THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2010 Winter/Spring AL (NYC) |
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Courtside Chats With Chip - Playoff Edition | |
| I don’t know what happened to the season already but here we are in the very last week of it. Things scooted along here faster than John Wall going coast-to-coast on a self fastbreak. If only life were this breezy easy. Alas, it’s not and neither was anything the AL threw at us last week as three games settled by a grand total of 11 points played out. There is the New Jersey Nets coming THIS close to the #1 pick and there is three hard fought AL playoff games going down to the wire close. The Nets, cursed as they are, never stood a chance. Last Wednesday, we got Queens Elite escaping past SKWD in OT to advance onto the semifinals. SK held a lead most of the game, QE came back late, SK tied it down 3 with 12 ticks left thanks to Sol Choe’s display of ice water in his veins at the line, and then Mark Lee basically won it in OT with a dagger drip trip. This scribe describes the game well here (SK still had a shot at the horn to tie), but let me just reiterate the fact that it might have been the best AL game played this season bar none. And, yes, I’m aware of the double OT Monkey Kings game the week before as well as the Ridgewood Vets’ Mark Lee (the other Mark Lee) miracle. We basically got two of the best quarterfinal games ever in one season with this game and the Kings' double OT win over Who Dat the week before. I’m not sure how much more my heart can take. It’s a good thing baseball is in full swing now ‘cause I can always turn on a game to bore myself silly (seriously, is baseball really still relevant anymore?), thus lowering my heart rate. I swear, one day I’m going to die of a hoopertrophic heart. The subsequent games on Sunday didn’t really help ease my condition any. First, thanks to losing to the Kings and QE respectively, Who Dat and SK had to square off in the loser’s bracket since both had a loss to give. The game was tied at half, and the final was decided by the number Jason Kidd wore in college. Fitting, since WD handed out 17 assists on the team’s 23 made field goals. And yet, they still lost as SK got a coherent team effort with 6 guys scoring 7 or more points, spreading the floor as effectively as the Phoenix Suns when they’re not playing the Lakers. (Can we just pen in Boston-LA again folks? And has there ever been a team in basketball history more down on their luck than Who Dat? Their 6 losses this season were by a total of 24 points. Well, at least they're not the Nets.) After that game, the Kings met the Queens (and where are our Jokers?) in a semifinal made for Yoshi. Yes, specially scheduled on Sunday so that QE’s departing legend Yoshi Kagitomi could make the game (he leaves this Saturday for good back to Japan), this highly anticipated match-up pitted 1 vs. 2, exactly what everyone expected would be when this playoffs started. It was one of the last times we’d ever see Y2K go against Tony Hu who has affectionately called Y2K “a real pain in the ass” since he never stops jumping to try to block Hu’s shots. Hu got the better of Y2K (20 and 12 to Y2K’s 13 and 9), it felt a lot like watching Hakeem go against Ewing one more time, and the Kings got the better of their better half with a 56-52 win over the Queens. The difference? As it often is with teams with Tony, free throws. MK made 7 more (Hu was 10/11) and escaped with the narrow win. (MK, who was notably without Nick Mui, also got great support from Mike Chan and Kevin Quach.) Was that the last time we see Y2K take on Hu? Something tells me maybe not, but in order for that to happen, QE must first deal with SK tonight in the loser’s bracket semifinal. Whoever wins gains the distinct pleasure of tackling the Monkeys again tomorrow Thursday in Game 1 of the AL Chip. Did someone just say AL Chip? Already? Yea, I said it. Man, faster than an Evan Turner crossover step back stop and pop.
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