Winter 2019: Saturday Draft League Champs: Friends and Family Connection

FFC gets Rakusin his first title
Friends and Family Connection 81 And-1 Hicks Tape Tour 72

After rolling through the regular season and dispatching of Zak without Cawley, FFC seemed to be sitting pretty heading into the semi-finals and finals doubleheader. They had a major scare in the semis as they got down double digits early and had a length Mazz absence as he tried to find a bandage to put over his cut forehead (RIP Dave’s tooth). They pulled it out but rolled into the finals appearing more vulnerable than they had all season (loss to me in OT aside – I’m printing my week 5 champions shirts as we speak).

On the other side, the Tour had a strong regular season when Eric was there, and then won a battle in round 1 against NGS and Tenney. I made them underdogs in the semi’s, but the Tour dispatched of Ruff’s squad fairly easily. They were up 20+ in the second half before some threes started falling for Big Joe. The lead got cut down to about a dozen, but was never in doubt. The Tour looked as good, if not better, than they had all season coming into the finals.

As we started the game, I wondered if we would see fatigue play a factor for either side. Fatigue was more likely to affect the Tour than FFC, as the Tour had just finished their semi-final game. Additionally, Mazz missed most of the first half of his game, so I figured fatigue would not be an issue for him. Cawley looked great in his semi-final game and jet lag was not an issue. The Tour was running with just 4 guys as Hicks and Altizer were out. Gilman was out for FFC so they ran with 5.

Both teams came out strong offensively. If fatigue was a factor for anyone it didn’t show, as jump shots were consistently going down (indicating there weren’t many tired legs out there). FFC built a small lead thanks to the strong offensive play from Mazz and Cawley (20 and 12 points at the half). Mike made 5 of his 7 first half shots and played some solid defense on Eric, who had 12 of his own but on more shots (he missed 5 straight in one stretch of the fist half). Clasby though kept the Tour in striking distance with 15 points in the first frame, going 3-3 from behind the arc. Steiner chipped in with a trey-ball as well. Still, FFC held a 40-34 lead at halftime. The Tour just could not stay in front of Mazz and that was generating easy baskets for him and his teammates. Everyone on FFC scored in the first half.

In the second half, Eric heated up, drilling some tough shots. But, FFC was still scoring at a great pace, generating good looks at will. With around 4 or 5 minutes to go in the game, FFC was ahead by 9 or so. The door seemed to be closing on the Tour. BUT! They stormed back with a HUGE 8-0 run to cut the lead to one! At the end of this run, FFC called timeout, and all of a sudden we had a game! I think a couple of missed free throws by FFC may have aided the Tour at this time. There was only 2 or 3 minutes left in the season.

I may not have the details of this exactly right, but the way I remember it, FFC missed the shot on their possession out of the timeout. Then Meservey got an offensive rebound, tipping it out to Rakusin. Steve ended up with the ball at the three-point arc, open for a shot. Would he shoot it? No! He passed the ball to Mazz, who drilled a three pointer to put FFC back up by 4. This was the biggest sequence of the game in my opinion. Steve could have shot it, and would have probably missed and given the Tour a chance to take the lead. Instead he made a good pass, generating his lone assist of the game.

The Tour came down and missed, I believe a Clasby three, after the defense swarmed on Eric. Smart team defense! FFC would eventually push the lead back out to 8 or so. Meservey knocked down free throws late to keep the lead safe and the Tour just didn’t have it in them to come back again after making that big push with around 4 or 5 to go. Excellent effort, but it just wasn’t enough.

Random Thoughts

Sometimes, SDL/basketball is simple. Mazz, Eric, and Zak were viewed as the consensus top 3 guys coming into the season and had been on each of the past 6 champions I believe. The two with the best supporting cast made the finals, and the one with the best supporting cast won it.

Cawley played great defense all season and was extremely efficient scoring 20+ points by picking his spots. In the semi’s and finals, Meservey, Cevero, and Rakusin all made winning plays and played smart. That was always going to be extremely difficult to beat.

The Tour was a strong team this season and had some very impressive wins, including their semi-final game. They may have been champions in a different season, but not this one. They just couldn’t get stops.

Grades:

Mazz: A. 14/28. He was extremely efficient and showed out in the biggest game, not letting his forehead injury affect his performance. Basically, only scored or assisted, but that was all he needed to od.

Cawley: A. 10/16. He was also extremely efficient. Held Eric to low efficiency in the first half which was huge in helping them to build the lead.

Meservey: A. 3/8. Scraped his way to 10 points and 9 boards, knocked down his free throws late to help seal the game, had the huge offensive rebound. Played smart and played hard, as always.

Rakusin: A. 1/6. Dominated the boards. His touch was off, but he didn’t attempt any threes which was smart. The pass to Mazz put an end to the Tour’s comeback.

Cevero: A. 2/7. Didn’t type his name much in this writeup but he was just as solid as anyone else in terms of filling his role. Did nothing dumb and didn’t notice bad defense from him once.

Eric: A. 13/29. What else can you ask? 24 second half points. Perhaps could have taken it upon himself to guard Mazz? Was just a hair less efficient offensively than Mazz was.

Clasby: A-. 7/16. Was hitting everything in sight until the very end of the game, when legs may have caught up with him. Had a rough time guarding Mazz but can’t hold that against him too much.

Chan: B+. 4/9. Dimes and assists were through the roof. Not his best shooting game, but he battled.

Steiner: B. 2/6. It would have been huge if he could have connected on a triple in the second half, but he isn’t a big scorer so I won’t hold the 5 points against him too much.

Kap: A+. The reffing was not a determining factor in any game today. I didn’t hear anyone from the losing teams make a comment about Kap costing them the game. That’s pretty rare considering emotions run high after playoff losses.

Yeah I know all the grades I gave out are high, but it was a really well played game. Maybe I should have docked points for defense, but oh well. See you all next season or the fall!

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