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Day 6 (Tuesday 10 May 2022) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Mighty Moose Rockets 48 - Rip City Revival 70
Lion Rebels 59 - San Dominica Warriors 68
Seattle SuperSonicz 83 - Linndale 104
War Birds 80 - Philly Dribble 111
The Beer Bellys 79 - The Ashkickers 99
pintipv 92 - Gremlins 116
Żubr Białystok 129 - Weather Society 92
Miami Cleo 82 - Dallas Bomskwad 67

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 129 : Żubr Białystok
Rebounds : 70 : Rip City Revival
Assists : 32 : Gremlins
Steals : 12 : Żubr Białystok
Block Shots : 17 : Miami Cleo

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 27 : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo), V. Sesamo (The Ashkickers), D. Minkinen (Żubr Białystok)
Rebounds : 24 : S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok)
Assists : 13 : D. Nava (Gremlins)
Steals : 3 : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo), W. Graf (Miami Cleo), L. Rojas (The Ashkickers), T. Lagorce (Linndale), G. Iachetti (Gremlins), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), S. Dickens (Żubr Białystok)
Block Shots : 8 : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : D. Nava (Gremlins) (13 Points, 7 Rebounds, 13 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Shooting Guard : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo) (27 Points, 11 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37
Small Forward : G. Iachetti (Gremlins) (20 Points, 10 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 23
Power Forward : S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok) (14 Points, 24 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Center : W. Chan Kiew (Gremlins) (22 Points, 11 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35

MVP of the evening
A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo) (27 Points, 11 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37

The bad performance of the evening
Y. Galileos (Rip City Revival) (1 Points, 2 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : A. Langley (pintipv) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Huerta (Seattle SuperSonicz), L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors), W. Chan Kiew (Gremlins), B. Lutz (Lion Rebels), O. Laks (pintipv), D. Donlon (pintipv), A. Langley (pintipv) : 5 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo), D. Charles (Mighty Moose Rockets), C. Simpkins (Mighty Moose Rockets), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : H. Šapiras (Żubr Białystok), C. Taylor (Weather Society) : 5 Three points

The best performer : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble), T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad) : Rating : 16.5

The worst performer : E. Hess (Miami Cleo), M. Cornwell (Weather Society), A. Langley (pintipv) : Rating : 5.5

Week Three Games of the Week Recaps
Offense (for some of us) seems down this season, when in truth it's up...(one caveat to this - last season's premiere walkover team, Solana Tides, was bot for almost the whole season and only averaged 51.2 ppg...take them away and the PPG for last season jumps 3 points). On the surface, Season 56 had 6 teams averaged more than 102 PPG, 8 averaged more than 95, and 11 averaged more than 91. This season, we have 2 teams averaging more than 102, 5 teams averaging more than 100, 8 with more than 95, and 10 teams with more than 90. What we're really seeing is a more competitive dynamic, even though we have three epically great teams (here's to you, Philly, Gremlins, and Ashkickers), two (maybe three) terriblish teams (sorry Weather and Dallas - still can't believe you beat me Seattle!) and 10 teams slogging it out in the middle with varying degrees of success. From my perspective, it will be interesting to see how the bottom half of the playoffs and top half of relegation series shape up over the course of this season between Linndale (I still don't believe your 5-1 record, though you've spent smartly to get there!), Rip City, San Dom, myself, MMR, Zubr, Beer, and pintipv (you might have a chance Cleo, and War Birds...you gotta pull off a few more wins here or there with how close you're keeping things!)

Beer Bellys @ Ashkickers
Beer came in shooting and Ash came out patiently and the results were worse than I predicted. The Bellys couldn't consistently hit their three ball, going 7-27 from beyond the arc, while Ashkickers waited it out and saw a nice 27 and 25 point performance on the evening from SF Sesamo and SG Gattoni. Ash also dominated the boards, outrebounding Beer by 21 on the night. Down 15 at the half, it seemed hopeless, and then Ash beat them into submission going up 25 by the end of the 3rd, making thatguy's last period effort to outscore the opponents a fruitless attempt. Ash wins by 20 to maintain their undefeated streak.

Mighty Moose Rockets @ Rip City Revival
I should've guessed that MMR would struggle more with star C Kofan out for the night. Andrew ALbrecht filled the hole for MMR on the evening, scoring 6 points in 32 minutes and pulling down only 5 rebounds. Rip, on the other hand, came in with a patient approach, and while this wasn't a high scoring affair (with one team scoring 20 points only once in a quarter the entire game and only 5 players total in double digits, with no one scoring more than 15 points), this game didn't appear very exciting to watch. Both teams scored less than 30% of their field goal attempts, with the determining factor appearing to be Rip City nearly doubling MMRs rebound total (70-38), making it a little comical that they had as many rebounds as they had points on the evening. I'm not gonna bother watching the game because it looks terrible.

As for the fallout from both games, Rip City moved up two spots in the Big 8 to #3 while MMR dropped 2 slots to #6. On the other side, Ashkickers maintained their 2nd place spot despite being undefeated, only 5 PD behind Gremlins, while Beer dropped below Zubr in the standings, but still is in 4th place because of PD over pintipv.

Week 3 Power Rankings coming Thursday or Friday. Good luck in BBM and the Cup!

Week 3 Power Rankings
There's some decent movement in the power rankings this week! Who's at the top? (spoiler alert: not a surprise) Who moved up the most? Who nosedived? Find out in the coming paragraphs below!! *Side Note* Overall ranking will be at the front and actual place in standings in their conference will follow their name in parenthesis.

1. Gremlins (1)
Another week, same story at the top for Gremlins' manager Gizmo, who has his team keeping steady. Good improvement on EFFG with a slight reduction in Opp EFFG, but staying steady at the top and undefeated. Week 4 brings us the eipc showdown, with The Ashkickers coming into The Temple of Doom, where Gizmo hopes to remain undefeated in front of a sellout crowd.

2. The Ashkickers (2)
As I mentioned earlier this week, Tylormade's crew only trails Gremlins in PD by 5 and remain undefeated. They held steady at EFFG and improved their Opp EFFG to stay pat, with the looming matchup on Saturday night. Ash handled 3rd and 4th seeded Great 8 teams without trouble, further establishing that there is an elite two in the Great 8. In season 56, Tylormade edged Gremlins in the first matchup by 1 point, then lost toward the end of the season on the road before succumbing to them in the semi-finals of the playoffs. Have they made up ground?

3. Philly Dribble (1)
Phil_Wings swept out the bottom rung of the Big 8 this week, improving their EFFG and Opp EFFG to move up the rankings one place. Philly gets to showcase against 2nd seeded Linndale on Saturday night before returning to the gutter (but this time on Great 8's side).

4. Linndale (2)
Is Efficiency the best measurement for this? At the top of this rankings, it sure seems to be with 6 games under our belts. Speedtraps acquisition of Kyle Knowles has seemed beneficial so far, scoring 35 points in two games on 15-27 shooting. Will it be enough to compete on the road against Philly?

5. The Beer Bellys (4)
As predicted, thatguy's team had a rough go of it, facing the top two ranked teams in the division, losing ground on both EFFG and Opp EFFG, however, they'd been playing at such a high level, they're still up here in the rankings. Even though they slid two spots, they should still feel good, as long as they play well against pintipv and Mighty Moose Rockets, with both games coming at home. They've also brought in a 36 year old PG, Ignacio Avellaneda from Spain to shore up their backcourt.

6. San Dominica Warriors (4)
Coach Stephenson held his team steady this week, first losing what could have been a winnable game (I think?) to Mighty Moose Rockets and shutting Lion Rebels down, holding them to less than 60 points on the night. Should be an interesting matchup with Rip City Saturday before facing certain death against Gremlins.

7. Mighty Moose Rockets (6)
Sure, Hutch44's squad has four losses and only two wins, and while Tuesday night's loss to Rip City was BAD (only 48 points scored without Kofan), it was indeed without Kofan, who might be the best center in the division. This coming week, they face Rebels and Beer (great name for a bar!), but perhaps their improvement on Opp EFFG is timely to help vault them up the standings in the Big 8.

8. Żubr Białystok (3)
whitestok's group rebounded well after last weeks domination by the top of the Great 8, cleaning up the dustbin at the bottom of the conference, improving by double digits both their EFFG and Opp EFFG to make a pretty big jump (4 spots) in the rankings. An interesting game against Miami Cleo is on the horizon and what will the SuperSonicz bring town after that? Will they continue to climb their way up and prove they're the best of the rest of the wannabes in Great 8?

Week 3 Power Rankings Continued

9. Miami Cleo (6)
A big jump up the rankings for Miami, moving 5 spots to claim a spot that appears to be above the muck and mire at the bottom. packer_22's squad handled Weather Society and Dallas Bomskwad with ease, which makes the above seem true, but how will they fare against better stock? Zubr looms on the horizon with a matchup against the semi-unpredictable War Birds. Big improvements this week - let's see what next week shall bring!

10. Rip City Revival (3)
I know, they're in third place in the Big 8, but just look at those standings. There's a point differential separation of 38 points between 4 teams! Jbogoroff's boys split their games last week, losing to Rebels on the road and defeating MMR at home. While they dipped a bit on their EFFG, they improved their Opp EFFG to stay at 10th this week in the rankings. Should be a good matchup with the Warriors before traveling to Ash's Basketball Center - what kind of platter will Tylormade's gentlemen serve them up on?

11. Lion Rebels (5)
I'll confess, I didn't think selling off my two older guard/small forward combo would effect me this much offensively, but I am down 14.5 PPG this season, and the inefficiencies of my two young guards to replace them have been glaring. A decent drop in EFFG and an improvement in Opp EFFG still ends up dropping me two spots in this list. (How funny would it be if I made these power rankings, but just played my bias and placed my team at the top every week regardless? I agree, not that funny!). Next week should prove out how far down this list my squad deserves to really be.

12. pintipv (5)
We knew pintipvw's team would take a hit, facing the top two teams in the division this week, but the result was a tumble 5 spots down the charts. A big hit to the EFFG facing those defensive power houses and just a dip in the OPP EFFG brings them here. They have a chance to right the ship with a strong showing against Beer and (probably) a winnable game against my squad.

13. War Birds (7)
War Birds moved up four spots in EFFG ranking to 10th, but dropped 3 spots in Opp EFFG and still moved up two places in the rankings. Trying to edge their way back up to the middle tier, they had an impressive showing against Linndale, but weren't really a match for Philly. Some potentially easy games this week - how will they fare?

14. Weather Society (7)
Melon Collie is trying to be the best of the worst, but still hasn't been able to pull off a win. Miami Cleo is the only team who has been able to shut down their high scoring offense - will they get their first win of the season against Dallas on Saturday before having to face the upstart Linndale?

15. Seattle SuperSonicz (8)
Seattle dropped this week after iBeStrugglin got manhandled by both top seeds in the Big 8 this week. Will they get another win against War Birds or will they be 1-6 walking into Zubr's arena next Tuesday? They just brought in another addition, 36 year old SF Australian Nikolay Lisnevskiy who will potentially play two Cup games this week.

16. Dallas Bomskwad (8)
Dallas' new acquisition center has definitely contributed on the boards and what appears to be Inside Defense, but a scoring machine he does not appear to be, totaling only 12 points in 2 games on 5-16 shooting. Two losses again this week, but there might be hope if The Architect can tame the storm of Melon Collie's run and gun shoot 'em style offense before facing Philly on the other side of the division in a sure loss.

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The majority of teams dropped in Efficiency per game this week, with 5 teams dropping in double digits (while three teams improved in double digits). Looking through this list - Miami had the biggest improvement overall (followed closely by Zubr) and Beer had the biggest downward trend of the group (with pintipv behind him)

best of the worst is a slight W for me im not even gonna lie

haha! Glad it makes sense to you - you'll get a win here - you've got to!

I still think we're an 8 right now and last night proved it. Not really that annoyed we lost but 20 points. Still need to do some lineup tweeking or some Pedro Serrano voodoo

Day 7 (Saturday 14 May 2022) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Lion Rebels 69 - Mighty Moose Rockets 82
Rip City Revival 72 - San Dominica Warriors 50
War Birds 96 - Seattle SuperSonicz 97
Linndale 57 - Philly Dribble 91
pintipv 89 - The Beer Bellys 120
The Ashkickers 66 - Gremlins 79
Miami Cleo 74 - Żubr Białystok 78
Weather Society 102 - Dallas Bomskwad 117

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 120 : The Beer Bellys
Rebounds : 64 : Dallas Bomskwad
Assists : 28 : Dallas Bomskwad
Steals : 17 : Philly Dribble
Block Shots : 13 : Żubr Białystok

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 33 : D. Muncy (Seattle SuperSonicz), C. Taylor (Weather Society)
Rebounds : 24 : J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors)
Assists : 10 : T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad)
Steals : 4 : S. Fortune (The Ashkickers), F. Jarkes (Seattle SuperSonicz), D. Nava (Gremlins)
Block Shots : 4 : D. Charles (Mighty Moose Rockets), L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors), G. Iachetti (Gremlins), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), H. Yuyao (Żubr Białystok), T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : I. Avellaneda (The Beer Bellys) (28 Points, 2 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Shooting Guard : C. Taylor (Weather Society) (33 Points, 4 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Small Forward : A. Itararé (Dallas Bomskwad) (27 Points, 7 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Power Forward : J. Pugejs (Seattle SuperSonicz) (13 Points, 16 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29
Center : H. Yuyao (Żubr Białystok) (21 Points, 19 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots), T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad) (25 Points, 10 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 40

MVP of the evening
H. Yuyao (Żubr Białystok) (21 Points, 19 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots), T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad) (25 Points, 10 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 40

The bad performance of the evening
É. Blanchet (San Dominica Warriors) (2 Points, 1 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots), : Efficiency : -7

Triple-Double of the evening
T. Grigoropoulos (Dallas Bomskwad) (25 Points, 10 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 1 Steals, 4 Block Shots)

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens: S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees: C. Pirtsos (War Birds) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), D. Charles (Mighty Moose Rockets), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok): 48 Minutes

The shooter: C. McMahon (War Birds) : 7 Three points

The best performer: T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer: F. Jarkes (Seattle SuperSonicz) : Rating : 4.5

Saturday Night Thriller Recaps
Not sure how you can be the highest rated player and only take 3 shots (here’s looking at you, Terry Armstead)...really annoyed by my offensive woes. At any rate, it was a bit intriguing having Big 8's 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6, 7 vs 8 and Great 8 almost the same in matchups (1 vs 2, 3 vs 6, 6 vs 4, and 7 vs 8). Couple of games looked to go down to the wire - here are those quick recaps:

War Birds vs. Seattle SuperSonicz
Big 8 Cellar Dwellers provided a good show, with War Birds falling one point shy of Seattle SuperSonicz. The Birds found themselves down 3 after three quarters. Seattle hit two quick shots to increase the lead to 7 and then War Birds backup SG C. Alexandru threw the ball away, but fortunately, made up for it by corralling a defensive rebound and then stemmed the immediate threat by hitting a three for his first points of the game, cutting it back to four. With just under 9 minutes left, Collin McMahon continued his hot night by nailing a three to cut the lead to 1, but SuperSonicz were getting more shots off in the final period, including a lucky three ball from center Jarkes. Ramunas Kiaulius (Birds PG) answered with a three from the corner, to make it 80-81, Seattle. With just over 6 and a half minutes, McMahon slammed the ball down to put the Birds up by one. Seattle called a time out to gather itself and try to not squander this game, but coming out of the break, Muncy missed a layup and the Birds grabbed the board with Kiaulius hitting another three (4-4 so far in the period) to go up 4. Seattle struggled to score on the next trip down the court, and the Birds increased their lead to 6 with five minutes remaining. The teams traded back and forth missing and rebounding the ball before Birds PF C. Pirtsos fouled PF Pugejs and he ignites the SuperSoniz with two free throws. Jarkes turns around and steals the ball, laying it in on the fast break to cut the lead to 2 with four minutes remaining. SF Griffiths scored from the top of the key to put the lead back to 4 - the Birds grabbed a defensive rebound on the following possession and McMahon banked in a jumper, pushing the lead to 6, 91-85. Seattle's Jarkes responded with a three ball with 2 and a half minutes left - after a quick miss by the Birds, Seattle took a shot and missed. McMahon dishes to backup PF Benny Herron and he scored to make it a 5 point game with 1:51 left, but Seattle responded with a quick two. Down three, Jarkes stole the ball and backup SG Gregory Jordan ties it with 1:08 left with a three from the corner. A missed 3 by Birds resulted in a defensive rebound and Seattle went the other way. Jarkes response clanked off the rim and backup PG Hud Leal snagged the rebound, only for McMahon to miss a three pointer. With 15 seconds left, PF Pugejs nails a hook shot to regain the lead for Seattle. Following a 30 second time out by War Birds, and a subsequent miss, Seattle's SG Lisnevskiy is fouled and scores both free throws with two seconds left, all but sealing the win. Of course, there's a buzzer beater(!) but too little too late as the War Birds squandered a comeback 4th quarter.

I never really know what I'm wandering into when I look at a box score and see it's close and decide to recap it, but WHEW, that was a lot. A lot more buck than I bargained for and I'll bet Grimhawke is PISSED that McMahon couldn't make just, like, one more three on the night. As it was 4-6 FG and 2-4 3FG in the final frame. His PG, R. Kiaulius fared even better, going 4-4 FG and 2-2 3FG. If anything, the thing that finished them was they just didn't get as many shots off in the 4th as Seattle did and from what I can tell from the stats, that's primarily a result of fouls and turnovers (5 each in the 4th). At least it was a good, close game! Congrats to iBeStrugglin.

Saturday Night Thriller Recaps Continued

Miami Cleo vs. Żubr Biały
Miami and Zubr came into the 4th quarter tied at 57 points apiece and both teams started out the final frame COLD shooting 1-16 over the first 4:17 in the period. Once PF Shaun Hatch scored for Zubr, PG Domaon Santana responded. Hatch answered back, and then Miami's SF Marko Maurin got an assist by passing through to CHeatle for the slam. After that BARRAGE of scoring, with half of the period consumed, Miami found themselves up 1, 64-63.

Three minutes later, with the teams trading two buckets each, the score was 68-67 Miami. But nearly a minute later, Zubr's SF Sam Dickens nailed a three pointer to go up two. Maurin responded with a quick drive to even it up and on the drive by Dickens, he was fouled by Miami's Varpukevicious. Dickens sank the first free throw, but clanked the 2nd and the ball went out of bounds. Less than two minutes remaining, with Zubr now up by one with the ball - Dickens, who was finally coming on strong, scored to increase the lead to three. Varp, who'd had a good game coming into the 4th but utterly choked on himself, got a shot blocked, but fortunately, backup PG W. Graf grabbed the ball and scored to keep it close. After a turnover by center G lucas, Zubr scores but Maurin responded to keep the game at one. Unfrotunately, starting center G. Locus for Miami fouled, bringing Zubr into the bonus. Zubr, retaining the ball, missed, but grabbed the offensive board and held the ball as long as possible until Hatch shot and missed, but H. Yuyao grabbed it off the glass and touched it back in to go up three with 16 seconds left. Miami called a timeout hoping to inspire Maurin to continue his good play or to convince Varp or P. Cheatle to spark some offense as they'd both gone dark. All starters back in the lineups and D. Santana tries a threee but misses - the ball was loose but went out of bounds in favor of Miami. After another miss by Varp, and a defensive rebound, Denis Minkinen is fouled and does his duty, sinking 1-2 free throws with only one second left, again, sealing the game. Unfortunately, no buzzerbeater here, but another inspiring ending and a blown lead by a team that really needed it.

Reviewing the stats, it looked like even though Miami didn't fare much better in the 2nd quarter (16 points) Zubr failed to take advantage of the opposition's struggles and only produced 18 points themselves. Miami's shooting woes followed them most of the night, only able to hit 3 three pointers out of 15 attempts, most likely forced to take threes in their Low Post offense because of Zubr's 3-2 Zone tactic. I mentioned it in the commentary, but Miami's starting SG and PF just didn't show up in the 4th quarter with Varp missing all 6 of his shots. If Miami had pulled off the upset, they'd be in 4th place right now with Zubr knocked down to 4th and Miami's prospects looking more like a contender in relegation rather than a write off. Hopefully I'm wrong!

just listed my OGs...it truly is an end of an era for the society