The first part of the first round of the Summer 2023 playoffs got off to a great start, with several really close and exciting games. The night games on my court (TMC) were especially engaging. We started the night off with The Fam taking on Redmen. Jared Mallon hit a long three at the buzzer to give The Fam a 29-26 lead at halftime. The Fam started off the second half with a spurt and jumped out to an eight-point lead. But some deadly outside shooting by ageless Roland Ramon brought Redmen back to take the lead. The two teams traded the lead back and forth for much of the second half before Redmen crawled out to an eight-point lead with four minutes left. But after a freak injury took out a Redmen starter, The Fam scored 10 straight points to take a two-point lead. With just seconds left in the game, Ramon was fouled and calmly sank both ends of a one-and-one to tie the game. But a weird foul on the inbounds pass sent Mallon to the free-throw line at the other end. Mallon sank the first shot, missed the second and got his own rebound. He was fouled again and made bother free throws for the 70-67 final margin.
In the next game, Paper Route Hoopers jumped out to an early lead right and appeared to be cruising. But Uh-Oh! hit a couple big threes and closed the margin to three at the half. The Hooper again went on a run and this time opened a double-digit lead, but Uh-Oh! put on a furious rally and closed to within one point. The Hoopers his a couple big shots down the stretch and held on for a one-point victory.
In the third game of the night, the Twisted Boys and White Men Can't Jump combined to put up 99 points...in the first half! There was lots of O and very little D. Twisted Boys actually had a commanding lead before White Men began to find the range from three. It was a six-point game before Twisted closed the first half with a flurry. For much of the second half, Twisted Boys maintained a 10- to 12-point lead, but then the jumping White Boys cut it to five with two minutes left. A couple late threes provided the final margin.
Closing out the night was a barnburner between Rainbow Drillers and Gila Monsters. It was yet another game that went right down to the wire. The Monsters had a couple shots late that could have tied the game or even taken the lead, but they just couldn't connect. Like Fleming led the Drillers into the second round.
Speaking of which, I just want to remind you that next week (August 6th) will feature the balance of the first-round games of the Summer 2023 playoffs. We will have 30 games next week. This week's winners will join next week's 30 winners, plus the 10 teams that got first-round byes (based on their regular-season records) to play in the semifinals on August 13th. We will then take the next week (August 20th) off while the venue has the floors re-surfaced. The championship games will be played on August 27th.
Here's a list of the scores from the first-round games.
Blue Coconuts 66, One of One 62
Fleet 62, The Suns 57
JAK 54, Rattlers 44
Flashback 66, Tucson Cyclones 59
Killer Whales 70, Black Mambas 52
AZ Knights 58. Solar Bears 52
KP Ballerz 56, Brick and Morty 39
Fab Five 54, Showtime 41
The Pack 70, Da Wolves 50
Soul Snatchers 64, The Regulators 42
Sikhos 51, Slashers 42
The Fam 70, Redmen 67
Paper Route Hoopers 41, Uh-oh! 40
Twisted Boys 97, White Men Can Jump 88
Rainbow Drillers 61, Gila Monsters 57
In a totally non-basketball related story, I was talking to Zach Jones and Paul Choi of Blue Coconuts after their tight 66-62 win over One of One. I happened to mention that besides coaching girls' basketball and girls' tennis at Amphi High, I'm also coaching girls' golf. (I'm proud to say that all three teams had winning records last year, which, believe me, is a testament to my players and not to my coaching. And, on the three teams, we had exactly one senior, so we should be really good this year.) Anyway, Paul, an avid golfer, dragged Zach along one day to play at Highlands. Zach, who played college ball and stands about 6'4", is still a strong and smooth athlete, but the golf course was whuppin' him like it was his daddy. In one three-hole stretch, he had two scores of 10. But in between the two 10s, he had a hole-in one! There are people who golf their entire lives and never have a hole-in-one and then there's Zach.
To hear Paul tell it, "He didn't even hit the ball that well! The ball almost never even left the ground. It was skimming along the grass and barely made it to the green. But once it got to the green, it just rolled right up to the cup and fell in."
Zach says that he has the scorecard and the ball at home. It's in a safe, just in case Paul gets any sinister ideas.
Again, any new teams interested in joining the League should contact me soon. Even if we've already communicated, please contact me again just to confirm. Thanks.