Spring 2008: B1 League Champs: The Firm

I thought we had a repeat of the first game on our hands tonight after PGB defeated Big Nice for the A2 championship after being the only team to do so during the regular season.  Well here we had the Crushers who were the only team to hand the Firm a regular season loss up by a solid lead throughout the majority of the game.  But I think you can quote me, something to the effect of not being surprised if The Firm struggled and fell behind in the first only to come back and win.  They are incredibly tough competitors and fuel off being down.  It's not that they were playing a poor game, just having trouble scoring....but both teams were.  It was an all out defensive battle and a fun one to watch.  I pressed very few buttons on the scoreboard in the first half as the Crushers were up just 27-20 heading in to the break.  It was definitely a season low score for both teams but there were some very good matchups.  We had the Bobby C-- Bruno in the backcourt and these two were going at it from the get go.  When and if one scored, it meant they worked their ass off to do so.  Bruno took a season low 7 3 pointers in the game and hit only 2 as Bobby C was keeping him well contained on the perimeter.  In turn, Bruno held Bobby to just 5 in the first so instead of scoring the two were hitting the boards hard.  Maddrey seems to have left his usual on point jumper somewhere but he had his hands full guarding the Cadman which holding him to 6 in a half is something rarely done in these walls.

 

The Crushers continued to hold strong to the lead through the 3rd quarter but Todd picked the best time possible to get his long range shot going.  After just one in the first, he hit 4 in the second as the Crushers were focused on containing Bruno.  This also enabled Andrew to get to the hoop and all the sudden the Firm took their first lead of the game at the 9 minute mark.  I didn't even see it coming, perhaps I was distracted by the Crushers 1:1 fan to player ratio, but all the sudden they were in complete control.  It was a physical game on both sides of the court and Bruno got himself to the line instead of relying on his outside shooting.  Slowly but surely the Firm pulled ahead and as the Crushers were forced to foul down the stretch the Firm closed it out.  Experience was the key in this one, hope to see the Crusher back again!