.

Josh got to the line like he was Harden. He scored 29, which is his season high, and a little short from his career high of 32. Other than Josh, the rest of the team shot 3-22 from 3 (13.6%). They shot more 3s than 2s. That isn’t always a recipe for success. They have a tough game against Timbuktu next week, who is looking to lock up a bye week.

When winning is scarce, it makes it feel even better when it happens. Kashgar needed this win to boost their confidence. Josh is a very good basketball player. They shouldn’t be losing as many games as they do. They have another winnable game next week against Fez.

This team has to do a better job rebounding. They are averaging 25.1 rebounds a game which is good for last place in the entire league. Crash the glass! Box out! Nowlin is 6’4”. He leads the team with 6.3 rebounds a game, but I repeat, he is 6’4”! There is no way he should be getting only 6 rebounds a game. Be aggressive on the glass big fella! As always, Kashgar spread out their shot attempts, and nobody really had a bad game. They just need more players with great games. Average games won’t cut it this year.

It is upsetting to see them come so close to beating all these top teams, but always falling short. Losing to Kabul by only 6 shouldn’t be taken as a loss. With performances like these, watch out for them to upset somebody in the playoffs.

Losing by 8 to the only undefeated team in the league is actually kind of impressive. Other than Adam’s poor shooting performance, the team played very well. With their remaining schedule, they can definitely grab 2 or 3 more Ws before playoffs.

Losing a game like this has to sting. I don’t know how this team always finds the shots to go around, but it looks like they always get everyone involved. Unfortunately, that strategy doesn’t always convert to wins. They just couldn’t find the answer to stopping Anas.

Nobody with double digit shot attempts. The unselfish play is great, but sometimes you need your go-to scorers to be selfish to win.

They are never at a shortage of guys. The 9 man rotation ended up giving Josh only 5 field goal attempts. That is not going to cut it if they want to win games.

Josh balled out. The team caught fire, shooting 46.4% from behind the arc. Great start to their season, and hopefully they continue on that path. Too bad they got a tough Dhaka team coming up.

2nd season in, Kashgar looks to build from a very disappointing first season. This team now has a full season under their belt, and hopefully gained some chemistry.