Muslim Basketball

"Baba Waqas" continues to carry this team to victory each week. 23 points in a completely dominant performace against Deir Yassin. Their defense has stepped up and with Anwar potentially returning for the last game of the season, it will be interesting to see how they fair against Sheikh Jarrah. Can they win and potentially take over first place? Will they lose and potentially drop to number 3? They have something to play for as a bye would give Anwar an extra week to heal.

Most teams in this league would be unable to compete if they lost their best player. Not this team. Despite having their Captain Anwar go down with an ankle injury, Nazareth has won 3 of their last 4 games. A 54-36 win against Lod started this streak (the league was expecting Lod to a childabuse report), and their only loss was 45-48 against Deir Yassin where they played the last 10 mins 4 vs 5. Waqas has turned himself into a front runner for MVP and top two mid-range shooters on his team. The supporting cast of Matt, Amr, and Sumair have stepped up big time. Their most recent win came against Tiberias, one of the hottest teams in he league. If Anwar comes back full strength, they might have what it takes to take down Sheikh Jarrah.

So the key with this team is Waqas staying home right? No, but actually, a convincing win over Lod in week 4 for Naz. Although Lod was missing 3 guys, you play with what you've got, Nazareth seemed to understand that, Lod on the other hand, yeeeah we'll get to that. Anwar A and Matt L combined for 30 in this one, it was just never close, and for that reason they'll slide up the power rankings.

Watching Nazareth is like watching Lightning McQueen in Cars 3. They're there the whole game, and then all a sudden, they're down 15 with 3 minutes to go. Admittedly they only had 6 this week but the pace in the second half is still unacceptable. They got a good performance out of team captain Anwar A. who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Rotations or stamina I really don't know but, something has to change because it's night and day between the first 10 minutes and the last 10.

Waqas carried, what else can I really say here? 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 assists on 76% from the field!!! He'll of course get the POTW nod after that performance. Nazareth was locked in today, missing key pieces in Ahmed N and Amr G, they found a way to take over the game fairly early and kept the wheels turning throughout. Still waiting for a big explosion from team captain Anwar, who went for another 13 in this week's victory. I have a feeling these guys are on the cusp of a winning streak. Key contributions from the Ahmad brothers as per usual, but Matt, Yusuf, Sumair, and Junaid really made a difference combining for 31 points. 

Nazareth took a tough loss in week 1. I think they may not have expected such a surge from Ramallah honestly. But this is the power rankings, not the standings, and we still believe that Nazareth will be a force in the league. Anwar Ahmads 3-4 from 3 and Waqas Ahmads 8-15 from the field were efficient, but the volume wasn't high enough to come away with a win. Here's something to consider, we here at the power rankings crew think Ramallah is likely the best defensive team in the league, and still, with a sick Waqas, Nazareth shot 33% from the field, which isn't great, but, it's not bad. Key contributions from the Ahmad brothers as always, but we're gonna need to see more from the other guys on this team.

Hard not to rank them at #1 this early. The Ahmad brother combo has proven deadly through the last couple of seasons where they've abused teams with their size and scoring ability. Paired with some great picks like Matt L who can really rack up the rebounds and put-backs. This team seems to have it all. I really like the role players on this team, I don't see anyone on the roster who is a liability on the court which is really important with only 8 player rosters.