The Big Nice captures the A2 title in wild back and forth battle with Think Nasty.
Think Nasty 66 The Big Nice 71

g into this one Think Nasty had a game plan, be patient and not get into a track meet with the incredibly potent Big Nice scoring machine, this made sense.  This worked and Big Nice seemed to have trouble adjusting early on to the slower pace.  The other Think Nasty plan was to have Trevor McAndrew (and his team leading 21 ppg) come in of the bench.  This did not make as much sense.  Big Nice didnít seem to mind this at all as they were able to concentrate more defensively on Tim Diehl (15 pts) and collapse inside early on and stifle the Think Nasty offense.  In the 1^st 5 minutes the only Nasty player who seemed to be able to do anything with the ball was Zarmon who had 12 points at the break.  The game was back and forth with Big Nice getting a small lead, then Think Natsy closing the gap (but never taking the lead) but with 2+ minutes remaining in the 1^st and leading 31-28 Big Nice struck.

ìLocal Heroî Ed Finn (16 first half points) got fouled shooting a 3 (of course he hit all the freebies), hit a 3 and then made a driving lay-up and in the blink of eye the lead reached double digits.  Then a few more buckets from John M(VP)azzone (15 pts 1^st half pts) and Big Nice had a 43-31 lead as we broke for halftime.  The big difference I noticed on the stats sheet at the break was 3 point shooting.  Big Nice was 4 of 10 from long range (Ed being 3 of 3) while Think Nasty was only 1 of 10.

But the start of the second half was a different story as Think Nasty came out hot.  First possession Deihl hits a 3, then a quick steal and a pass to Trevor who nails another 3.  Tim and Trevor combined to score all 13 points in a pivotal 13-4 run to start the 2^nd half which bought Think Nasty back into contention when it looked as though Big Nice was going to run away with it.  The decidedly pro-Natsy crowd was going wild and even the Commish was getting into it banging ìThe Cupî against the wall.  Also moments later he wondered if anyone would be foolish enough to drink from it later. I assured him that without question there were many candidates that would eagerly be that foolish.  Think Nasty eventually broke though and gained the lead for the 1^st time 52-51 with just over 10 minutes to play.  Over the next few minutes the team traded baskets and the lead.

With 3 minutes remaining Zarmon hit 2 FTs giving TN their biggest lead of the game 64-61.  CWill (former A1 championship MVP and no stranger to big moments) followed with a incredible (and effortless) left handed shot from the low block cutting to lead to one.  The following conversation occurred:

Commish: ìHe did that with his LEFT hand.î

Me: ìHe can do that.  He is really good.î

After a TN miss, Big Nice went inside again, this time to Mazzone.  John was patient and mad ea impressive spin to the middle and pump fake.  This drew multiple defenders off their feet and he then softly dropped the ball in giving Big Nice the lead back again.

Commish: ìThat move was incredible.î

Me: ìHe can do that.  He is really good.î

(sorry I am not that original in my thoughts but CWill and Mazzone are both really good).

After another miss TN was forced to foul.  OíCal (12 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) coolly stepped to the line and 2 times hit both end of a 1 and 1 situation.  Think Natsy did hit a bucket with 5 seconds to play cutting the lead to 3 but the Finals MVP, The Local Hero, Ed Finn (27 pts) not surprisingly hit both freebies to ice the game and deliver the hard earned (and well deserved) A2 champion to The Big Nice gang.

(and oh yeah, it was Ed who was drinking beers from ìThe Cupî later on that evening at the 99, the man is earless when it come to going to the hoop and when drinking from cups of unknown levels of cleanliness, he does it all)

Scores, Box Scores & Write-Ups

Playoff: week 14

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A2 Winter 2007 Basketball League