April 6th, 2008

The South Asian Basketball League began its playoffs. The stage was set on a brisk 43 degree day. Fifteen minutes before game time the Spartans were warming up on one side of the gym and the Basketballers were practicing on the other side.

Five minutes before game time both captains were brought to center court and some of the rules and regulations were explained to the both of them, they were told to have a good game and both shook hands and the game began.

Basketballers immediately realized that they were undersized as the combination of Alfie and Rex proved to be too dominant on the glass as they helped the Spartans to jump out to a 6 point lead. Usman had 3 early fouls in the first half and was regulated to be a partial bystander. Usman in his limited minutes in the first half proved to be little more than a stop gap against the formidable Spartan front line. Talha also stepped in and grabbed rebounds by tipping it to his teammates and was instrumental to holding the Spartan front line.

In the second half with the gym at a deafening decibel level the Basketballers made their run. Give and gos to Nadeem who hit jumper after jumper to have the ballers claw back, steals by Omair, Nabeel, Sajeel allowed the ballers to run the break and take the lead from the Spartans.

The Spartans weren't going to give up and every run of the Ballers was met by and 1 by Rex. When Zeeshan was T'd up by the referees it looked to be over for Baller nation as Rex calmly hit all 4 of his free throws.

But the Ballers were not to be denied as they roared back with huge contributions from Nabeel who had a nifty up and under move plus a steal and lay up. The crowd proved to be the difference as it was so loud it proved to be difficult to even hear the referees, as BaySide literally shook on every Baller defensive possession.

On this day the Basketballers were not to be denied as they beat the Spartans 53-50. The game has been uploaded and will be ready for viewing shortly in the Media section of the web site.


Triple Threat (1) vs HitMen (8)

Triple Threat and HitMen engaged in what can only be called a wild west style shoot out. When the clock stopped at roughly 8:05 both teams had combined for 180 or so points. The game broke all South Asian Basketball League scoring records.

The game found Abdullah with his wrapped hand in the starting line up against the HitMen team that didn't have Simran Lamba. The game began with Triple Threat jumping out to an early 7-3 lead. With the lone HitMen offense coming off of an Imran three pointer. The HitMen would find themselves facing defecits of as much as 17 at one point to begin the second half.

The Dynamic duo of Abdullah and Joe who were the only two from Triple Threat to score in double figures in this game willed Triple Threat to a victory. With Abdullah scoring a SABL record 47 points in this game and going an incredible 15-16 from the free throw line.

The game was very aggressive from the get go with the referees "letting them play" this resulted in many bodies hitting the floor and both teams getting a lot of floor burn. Triple Threat was led by Joe with 15 rebounds and Arfan with 6 rebounds. Both of them were undersized against the intimidating HitMen front line.

Near the second half, the HitMen bench began to scream for Lamba and his injured ankle to get off the bench and to come and participate. Lamba complied and in a Willis Reed like performance came off the bench and led a HitMen team that was down by as much as 17 points in a furious second half comeback. Having Lamba in the game immediately opened up things for Anees who poured in 28 points and at one point in the second half went toe to toe vs Abdullah that had BaySide shaking and the BaySide security wondering what was going on. The crowd wouldn't finish oohing from an Abdullah finish and Anees would awe them right back with a nifty play of his own. Sinu poured in three after three for 23 points and the HitMen came within 1 point of taking the lead with only 2 minutes left in the game.

With the crowd anxiously looking on and Arfan and Imran fouled out of the game and with Joe with 4 fouls, and Zebi bloodied but still playing. Abdullah put Triple Threat on his back and drove to the basket time and time again getting knocked down on many occasions only to stand up and to calmly sink his free throws.

HitMen made a gallant comeback and the momentum looked like it was on their side but ultimately even the menacing front line of the HitMen and the improved guard play of Eky, Anees and Sinu could outshine the performance that Abdullah was able to muster.