THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2009`Fall/Winter AAA (NYC) |
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PLAYOFF PERCH (12.09.09) | |
| We are well underway here in the AAA Playoffs with New Blood dismissing the 11th seeded NY Lions last Sunday while another pair of lower seeded teams were shown the exit door Thursday night with Team Wet and Thelonious Dunk keeping their good seasons going with 53-22 and 57-43 wins over Firstrade and the Good News Bears respectively in the opening round. Thus, so far, form is holding up and as you browse the results, nary an eyebrow has been raised. Which is all fine and good since you gotta save your eyebrow raises for each and every thing you’re undoubtedly catching on Jeremy Lin! I mean, seriously, are you seeing what the kid is doing in putting himself on the map??? Are we going to be shocked if his name gets called in the NBA Draft? Are you – DL Nation – following our main man’s blog on JL??? Okay, excuse us for the transgression – oh wait, that’s a Tiger Woods word – excuse us for the digression, we are a tad bit excited about the Harvard hotshot’s ongoings this season, but we’ll try to clamor down and focus on what’s at hand here: two games on Sunday that will test 4 teams’ will. First up, at 1:30, last season’s AAA-Premiere Champ, Team Biny (who has had as big a fall from championship grace as the Pittsburgh Steelers) face the Baroness in a do-or-die situation. Biny beat Baroness by a bucket in their season openers and, so, interestingly, one team’s season will end at the hands of the same team they faced to start. Will Baroness exact revenge or will Biny be proud and muster some championship spirit? If Biny is to get past the Baroness, Eden Chuang had better find himself before tip-off. EC has had one of the biggest drop-offs in production from one season to the next in the history of the game. He was MVP last season and today, he looks like he’s a DNP every game, barely registering stats in comparison to his usual averages over his career. At 5.6 ppg, EC is scoring an all-time low and no one knows why. All Biny knows is they need him to be his old self quick, for if not, Noh-Joon Choo and company are ready to bounce ‘em. B-Ness comes into this game on a 2 game winning streak and got great production from Jimmy Chang who averaged 21 ppg in both wins, including a career high 28 in a 60-31 pasting of Firstrade. With dangerous hands in Chang and Eric Rhee on the perimeter and one of the AAA’s best big men in Choo, the ‘Ness (and I finally saw GI Joe on the plane the other day but missed the last 10 minutes ‘cause I had to go to the bathroom and some lady was in there for about 20 I kid you not) could be a team who ruins more than one team’s playoff dream this post-season. They’re our darkhorse. Following Biny/Baroness, we get Blood vs. Bold School. Okay, fine, not Bold School, but it ought to be – in the spirit of the other 3 teams having names that begin with the letter B. Blood’s already got their blood going with an opening round win while TSIVOS is playing their first post-season game. The teams never met in the regular season, but since both of their last games came against the same opponent, let’s see how this match-up might play out based on that. On 12/3, TSIVOS beat the NY Lions 79-62. Ray Huang had a season high 29 and 10. Dave Wong had 21 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 steals (typical.) And Chris Kwan found the bottom of the basket 5 out of 12 times from the arc for 17. Andre Liu had double 7’s, Felix Shen had 10 dimes, and Brian Zhang ate up 13 rebounds. The team was perfect from the line, had 22 assists on their 30 made shots, and generally looked everything like a championship caliber team is supposed to look. Last Sunday, New Blood beat the Lions 74-35. Steve Cheah, Nick Gao, and Joe Yen all had double doubles. (When is the last time 3 guys on the same team had double D’s?) The Lam Bros each stuffed the stat sheet with all sorts of stats – and so too did Jason Kwok. They clobbered the Lions on the glass, had 21 assists on their 30 made shots, limited their turnovers, and generally looked everything like a championship caliber team is supposed to look. So, what does that tell us? Who is going to come out on top when all is said and done? Who knows? But whoever loses, stays alive since both squads hold double-e. So even if you lose, you really win. Ain’t that cool? PLAYOFF PLAYER INTERVIEW As the playoffs roll on, regularly during the run, we'll bring you inside the head of player as we sit down to get 3-5 good minutes with them. This week, we give you the man who would be wet.
From Old Boys to Team Wet, Under My Umbr-Ellitar Kim embodies the essence of being ‘Wet’. Led by Kim’s 11.7 ppg/ 5.9bpg/ 1.1 apg/ 2.1 spg average, Team Wet comes into the playoffs at 4-4, having clinched double elimination status, and gotten past Firstrade in Round 1. In one of the more provocative interviews ever (according to Elitar at least) to be posted on the Dream League site, we learn how they went from Old and lethargic to constantly being Wet. DL: When was your first “Hey, I’m pretty good at this game, maybe I should play in an Asian basketball league in the future” moment? EK: Hmm..definitely a great question. I never thought about that; I wanted to play just for the sake of keeping myself active and being supportive of the Asian community by playing all together. DL: What position do you play and why did you decide to join up with Team Wet this season? EK: I am a 2-guard / 3-small forward. I and several others wanted to play together for an opportunity to win the chip. We named ourselves "Team Wet" b/c we're all too "wet" when we shoot the rock! It may sound a bit provocative at first - yes yes, we've heard that it is - but who cares! We're "WET" and we love it!! DL: What current NBA player best describes your game? EK: I don't think I play like anyone in the NBA; otherwise, I would be in the NBA rather than answering these interview questions with you - haha JK. Let's just say I play like Kobe..............................NOT! But I do love Kobe though - favorite player right now. DL: Come playoff time, what makes your team so dangerous? EK: Like I said before, when we're wet, WE ARE "WET"! Brian/Ralph, make sure you quote me on that! DL: If we win a Championship this year it’s because of … EK: Team Chemistry! This is our first year playing together and to be quite frank, team chemistry was horrible the first few games; however, I think we are getting better each and every game. Come playoff time, we should be ready to roll and win the chip!!! |
