East Pre-Season Recap

Friday, 30 October 2009

The games started out at center court with Stanley/Sijo's team "Styl" taking on the veteran Desert Eagles, led by Adam and Kunal. While Styl has more of a guard-heavy line-up surrounding their big man in the middle, the Eagles had seven forwards to go along with their big man. In this game of speed vs. strength, speed won out in a big way. Styl led by double digits from half-time and didn't look back. It's no surprise that Styl was one of the most cohesive teams of the night since those guys play together regularly. The game of the night was between newcomers Adrenaline and 24 Seven, but it didn't start out that way. 24 Seven jumped out early to a 15+ point lead as both teams looked pretty sloppy at times. But the cavalry finally found the gym and made it in time to help Adrenaline chip away at the big lead and eventually tie it up with 15 seconds left. 24 Seven hit some big shots, but none bigger than an off-balance runner in the lane with 5 second left which sealed the game. The only team that is quite possibly bigger than the Eagles is Simran's Lions. They made short work of newcomer Bulldogs in a game that had Lions leading by double digits most of the way. The Bulldogs showed promise with several 3-point barrages but they got hammered on the offensives glass all game. On the other court, Strong Island made short work of newcomer Force with three's, layups, mid-range shots... you name it. Force didn't do itself any favors by turning the ball over regularly and failing to knock down its open shots.

 

SABL East Pre-Season

Monday, 26 October 2009

Now it's the East's turn to get some pre-season basketball under their belts. There's several new teams lacing it up in the East along with a few veteran teams mixed in to boot. Here's how the schedule looks for Thursday 10/29/09 at Locust Valley: SABL EAST PRESEASON 7:25 to 8:40PM: Eagles vs. Styl (Center Court) 7:25 to 8:40PM: Adrenaline vs. 24 Seven (Court B) 8:40 to 9:55PM- Lions vs. Bulldogs (Center Court) 8:40 to 9:55PM- Force vs. Strong Island (Court B) Captains, please don't forget your paperwork and balances. The gym opens around 7:10 for warm-ups and prep.

 

West Pre-Season Recap

Monday, 26 October 2009

It seems like the Pre-Season worked out well for the teams in the West because you could just see teams working in new players, shaking off the rust/dust, and getting used to playing against other SABL competition (and not to mention getting using to the Refs and submitting the paperwork!). Some teams looked more fine-tuned and ready than others, but what you could immediately notice was that all teams were capable of being very competitive on any given night. There were virtually no blowouts--the likes of which we have all become used to seeing on a regular basis in past seasons. Strictly Business and MKA-NY started things off in the game of the day. It was back and forth all game with plenty of highlight plays. SB played a sound "team" game while MKA lit it up from 3-point land, led by Rahul. With 5 seconds left and his team down one, Rahul launched a contested 3-pointer that rimmed out. Both teams played a high level of basketball. HUMANS and Titans were up next, but both teams were missing a handful of rotation players. HUMANS were able to take advantage, however, and run the Titans out of the gym on their way to a 15+ point victory. This game certainly felt more like an exhibition than a rematch of last years finals. SWAT played the Red Jaguars in game three and, once again, both teams were missing a few rotation players. It was sloppy at times, but the score was close throughout. Tarek and Zeeshan led the way for SWAT with long-range bombs, while Biju and co. of the Jaguars found ways to exploit SWAT's defense all game long. Jaguars won by 4. The last game at Far Rock didn't turn out how people would have expected it to last year. The new-look Ravens jumped on the scrambling Ballers from tip off and didn't let their foots off the pedal until the buzzer. Ballers did cut the double-digit lead to 6 towards the end, but Ravens were just too much. Ravens showed much better cohesiveness and speed as a team than they did most of last season. Ballers introduced two new talents to their already deep squad in the hopes of getting back to "contender" status. Although Ballers know as well as anyone that talent alone can't win championships. The other "game of the night" had to be Strong Island verse Hit-Men. Strong Island came in with a totally revamped and much deeper bench to go along with the quality starting line-up most of us are used to seeing. Hit-Men too came into the game with a deeper bench than last season and brought back Lamba, Harpreet and a new talented back-court mate to take some of the burden off Triggy's shoulders. The game was back and forth most of the way but Hit-Men managed to hold on with a 4-point victory. The last game of the night was Panthers verse the newcomers, Rukus. Panthers showed up one year older and and one year stronger and with pretty much the same talented roster as last year. Once again they looked really tough to beat. Rukus put up a good battle, however, and kept it pretty close throughout. Rukus is gonna win their share of games this year once they get used to playing with each other. The crazy part is that four of these teams will be on the outside looking in come playoff time, and the four that miss it would probably have been good enough to have make the playoffs in the last few seasons. Wow...

 

League Update & Pre-Season Schedule

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

There is an opening in SABL East (Thursday nights at Locust Valley) for an 8th team to join. Any players or teams from the West are free to take that 8th spot if they would like (at a discount if they play in both divisions). The Draft will take place this Thursday at 7:30PM at Locust Valley as planned. If you're interested in playing for the 8th team or trying to get picked up by another SABL team, please show up and sign in to get a number. At worst, you'll get to play a few hours of free basketball. This is *not* an open gym so if you're already on a team, you won't be able to play unfortunately. By popular demand (and because some jerseys are taking slightly longer than expected!), week one for both leagues will be SABL Pre-Season basketball. This will give teams a chance to get accustomed to playing with new teammates without all the pressure and it will give the refs a chance to get used to our league and players. The schedule will be posted regularly under the "Schedule" tab in the next few weeks, but for now, here is the schedule for SABL West for this Sunday 10/25/09 (Pre-Season): [Far Rockaway] 1:00-2:15 MKA vs. Strictly Biz 2:15-3:30 Humans vs. Titans 3:30-4:45 SWAT vs. Jaguars 4:45-6:00 Ballers vs. Ravens [Flushing] 7:10-8:25 Hitmen vs. Strong Island 8:35-9:50 Rukus vs. Panthers The addresses of the gyms are posted under the "Venue" tab at the top of the page. SABL East's Pre-Season schedule will be up by this weekend for 10/29. Show up at least 15 minutes before your scheduled game times, please! Thanks.

 

Introducing SABL West

Friday, 16 October 2009