HOOPS Review: Game 8 - ABSG Reapers vs The Splash Brothers

What’s up everyone!

I’m hoping you enjoyed your weekend, and happy Hump Day!

I’m happy to report that your Reapers got the job done against the Splash Brothers, but boy, that was a close one! The game ended with a final score of 61-60, after a brilliant inbounds play which saw Napthali cap off his 16 point performance with a dagger from the mid-range. This led to an agonizing 30 seconds of The Splash Bros fouling on our repeated attempts to move up the court, but luckily for us the referees didn’t have us in the bonus yet, so we were able to run out the clock each time. Jericho and Zavante both helped out with 10 points each, and we were able to out-rebound the opposition 37-30, all in all, a solid win!

What didn’t go so well…

What we really failed to manage, was the other teams cherry-picking. Particularly from a certain Calvert Lee, who is probably the definition of a veteran basketball player with an old-man’s game. He’s just so elusive and crafty with the ball he really just lives at the free-throw line, and he must’ve made every and-1 attempt, scoring 21 points which led his team. We managed to keep their best player, Jason Lowe, to 10 points and they had some older reinforcements in Gikai Clarke who was absolute money from long-range. Either way, we let their individuals hurt us a little too much, and we could’ve managed the game a lot more strictly that what we actually did. I thought we could’ve been a bit more committed on defense at times, particularly in the half-court. We have the length and the athleticism to try to pick passes off and clog the lanes, but we seemed a little hesitant to do so on Saturday.

What went pretty well…

We made this one a lot more difficult than it needed to be, but in the 4th quarter we really locked in and saw the game out, something we’ve not been great at this season as evidenced by our record. Napthali also had a really good game, and was super aggressive throughout even though not all his shots were falling. Credit to Jericho where it is due as well, he stuck on Jason Lowe the whole game and proved having a big body on him can slow him down. We were strong on the glass and got out in transition a few times, which led to some easy buckets, but moreover our half-court offense was really strong. Jorel only played a few minutes since he is still nursing his ankle injury, and will probably continue to do so until the playoffs. Kanye also looks like he’s beginning to turn a corner, and with him, Nap, and Jorel all firing with Jericho being a steady presence with Zakai and Zavante, we could be a troubling match up in the playoffs!

What to look forward to next game…

Next week we play The Answer, and with an in-form JahZion Lugo, they’ll be a tough match up! If we can dictate the pace of the game like we have in our two wins this season, we can make it a competitive match-up for them.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this mid-week review, look out for the next edition on Friday!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Jason