Spring 2009: A1 League Champs: Write It Off

Commentary by Tibbs...

Harvey's WallBangers 67  The Stimulus CACage 60

WallBangers clinch 4th seed!

C.A.C. Basketballers: The regular season is over, it's time to hold your spot for the Fall 09 Season starting in September!! The A1 League is already nearly full, so don't wait any long!  Got a team you want to put in a different league? You can find all the information you need here and it will all be on the website in the next week or so. To save a spot for your team, simply email CACBasketball@gmail.com and let me know if you have any questions!

See that proves it's from last night 7/20.  Anywhoe, this game turned out much the same way that Sunday night's did (7/19) and these two teams could possible meet for a third time next week in the first round of the playoffs on 7/27.  I mean, I know Harvey is the best man in Majic's wedding and all, but I'm pretty sure if that happens he'll be pretty sick of seeing him.  Especially if Cakes&Sprinkles rips down another 19 boards like he did last night.  Man, I don't move that quickly for free coffee rolls.  Where did all that hustle and energy, not to mention free throw shooting, come from?! 

For those that weren't around, the CACage, as Majic is want to do, made things interesting down the stretch.  So just like everyone else does, they were fouling in the final 2 minutes to stop the clock.  Now you look at a team with Cheese, Wrobz, the Hitman, and Harvey, and you think to yourself, hmmm, who do I want to put pressure on to hit free throws.  Since I can't be called in from the balcony to yakk them, you go after C&S.  Oh but he made CACage pay last night, going 4 for 4 down the stretch t help seal the win!

Man I really should talk about someone else!! To get to taht point, the Hitman was on point, tossing in 32 points seemingly without trying.  Seriously he didn't break a sweat in the first half but had 23. Wrobz stepped up big in the second and finished with 25 of his own as the Bangers start 3-0,fall to 3-4 but then recover to finish 6-4 - nice work!

Majic couldn't quite find the range and desperately missed Vladi giving him solid entry passes.  Lappy knocked down some threes and Yavor got to the hole, but they were missing another 3 point bomber to really spread the floor like they have when they're really good.  So yea, blame AK for filling in, HA!

Playoff seedings and opponents will be known sunday night, I'll be sending an email!

Write It Off 105  Poker Face 69

Blindsided, Write It Off Rolls

Wow, talk about a great opening game to take in for the Spring 09 A1 season.  If by great your definition is a stat padding affair where I barely have to pay attention and one team breaks 60 before halftime.  That works for me.  The Macho Man (16 points, 6 assists) just has a knack for putting together juggernauts I guess.  And he's going to enjoy actually contributing to this one. 

Like I said, over before halftime.  T'N'Tosti came out and dropped 17 of his 19 in the opening frame, while PStone had already chalked up a 20/10 game by the same point.  In the second half, it was less from Tosti, a whole lot more from this season's RoY front-runner, Jonah Mytro (34 points, 5 steals). Dude is a fantasy league stud, and I should know, he's on my bench week 1, and that's gonna change.  Mytro relentlessly attacked the cup and was at his best when on the fast break.  And Macho got him in the third round?!? What did he know that the rest of us didn't? Could the Macho Man, with two completely different teams, try to run the undefeated gauntlet again?? You know, and then lose in the playoffs! It's way too early for that kind of talk, but for week 1, this was the best team out there.

It was a rude welcoming for Poker Face, who were missing MixTape and their ball movement.  They have plenty of guys that can score, as Biehler (20), Sweeens (19) and MacGregor (17) proved.  But the D has got to be better, and the sloopiness was just ugly last night.  That's a result of none of these guys having never played together before.  Not even a couple of them.  All I can say is that it can only get better, it has to, right?!?

Swinerrific 75  Nothing But Wet 70

Swineriffic Digs Deep, Battles Back, Beats Nothing But Wet

I didn't think they had it in them, I really didn't.  Nothing But Wet jumped out to a 15-0 lead in 3 minutes and I thought the game was over.  Swineriffic was out of sync, 0-4 from downtown, and completely lost on defense.  Not exactly how you want to be playing in week 1.  But all it took to slowly turn things around was a time out for Salazar to rally the troops.  He didn't have to scream or yell or point fingers, just motivate the troops.  Nelson came out a changed man, attacking the hoop and finishing strong.  If there was one thing I could say about him after last season, it's that he needs to attack more.  Sure he could settle for threes, but he's so much better when he goes to the rim.  Then you have to double him, but that will usually leave either Salazar or RoY open on the 3 point line.  Not something defenses want to choose between. Could this team be better than I thought?!?  Man I hate giving TSpin any credit.  Good thing he didn't contribute in this game.

So they fought back from that early 15-0 hole to trim it to just 2 at the halftime break.  The main reason? Finn ended up not seeing the ball for a solid 7 minute stretch in the first half.  Dude was on fire for 10 minutes (16 points in the first, 24 in game), and then the ball just doesn't find his hands? How is this possible?? Thankfully, KO was keeping it on lock and putting up monster numbers (29/10/3 blocks).  The second half was more of the same, KO down low, Finn getting the occasional shot, but not enough to take over.  Phil Lord his a couple big 3s, but Hinks, Hinton and Cuba are going to need to step up the offensive production!! 

Not to say it was a cake walk for Swineriffic, but they held fast to their game plan. Nelson kept penetrating, RoY found his stroke, and so did Salazar, both after slow starts.  So that's why Spinney put this team together. When in doubt, bomb away again!  Reeves was dishing the rock to the shooters, guys started busting their ass on D, and that was the biggest question mark I had for them.  Would they commit to D as much as they would to bombing away? Tonight the answer was yes, and they locked in for a key early season win to get off on the right foot!

Beer Muscles 62  Conquer By Breeding 70

Statement Game: Conquer By Breeding Here to Populate A1

Look at that, sometimes I do know what I'm talking about.  Not very often, so don't get used to it.  The Playboy/Big Ticket combo is one to look out for, and now that they got a point guard to dish the rock, take absolutely terrible drives to the hoop (to draw defenders and give extra Oboard opportunities) it looks like this squad could actually live up to that #1 ranking. And here I was, just tring to jinx Frail while getting BFrat off my nuts for 5 minutes.  But no, they actually played well together, made a double digit halftime lead stand up, and sent Terry home crying last night.  At least that's what I think happened, someone wrote "Terry Sucked" on my score sheet, I can only assume that was Macho, who had such a great shooting night in game one, he stuck around for the rest of the A1 games to gloat about it. 

Yea, about that Beer Muscles squad, the Jumpman (23 points, 6 assists) ended up coming alive after a 6 point first half (looks like I wasn't the only one who played like a little b!tch last night), but it was too little too late.  Just not a whole lot of ball movement in week 1, and that's to be expected, as guys were feeling each other out and figuring out what rolls they're going to play.  It didn't help that Jono went down early in the first half with a badly twisted ankle injury.  Let's hope he's ok and can come back soon to help this team out.  The starting 4, going forward, is solid, with Damian Ruff (17 points, 5-8 3s) finding his stroke early.  Pistol Pete had an off shooting night, but that's probably because Frail smelled terrible. I wouldn't want that dude chasing me around for 40 minutes either.  Greenberg is who I thought he was, a monster on the defensive end, tearer down of rebounds and misser of layups.  He's like me, but not a big baby.  Beer Muscles only needs a couple weeks to get it together (and a healthy jono) but they better not wait too long, this season's schedule is brutal and loaded with good teams.

Weapon X 72  Air Jortan 63

O'Cal shopping his First Round pick? Air Jortan Manhandled

Let's get this one out of the way, shall we, that way I can get on with the rest of my write-ups.  In a result that was shocking to almost no one (except maybe O'Cal and I) Chris Kerr laid the wood down hard last night and led Weapon X to a fairly easy victory over Air Jortan.  Good thing that AK didn't take the Jort Bet (http://www.crfcbasketball.com/tcorner.php?newsid=355) or else we'd be chaffing next week.

It wasn't just that Kerr (27 points, 14 boards) got anything he wanted in the post, that's expected, it's that the mid range AND the 3 ball were falling.  What's a guy to do against that? I had no answer, and got a text from my agent at 10:45 PM saying I was being shopped around.  I don't blame my gm, really I don't. Facing a gauntlet of bigs that include PStone, the Playboy, Majic, Jumpman, etc, I need to step it the F up.  It's not a good thing when our PG is out leading rebounder.  Thankfully, Kaif brought his jumper this season as well as the D, we're going to need him and Mario to bomb away relentlessly.  You can tell Derek and Andrew are shaking the rust off, they won't combine for only two points again this season, watch out for them!

But really, you've got to watch out for Weapon X.  They held off a late charge by the Stallion (14/10/7) himself the only way they know how.  Get the Ball to the Ragin' Bull's hands and let him go to work! It resulted in a lot of good possessions, drawn fouls, and got other guys involved.  Fincke, Adams, AK, and Cutright all played their roles perfectly.  Everyone was subbing in and out, moving the ball, and playing to their strengths. This team is sneaky good, without any weaknesses, and is really going to enjoy playing together.  Ok, they're as sneaky as any team ranked #2 in the preseason could possibly be, but I have a feeling that many of you didn't believe me.  You better start!