Muslim Basketball

Abysmal, Pathetic, Sorry? This team has too much talent to be in the spot that they are currently in and yet I find myself reiterating the same thing on a weekly basis. I don’t trust that they will win their Week 7 game, nor do I believe that they will match up well in the 1^st round of the playoffs. Had 17 rebounds as a team, while Mana had 15……. The effort is absent, lack cohesion as a team and far too many isolations on offense. Blow it up.

I do not believe this team is an 0-5 team. Though since they are the only remaining winless team, they see to the bottom of the rankings. Since the acquisition of Big O, Kashgar has been playing competitively against even the best teams. I'd even say the only reason they lost by 13 this week was that they only had 5 guys, and were missing one of their best scorers in Malik Zubi, and a great rebounder in Muhannad Darwish. Nonetheless, they did shoot a poor percentage, so that proves there's still some chemistry to be gained amongst themselves. They have great players in Amir, Malik, Raza, Raied, and Big O, but they need to work together to find the best shots available. Too often are we seeing some of these guys trying to take an iso; work together and I think this team has the potential to be top contenders. I think this team is looking at a win in the near future.

Big O has been a revelation for this team as they have been close in the past two games he’s played in. Unfortunately, it resulted in their fourth straight loss. Islamabad had 11 more rebounds as a group, which resulted in more 2^nd chance points. Their 5^th player was a guest as they desperately missed Raied and Muhannad downlow. Malik and Raza are gradually beginning to gel with another, but Amir has yet to regain his Week 1 form. The trio of Malik, Raza and Amir need to be clicking on all cylinders if this team wants to get over the hump and get a win. 

For the first time this season, they outrebound their opponents but on this night their Achilles heel was their shooting from 3. Amir, Malik and Raza combined to go 4-25, as they couldn’t find the bottom of the net. Despite the poor shooting percentages, you can’t fault their aggressiveness and shot selection. Big O was a much-needed addition as he had 13 points and 13 rebounds. This was their best chance at a W as they have the undefeated Islamabad squad up next.

       Another star is out. Losing Anas Zubi for the remainder of the season will hurt them, but 16 turnovers and 6 assists as a team? A week after lighting the league on fire, Amir Hassan came back down to earth. Malik struggled to get anything going without his running mate in action and their bigs got outplayed. Raza went stretches without even sniffing the basketball and that should never be the case. Depending on who they decide to bring on board to replace Anas, they will have to rely on Raza, Malik

Lost by 17 but the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. They were out of it midway through the first half. Only had 5 turnovers as a group but their shot selection and lack of aggression cost them. Throw in the fact that they were out-rebounded by their opponent 47-28 and that sums up their night. The lone bright spot for this bunch was Amir Hassan ballin’ out with 24 points and 8 rebounds on 55% from the field. Expect a monster game from Anas next time around as 0-8 is very uncharacteristic of him.

This team is lacking height, but GM Malik is hoping for the scoring prowess of his back court and forwards to make up for that. Pairing Raza and Anas was bold, especially since neither of the two looked like themselves the last time they played. But if they do return to form, boy oh boy will they be tough to stop. Adding Amir and Raied will pay dividends as the latter is easily this team’s best defender and will be tasked with guarding the oppositions star.