THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2007_Summer/Fall AL (NYC) |
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Could SK Beat the Knicks? | |
| It’s still never happened. No team in DLNY history, on any level, has finished the entire season undefeated. We’re talking regular season plus playoffs here folks. We’ve had a few perfect regular seasons from teams, but we’ve never had a run the entire way through that was pristine. The top-seeded Hypebeasts joined that fray for the second season in a row after dropping a 66-59 decision to the 3rd-seeded SK War Dog on Thursday night in an AL semifinal game. Last season, Hype dropped a playoff game to Picked Last In PE before they got back on track and eventually cleaned up the chip in the AAA. The loss proved to be a mere distraction. This time however, it looks to be far from. This loss appears to be serious trouble. A perfect 9-0 season is starting to look more and more like it was nothing but a nice run because the team that beat them – SK – is more and more looking like the class of the division.
How on earth did this team lose three games in the regular season? No point in beating around the bush. In SK’s losses – to Hype, Moneyball, and Moe’s Tavern – they had none of the services of AK Tewary, Eljay Aguillo, nor JR Bautista. If I told you the Celtics would be without PP, KG, and Ray-Ray, would you think they could beat the Knicks? Check these stats: 21 points, 8 rebounds; 8 points, 11 rebounds; 21 points, 2 treys. Oh, I’m sorry, those were the stats of PP, KG, and Ray-Ray in their 45-point win (WHAT?) over the Knicks on the same night in Boston. Here in New York, in the only game in town, SK got 21 points, 13 rebounds; 19 points, 10 rebounds; and 13 points, 2 treys from AK, JR, and LJ and, while Hype valiantly came back from their largest deficit of the season of 16 to close as close as (I’m still thinking about how the Knicks were down 52 at one point) 3 late, SK essentially dominated this game, never trailing, not even for a second. By exposing Hype’s lack of size, SK showed off what they have – and they showed it off in spades. No team is as big as they. AK, JR, and Arif Ansari would be a formidable offensive line. And at one point in the game, Ansari declared, “Yes, that’s legal in football, but this is basketball.” No team has as much range as they. Aguillo stretches defenses all the way out to 24 feet and Andre Liu, Felix Shen, and Bautista must be respected at the arc as well. In this game, SK went 6 of 12 from downtown, allowing their post plenty of room to roam inside. Not only do they sit in the driver’s seat now as they have a loss to give in the championship round, but they also have history on their side as the 3rd-seed. Last season, Yaletown, one of their possible opponents in the final (who won’t have to face Ian Yu in their loser’s brack semifinal since he’ll be on vacation a little too early), won it all as the 3-seed. Being a 3-seed in the AL is to your advantage. The fact that SK toppled the undefeated top seed actually hardly seems like an upset at all. The word out of Vegas was that SK was actually favored, what with all their size and talent and all. Don’t rule Hype or Yale out just yet, ‘cause, hey, the Knicks are still mathematically alive to win it all. |
