THERE WILL BE NO GAMES THIS WEEK. THE VENUE IS DOING ITS ANNUAL RESURFACING THE FLOORS THIS WEEK AND, WITH THE HIGH HUMIDITY, THERE IS NO WAY TO BE SURE THAT THE FLOORS WILL CURE BY SUNDAY. SO, THE SEMIFINAL GAMES WILL BE ON AUGUST 21ST, WITH THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ON AUGUST 28TH. THANKS. 

People ask me why, after 34 years, I continue to do what I do with the Tucson Basketball League. One quick answer is that I have never quit anything in my life and I'm not going to start now. But there are other things, one of which relates to what I (and others) witnessed last night. It was the final game of the night and the final game of the first round of the Summer 2022 playoffs. Flashback and Team Lace-Up were locked in a tight battle. Flashback had edged out to a seven-point lead in the first half, but Lace-Up rallied and tied the game at 32-32 at halftime. Lace-Up started the second half with a scoring burst and jumped out to a 10-point lead. Led by the amazing Aaron Anderson, who put up 42 points, Flashback chipped away at the lead, but Lace-Up answered every challenge with a big shot of their own. 

With three minutes to go, it appeared that Lace-Up, still up by eight, was going to hold on to the lead and pull out a win. But Anderson went to work, hitting a big three-pointer and then throwing down a thunderous two-handed dunk. Flashback took a two-point lead inside a minute and then had two free throws that could have iced the game. But they only made one, giving Lace-Up a chance with only seconds remaining. They got the ball to Khalid Whitaker, who launched a last-second 30-footer. The buzzer actually went off when the ball was still in the air. The ball swished through and we were headed for overtime.

After trading baskets in the OT, Flashback took a two-point lead on a strong inside move by Anderson. This time, there was one second left. Lace-Up called time-out to advance the ball to halfcourt. They inbounded the ball to Whitaker, who was just inside halfcourt. He caught it and shot it with one motion. Again the buzzer sounded when the ball was in the air and again it hit dead bottom, giving Lace-Up an incredibly unlikely win.