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Day 8 (Tuesday 7 March 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Tasty Tardsicles 99 - 209’s MostWanted 105
Hustlas 69 - Flamin' Flamingos 111
STG on MCU 96 - Lion Rebels 117
Żubr Białystok 77 - Carolina Rebels 101
Miami Cleo 82 - Philly Dribble 80
The White Walkers 98 - San Dominica Warriors 108
Cincinnati Slammers 89 - Linndale 101
The Beer Bellys 88 - Fondy Cardinals 67

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 117 : Lion Rebels
Rebounds : 66 : Carolina Rebels
Assists : 31 : Lion Rebels
Steals : 9 : Cincinnati Slammers
Block Shots : 13 : The Beer Bellys

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 39 : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo)
Rebounds : 24 : G. Locus (Miami Cleo)
Assists : 11 : T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 4 : K. Knowles (Linndale), M. Bobôšík (Żubr Białystok)
Block Shots : 6 : V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (21 Points, 5 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27
Shooting Guard : L. See Yan (Flamin' Flamingos) (26 Points, 7 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Small Forward : J. Waters (Lion Rebels) (22 Points, 5 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Power Forward : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) (20 Points, 15 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38
Center : G. Locus (Miami Cleo) (13 Points, 24 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 33

MVP of the evening
T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) (20 Points, 15 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38

The bad performance of the evening
J. Chang (STG on MCU) (0 Points, 1 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -2

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels), H. Quindós (Żubr Białystok) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : C. Anaya (The White Walkers) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), S. Huerta (Lion Rebels), H. Quindós (Żubr Białystok), D. Freire (The White Walkers), P. Stevens (Cincinnati Slammers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : G. Azheli (209’s MostWanted), C. Wui Kwong (Tasty Tardsicles) : 6 Three points

The best performer : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 19.0

The worst performer : T. Lang (Fondy Cardinals) : Rating : 5.0

Well, three of the four matchups I highlighted were at least relatively close. Let's take a look at what really happened.

Tasty Tardsicles @ 209's MostWanted
Looking at the box score, all things were relatively equal on the night, with the only obvious difference over the course of the game being 209's hitting more shots at a higher percentage. And Tasty didn't shoot poorly, hitting 38.4% on the night, including 11 threes. But Alex's crew shot 46.2% including 50% on 26 threes. Looks like it would've been a fun shoot out type of game to witness. Tasty jumped out to a monster 15-point lead after one quarter and the MostWanted chipped away at that lead through the second and then took over in the third, outscoring the Tards by 12 to be up three heading into the final quarter. The score was 69-72 and we were immediately treated with a show, with both teams scoring 15 points in the first three minutes. With them stuck at 75-81, Tasty went to work over the course of the next 4.5 minutes getting to within one point 3 times before retaking the lead on a layup with 3:18 left. But MostWanted wasn't having it, hitting a layup in response to go back up by one and then they didn't look back thanks to two threes and a handful of free throws the seal the victory.

The White Walkers @ San Dominica Warriors
In what I deemed the match of the week, this game ended up being a nice back and forth. Both teams shot almost 42% from the field, with the only real differences coming in two factors: 3-point shooting (25% vs. 47%) and fouls turning into more free throws for San Dominica (although, they only scored four more points on free throws, only hitting 60.6% compared to the Walkers 16-18 from the stripe shooting). The real bummer was probably starting PF Carlos Anaya fouling out for the first time all season after playing 30 minutes with 9 minutes left to go in the quarter and the Walkers down two. They'd been down 6 at the half after being up 5 after one quarter and then stormed back to take a four point lead into the fourth, 76-72. But San Dom tied it up and then took the lead within three minutes. The Night King's zombie-crew tied it back up with 6:19 left at 87, but "LAB" Baião wasn't having any of that, hitting a shot from the top of the key 10 seconds later to retake the lead. While they kept it close, the Walkers couldn't recover with free throws resulting in a ten point lead with 20 seconds to play and the game virtually out of reach.

Miami Cleo @ Philly Dribble
What ended up being the game of the week saw Miami and Philly in a slug-fest back and forth with Arys Varpukevicius scoring 39 points and 10 rebounds. Miami started out up 5 after one, then surrendered 27 points in the 2nd while only scoring fifteen to be down by 7 at the half. A chippy third quarter led to a four point deficit, at 54-58 (Philly). Both teams scored their first shots of the 4th quarter and Miami regrouped with a short time out and Arys came out shooting from the corner and hit a three to bring it within one. It would take them another near two minutes to get it tied up at 63 and then taking the lead 65-63 with 9:17 remaining. The teams hung out at 67-65 for several minutes before the action started back up again with about three minutes left - Philly scored to bring them within one point adn then after battling for a bit, finally tying it up at 74 with 1:39 left on a jump-shot from Max Woesler. With 26 seconds left in the game, Varpukevicius scored again to go up 78-74 and Philly called a time out. Coming out of the break, four seconds later P. Fasseli hit a three to cut the lead to one, the subsequent foul resulted in two made free throws and with 18 seconds left, Philly called a 30 second time out. And here, no one, but two miracles occurred. With 14 seconds remaining, M. Velasco scores a three to tie it up but with time running out, Damon Santana passed off to Varpukevicius who scored a buzzerbeater from the elbow to shock Philly

Week Four Power Rankings & Notes
Welcome to 36% of the way through Season 60 where we've seen some surprises, fierce competition, and everyone (mostly) trying their best to succeed in the gauntlet known as Division III.11.

Transfers have finally come to a halt (though I do have one pending rookie, and a shot in the dark) and after Linndale's epic signing of 24-year-old (and injured) Floyd Hearn for only $394k, teams appear to have settled in for the primary run through the season, but I assume we'll see more moves made as we get closer to the playoffs and relegation.

No undefeated teams after this week, but Cincinnati and Fondy are still looking for that first victory. Unlike last season's victory-less teams, these two are trying and don't appear to be botifying any time soon (happily).

Week 4 Player Notes & Stats
Jumping into full-fledged interconference play, here are the current league leaders:
-->Scoring Leader: Hustlas Jonata Esposito has assumed the lead in PPG with 30.6 while Ariel Ziółkowski had the unfortunate injury in the first minute of their game on Tuesday night, dropping him down to 27.4 per game. That mark is up nearly 7 whole points up from league leaders last year.
-->Rebounding Leader: Patrick Cheatle from Miami edges out The Beer Bellys Isidre Homs with 16.2 RPG. Homs has had 4 games with 20+ rebounds, while Cheatle has only had 2 of them.
-->Assists Leader: Marko Maurin leads the pack with 6.2 APG with San Dominica's Étienne Blanchet on his heels.
-->Shooting Leaders: Philly's backup center Mack Farnsworth leads with 64.7% on FGs while Ariel Ziółkowski has hit 58.3% on 48 3PA.

With that, we'll get on to the rankings. This week's rankings will include week one's rank in parenthesis behind the team's name.

Week Four Power Rankings
1. The White Walkers (1)
No change at the top, though The Night King suffered their first loss on the season. But they've held steady in both efficiency categories through the first four weeks of the season and have proven to be dominant, though they did give up 125 OPP EFFG in their loss. We'll see how the rest of their trip through the Big 8 pans out. This week they host Philly Dribble and then travel to Carolina to face the Rebels.

2. Lion Rebels (2)
Often times the top of these rankings don't reflect the standings, but this season, which seems to be true, but we'll see how long that lasts. Carolina tricked me into playing Normal as they prepared for their Cup matchup, and a nice win over STG leaves us at 7-1 heading into a road TV matchup against Żubr Białystok followed by playing host to Miami. Might be two more losses in my standings after week 5.

3. Miami Cleo (6)
Miami with one of the biggest jumps in these rankings from week 1, which shouldn't be a surprise. While they did lose by 12 to the Walkers, they had a pleasant road win over Philly as previously chronicled. Next up is their Rebel Week, playing host to Carolina before visiting Daylis Stadium. They've got a decent opportunity to be 8-2 after week 5.

4. Tasty Tardsicles (15)
The biggest of jumps I've seen in my few seasons of trying to chronicle the week to week activities of league games comes from spilly19 who ranked near the bottom of these rankings tanks to a 41-point loss to The White Walkers. But since then, they've reeled off five wins until Tuesday night when they lost by 6 to 209's as I wrote about earlier this week. Before that they smacked down Hustlas 113-79. Tasty's steadily moved up the rankings, improving to 4th in EFFG and actually dropped from 3rd to 4th in OPP EFFG, but deserve to be at least this high as they're proving themselves over 8 games so far. Next up comes the Cardinals followed by Linndale on the road.

5. San Dominica Warriors (5)
Sitting at 2nd in the Big 8 at 6-2 and having beaten both #1 seeds in each conference, their first loss of the season was a bit of a fluke seeing where Flamingos are at so far, but their loss to Carolina on the road is a bit of a head scratcher. Either way, they handled two tough teams this week against Philly and White Walkers leaving them well positioned to continue to improve both in the standings and these rankings this week as they face Cincinnati and then host The Beer Bellys. They also have a nice matchup in the Cup for the chance to continue on.

6. Philly Dribble (3)
Philly slipped from 5th to 8th in EFFG as they dropped 8 points in that category, but and while they saw slippage in OPP EFFG by 4 points and have lost two in a row now (to two difficult teams) and find themselves at .500 and out of the top 4 spots for the first time I recall in the last several seasons that I've been here. Both losses came at home and now they turn their sights to the Night King on the road with a chance to right the ship before hosting the Slammers for what should give them a breather.

7. 209's MostWanted (12)
While week 1 had them ranked 5th in EFFG their 15th rank in OPP EFFG left them 12th overall. They've used their offensive fire power to move up to 7th now thanks to their 123.6 EFFG (2nd). They're 3rd in the Big 8 and took care of the Flamingos and then beat out Tasty to find themselves at 5-3 on the season. Next comes a road game against Hustlas followed by hosting STG which should only improve their stock overall.

8. Żubr Białystok (8)
Whitestok's crew finds themselves at .500 after taking out STG on the road before getting shut down by Carolina on the road. After struggling last season and surviving, this year they're finding themselves in the middle of the pack. But watching their young guys improve over the last few seasons, they're window for being great is rapidly approaching. They host the Lion Rebels on Saturday and then travel to the best designed court in the league to face off against the Flamingos.

9. Linndale (9)
After last season, their start to this season seems a bit underwhelming, but with their recent big moves, they're banking on making some great strides. At .500 but having won their last two games against the bottom feeders (so far), they turn their attention to The Beer Bellys on the road before hosting Tasty Tardsicles. Still at least another week before Hearn arrives and even then, they'll have to adapt to poor game shape on his part, making it probably until the all-star break before he'll be able to perform at his highest level. Still enough time for them to break through the Big 8 to get back into playoff contention.

10. Carolina Rebels (5)
How am I ranking a 5-3 team below the .500 teams? This week, they dropped in 5 spots in EFFG and 3 spots in OPP EFFG thanks mostly to throwing their matchup against the Lions before dominating Zubr and their Cup matchup. Their reward for ensuring progression through the Cup? A 373rd ranked KC Kings - while it's on the road, it's probably a good 100K well worth it on the season. And with two difficult matchups on the road against Miami and then hosting the Night King's zombies, it makes sense to continue to on in the Cup, especially sitting where they're at.

11. Flamin' Flamingos (14)
It's unfortunate for the Flamingos, being in the Big 8 - I think if they were in the opposite conference, they'd probably have a better record (no offense Beer Bellys, Hustlas or STG). And while they're sitting at 3-5 on the season and only two games out of the playoffs at this point, they did only win two games against Big 8 teams before beating the Hustlas dominantly in their first interconference play. Next up, comes STG on the road and a good test of where they're really at against Żubr Białystok. They're also still in the Cup, with another favorable matchup before hell week in wee

12. The Beer Bellys (10)
Last season thatguy's squad was surprising and impressing, but now they're retooling and preparing for the future after moving on from Segovia. In the meantime, they've still got the impressive Isidre Homs and had an impressive 26 point improvement in OPP EFFG after playing the bottom seeds in both conferences. They find a stiff test this week with a home game against Linndale and then traveling to San Dominica.

13. Hustlas (7)
If I know anything about Reece, they're only biding their time to retool their roster until finances make sense. Riding a five game losing stream thanks to losses to Tasty on the road followed by a road decimation to Flamingos, they turn their attention to hosting 209's this weekend before traveling to Fondy. How much longer until they bring in some new blood?

14. STG on MCU (13)
At 2-6 it's been a rough go so far with their most recent losses to Zubr and the Lion Rebels. They flipped over to Princeton and had a good outside offensive performance with two players combining for almost half their total points in the game even though they were battling from behind the whole game. But for a 1 seed vs. 7 seed, it wasn't a bad showing. Next comes a 7 vs 7 matchup against the Flamingos at home followed by a road matchup with 209's MostWanted.

15. Fondy Cardinals (16)
While Fondy doesn't have the WORST offense, their defense is still at the bottom, true since week one. A 20-point loss to Linndale on the road followed by a 21-point loss to The Beer Bellys at home on TV leave them winless still on the season. On the slate next is Tasty on the road followed by Hustlas at home, where there might be potential for a win.

16. Cincinnati Slammers (11)
Cincy started out the season with an 83.5 EFFG (which was still only good for 15th) but had a 101 OPP EFFG good for 4th overall thanks to some crazy OPP EFFG scores overall. Now they find themselves settling into 15th in defense efficiency and a -283 point differential. Aside from a 2-point loss in game one, they haven't been very competitive, but only lost to Linndale by 12 this week. Unfortunately, next comes San Dominica at home and Philly Dribble on the road.

Onward through interdivisional play - best of luck!

GM walks into the Coach Pio Reina’s office, a bounce in his step. “Hey Coach, gotta few minutes?”
“Sure”, Pio replied. “What’s on your mind? You look like your in your criminal mastermind mode.”
GM retorts, “I am; I’m trying to take over the world.” Pio sighs. “What did you just do to make my life harder?”

“Open your email. You’ll see the player acquisition report. I want your thoughts on the guard room. I want to know if you want another point guard, or do we wait and see how things shake out?”

Pio reads the report. “I see. This is both a future move and a hedge our bets move, isn’t it? You’re thinking we can get this kid ready for backup minutes in the postseason, but you’re looking longer term. You’re thinking he might not become more than a backup point guard here, but he’d be a very nice backup. If he can develop his shooting range, things could get very interesting. Gives us an option if Shooter or Petriukstis can’t handle the point.”

“I thought about that, but I went in a slightly different direction. Imagine the new kid and Petriukstis in the back court together. Shooter off the bench as the 3rd guard. Reese at the small forward…” The GM got lost in thought for a moment.

“If the kids continue developing,” Pio started. “---we will have a young, nasty, defensive minded squad. Think 2 years down the line. The guards should be weapons on both ends. We might have some minor tweaking to do at the forward spots, but at center we’ll be pretty solid, and deep. What do you think about that?”

“I think we need a guard who can rebound and a big who can shoot it,” Pio replied.

“Check the next report.”

Pio looked at the next report. Looks like the GM is playing interdimensional chess today, Pio thought. It’s not perfect, but I can definitely make it work, he thought to himself. “I have concerns”, Pio allowed. Let’s see what we have with the kids right now. How close are we to being that defensive team in your eyes?”

“Petriukstis, Knowles, Kamp, Reese. Not worried about the centers. Still think there’s more to unlock with Mann at PF, Reynolds has the potential to be in that first group, Guevara still has room inside to grow I think.” GM thinks they are closer than Pio thinks. Pio is being pragmatic.

“Look, I think the kids need longer to cook than you do. I think growth is not linear. However, I trust that you’ll make this the best roster you can and I do think you listen to my opinions. You get the talent, and let’s see where this goes.” Pio didn’t want to show he was absolutely intrigued and was trying to downplay it. It worked.

“All right Coach. I’ll keep looking. We’ll see what else we can do. There’s gotta be that one guy out there that ticks the boxes, and we’re gonna go find him.”

“Marshall Richards here on the Linndale Basketball Pre Game Show with Coach Pio Reina! Coach, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, Marshall, Thank you for asking.”

“Coach, it’s already been an eventful season. We’ve seen an overhaul in the back court and a big addition up front. Let’s start up front; any word on when Floyd Hearn takes the court?”

“Floyd looks like he’s about a week out from returning to action. We’re excited to have him. It’s going to take a moment for the guys to get used to playing with him and we’ll likely change some rotations, but we think this is going to be good!”

“OK, let’s go the back court. Trenton Tovar is playing well, and some say better than expected. How would you evaluate his play?”


“He’s doing what he needs to earn his time. He’s taking care of the ball, when he gets to the line he knocks down his free throws, his defense is getting better, and he’s been picking up some time at the point and handling that as well. Mantas Petriukstis has seen time at both guard spots as well. He needs to be more aggressive on offense, but his defense guarantees he will play. Kyle Knowles has just been balling out, and we’re excited about the long term potential of Christophe Nguyen.”

“Coach, that brings us to the forwards. How is that group coming along?”

“Marshall, we know what we’re getting with Kamp and Guevara, but the addition of Hearn will allow us to do more things with them, and versatility is a strength of both. Art Reese is playing well defensively and getting better offensively. Harrison Mann has work to do, but we do see improvements. The wildcard is Rolland Reynolds, we simply do not know what his ceiling is but he will get every chance to get better.”

“Finally, coach, the centers. How will Hearn impact that group?”

“Marshall, you’re just going to have to wait and see like the rest of the league.”

“Coach, on to tonight’s opponent. The Beer Bellys are an interesting team.”

“They are, but I’m worried about my team. We can be an inconsistent bunch. I don’t like inconsistency. I need to see who will step up so Kyle doesn’t have to carry the load on offense. I also need more aggression on defense; I don’t like that our focus tends to wane. We need better focus on defense, we need to attack the boards, and we need a big game from someone besides Kyle Knowles.”

“Thank you for yout time, Coach, and good luck with tonight’s game!”

“Thanks, Marshall and thanks for having me.”

Day 9 (Saturday 11 March 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
209’s MostWanted 122 - Hustlas 95
Flamin' Flamingos 111 - STG on MCU 92
Lion Rebels 49 - Żubr Białystok 66
Carolina Rebels 58 - Miami Cleo 93
Philly Dribble 73 - The White Walkers 86
San Dominica Warriors 115 - Cincinnati Slammers 77
Linndale 107 - The Beer Bellys 105
Fondy Cardinals 77 - Tasty Tardsicles 110

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 122 : 209’s MostWanted
Rebounds : 67 : Tasty Tardsicles
Assists : 33 : San Dominica Warriors
Steals : 15 : 209’s MostWanted
Block Shots : 11 : Flamin' Flamingos

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 41 : J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 29 : A. San Miguel (STG on MCU)
Assists : 10 : Z. Shunyi (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 3 : P. Cuellar (209’s MostWanted), R. Raich (209’s MostWanted), V. Valladares (San Dominica Warriors), R. Singh (Lion Rebels), D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos)
Block Shots : 5 : A. Fornos (The White Walkers), S. Aldino (Flamin' Flamingos)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : B. Anderson (Flamin' Flamingos) (16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 24
Shooting Guard : J. Esposito (Hustlas) (41 Points, 4 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Small Forward : D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (29 Points, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43
Power Forward : C. Anaya (The White Walkers) (16 Points, 16 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30
Center : A. San Miguel (STG on MCU) (13 Points, 29 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34

MVP of the evening
D. Rivas (Flamin' Flamingos) (29 Points, 11 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 43

The bad performance of the evening
K. Brown (Lion Rebels) (3 Points, 1 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -4

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : L. Senserrich (Hustlas), M. Slakteris (Hustlas) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : N. Muižys (The Beer Bellys) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : G. Locus (Miami Cleo), B. George (Carolina Rebels), K. Brown (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), A. Fornos (The White Walkers), P. Stevens (Cincinnati Slammers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : Y. Georgoulis (The Beer Bellys) : 6 Three points

The best performer : V. Papageorgiou (The White Walkers) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : T. Lang (Fondy Cardinals) : Rating : 3.0

“Marshall Richards on the Linndale Basketball Pregame Show, and subbing in for the ill Happy Ourer, we have Air Allnite. Welcome to the show, Air!”

Air Allnite: “Glad to be here, Marshall. What do you say we get right to it?”

MR: “Let’s go! I interviewed Coach Pio reina after Saturday night’s game and he shared the following with us.” (plays video)

Pio Reina: “Offensively, this was our most balanced contest in a long time. Every starter scored double figures. We won the battle on the boards, won the turnover battle, Shooter was good off the bench with his offense, our bigs both had double doubles, and we were efficient with the 3 point ball. It was a team win. Defensively, the inconsistency showed up again. We had one good quarter defensively, the second. We were poor defending the 3 point line, we couldn’t slow down Tison or Georgoulis. We have a lot of work to do on that end, but the team showed their resolve and hung on for the win. A defensive effort of that caliber against the Tardsicles won’t cut it. We have got to be a lot better.”
MR: “And now we welcome Coach Reina to the show. How are you Coach?”

PR: “I’m good, thanks for asking. How’s Happy doing?

MR: “He’s getting better, He sends his regards and expects to be back this weekend.”

AA: “Coach Reina, Air Allnite---”

PR: “I know who you are. Marshall, any more questions?”

MR: “Well, Coach, what’s the plan for tonight?”

PR: “Marshall, we need a big game from our bigs. We need a much better defensive effort than we gave Saturday. We’ll also need big games from the guards.”

MR: “Air, any last questions?”

AA: “Coach,how do you---”

PR: “No, Marshall; no further questions. Thanks for having me and we’ll see you after the game.”

Hunt Mosley:
He’s the legend Bret Rodriguez, I’m Hunt Mosley and you’re watching/listening to the Warriors’ Post Game Show. Warriors take care of business against the Beer Bellys here in the SMG. Warriors jumped to a quick start and pretty much didn’t look back since. Bret I’ll let you get some 2 cents up in here.

Bret Rodriguez:
Like you said Hunt, Warriors wasted no time establishing where this house was and who this house belonged to. It was Baiao’s lab but there was some fabulous mad italian science from Fab Alidori, who had no problems filling in for the struggling Etienne Blanchet who just get out the zebra’s way with foul trouble.

Hunt Mosley:
I’ll have to stop you there partner as we’ve just found out Coach is at the podium and we’ll now take you to the post game press conference with Coach Stephenson.

Reporter#1
Coach, Thad Moreno, San Dominica Times-Real. Big win coach, your team came out and established itself quick and early. Did you guys stress any concerns about this being a trap game?

Coach Stephenson:
I know a lot of people looked upon this as a gimme game but look, the Beer Bellys are a dangerous.

From the crowd:
Especially after they’ve had their ale

Coach Stephenson:
Especially (laughing) after they’ve had their ale. But no we were not underestimating our opponent, so we wanted to get an early lead, run up the tempo, try and get their bigs tired. And it worked for the most part.

Reporter#2
Coach, Fab Alidori came off the bench for a struggling Etienne Blanchett, 24 points, 5 assists and 4 steals ...

Coach Stephenson:
Yeah I’ll save you some breath. Hmm Fab is a damn good combo guard. His shooting ability and court vision could have him be a starter in this league easily so today was just Fab being Fab and us being a team that lives by the credo ‘Always be ready because you never know’

Reporter#3
Coach, you guys went to a 3-2 that pretty much smothered their offense. How did you know to go with that?

Coach Stephenson:
Actually we were expecting them to go Look Inside. Hmm that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to have such a quick pace. Figured tired bigs, make horrible inside scorers. We went 3-2 hoping to stifle their guard action enough to make getting them the ball difficult and hoped that tired bigs having to shoot from difficult positions = low points. That they just happened to play motion really didn’t change the gameplan much

Reporter#5
Coach, your team’s been on a win streak. Obviously the process is working, are you guys starting to think you can repeat?

Coach Stephenson:
Look we’re just trying to take things one game at a time. Last year that approach got us to the Finals, hopefully that approach can give us the same results. But look, we’re just focused on keeping pace with the Lion Rebels. In fact we’re gonna take a look at that game. (laugh) hopefully get some intel on the Cleo.

From the crowd:
The Lions actually won that one by 14.

Coach Stephenson:
See those daggone Lion Rebels. I’m telling you guys, Blaine is like ‘Hey Coach, I hope when you sleep and you dream, you see us, and when you can’t sleep and you scream it’s because of us! But nah, Exhibit A of why you can’t crown us Big 8 champs yet. One last question

Reporter#6:
Might we be seeing a change?

Coach Stephenson:
Change where?

Reporter#6
At the PG position

Coach Stephenson:
What! Hell no! Look Fab’s good but right now when it comes to dropping dimes without giving the ball up, it’s Etienne’s show. All right guys we’ll be seeing you

Hunt Mosley:
That was Coach with his post game press conference. (turns to Bret) What's wrong

Brett Rodriguez: (banging his head on his interlocked hands)
I can't believe that last question

Hunt Mosely:
You and me both. We'll be back

Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 3/15/2023 2:33:06 AM

Day 10 (Tuesday 14 March 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
STG on MCU 74 - 209’s MostWanted 131
Żubr Białystok 109 - Flamin' Flamingos 85
Miami Cleo 84 - Lion Rebels 97
The White Walkers 76 - Carolina Rebels 74
Cincinnati Slammers 44 - Philly Dribble 144
The Beer Bellys 53 - San Dominica Warriors 111
Tasty Tardsicles 107 - Linndale 92
Hustlas 81 - Fondy Cardinals 95

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 144 : Philly Dribble
Rebounds : 64 : Lion Rebels
Assists : 36 : Philly Dribble, 209’s MostWanted
Steals : 14 : Philly Dribble, San Dominica Warriors
Block Shots : 13 : San Dominica Warriors

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 43 : J. Esposito (Hustlas)
Rebounds : 21 : D. Allen (Carolina Rebels), T. Kuykendall (Lion Rebels)
Assists : 9 : M. Maurin (Miami Cleo), M. Velasco (Philly Dribble), T. Rumin (209’s MostWanted)
Steals : 5 : J. Bégin (San Dominica Warriors)
Block Shots : 5 : N. Peretz (Żubr Białystok)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble) (16 Points, 6 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Shooting Guard : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo) (28 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots), L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors) (25 Points, 1 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 24
Small Forward : J. Glicas (Philly Dribble) (31 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36
Power Forward : N. Peretz (Żubr Białystok) (14 Points, 20 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Center : D. Allen (Carolina Rebels) (13 Points, 21 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29

MVP of the evening
J. Glicas (Philly Dribble) (31 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36

The bad performance of the evening
G. Tison (The Beer Bellys) (0 Points, 5 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -9

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : J. Esposito (Hustlas), I. Homs (The Beer Bellys), D. Christopher (Cincinnati Slammers) : 7 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo), T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : T. Plummer (Carolina Rebels), D. Freire (The White Walkers) : 53 Minutes

The shooter : T. Tovar (Linndale) : 7 Three points

The best performer : M. Velasco (Philly Dribble), T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : Z. Carr (Cincinnati Slammers) : Rating : 2.0