Muslim Basketball

After suffering their first loss of the season last week, Yaffa was straight business last night. Everyone not named Farhad was essentially contained and they limited their second chance rebounding and fast break opportunities. Led by one superstar and a cast of solid contributors who all know their roles, sounds familiar, don't it?

They were cm’s away from an 8^th straight win. S/o to Yahya for the big-time game. 

Death, Taxes and the Yanes family finding a way to win another basketball game. This one was on the shoulders of none other than Big Moose, who led the way with 25 and 15 on 45% from the field. Despite being the only player who scored double figures the rest of the crew did their jobs and contained everyone on Qalqilya not named Shahzaib.

No Musa and they still got the win against an inconsistent Al-Bireh squad. Although they brought in Jay Wiggins as a filler, I can’t fault them for bringing in a familiar face. The aforementioned Wiggins had 21, with Elias adding 20 and Karim with a career high 15. On a night where the other Yanes brothers struggled, nice to see other pieces chip in.

Saved by the bell, well in this case the buzzer. Yahya Yanes showing everyone he is longer Musa’s youngest brother but a baller as well. A one-handed game winning three over two defenders is a heroic effort. Especially after big bro was a spectator late in the game. They survived arguably the greatest individual performance by a MB player ever, so they deserve this top spot, again.

Down as much as 12 in the 1^st half, but that didn’t faze them. Big Moose told his fam to follow his lead and that’s exactly what they did. Musa led Yaffa with 20 points. Elias with 13 and the backcourt of Habi and Yahya continue to make it difficult for opposing guards. They remain at one for now, but Qalqilya is coming. 

The Yanes family doesn’t like to lose and hasn’t done so since they joined forces a few seasons back. On a night where Big Moose struggled from the field, it was the supporting cast that carried the load. Elias Shahsamand with 19 and 11 against Zain and Mahrooz is quite impressive. And let’s not forget this man was taken in the 4^th round…….

Two weeks, two blowout wins. This team has shown no signs of weakness after 80 minutes and that is with the young buck Yahya having an off night on Wednesday. Fortunately for him, big bro's Habi and Big Moose showed the rugrat how it's done. If they can get that sort of production from Habi on a consistent basis, they should have no issue putting teams away. Oh, and they were missing their second-round pick in Saif, but safe to say this team is rollin right now. 

Only reason they aren’t at 1 is because Nablus was without their #2 and #3 picks. But boy oh boy, this team looks well equipped for another championship run. Musa picking up right where he left off, with a 30 piece and left some food on the plate for the rest of the family to eat from. Yahya with a career high of 15 and Elias had an overall stellar game as well. Nice showing from rookie Saif Abdalla, as this team currently has an embarrassment of riches.

4 Yanes brothers and 4 outsiders, sound familiar? Sounds like the fam is trying to strike lightning in the bottle twice and who can blame them? Musa is arguably the best 4 man in the league, Habi and Yahya are great defenders and apparently Said Abdalla is the second coming of Hakeem the Dream. This team will always be a contender with Big Moose leading the way.