THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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Homecrest Cruisers 71, M&A 101 41 |
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Cruisers Drive All Over 101 | |||||
September 21, 2006 - New York, NY (DL) - Driving down the 101 in Cali can be a great experience, especially with the windows down and sunroof open with the warm sun above you, the perfect driving music blasting from the Bose, and nice breezy wind blowing. You look to your side, you might see trees, patches of green, the beautiful campuses of the Silicon Valley tech companies, maybe even the Carl’s Jr. Star smiling at you. You think life is just wonderful as you go down the 101. Until your very first highway robbery. M&A was having a solid campaign the first few games of the season, winning several nail biters despite not playing to the team’s full potential. Unfortunately, this California dreamin’ season came to a monumental crash when they faced a band of highway robbers – the Cruisers – who shifted up several gears for this game. The tone was set on the very first play when Stanley Yeung stripped the M&A architect, Brian Yang, right off the tip. A no-look Quincy Tso pass to a backdoor-cutting George Chan for a quickie started the damage. The first robbery was painful while the next two consecutive steals (also from Stan) shattered 101 for rest of the evening. Three turnovers on their first three possessions doomed M&A as they found themselves down 9-0 following a three-pointer from CB Liu and another aggressive move to the basket by Chan.
On the other end, when M&A did manage to keep the loot—I meant ball—from Stan, they just played hot potatoes up around the three-point line. No rhythm and completely out-of sync, no one on M&A was looking for his shot as the initial series of consecutive turnovers completely took the offensive life, or any life for that matter, out of this team. Perhaps they needed a bus driver, like Young Yu, who sat this game out due to a stiff back, to drive them home as shown on by their frustration and panic. Cross-over extraordinaire, Kirk Kim, tried to jump-start 101 with a beautiful theft in the first quarter but his even more beautiful behind the back pass in the transition was blown by the trailing Hiro Asato as the ball swerved out – a foreshadowing of things to come. With the continued onslaught by the Cruisers, only with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter did Fred Lee find center Brian Liang for a jumper from the elbow for the first bucket of the game for M&A. The Cruisers, however, countered immediately with a Quincy three-pointer. Following another Stan steal, the head robber finds CB (who hit his 22 ppg average on the dot) on the break for a three, and even before the shot is taken, someone yells “that’s one assist for Stan” from the score table. Nothing but net. Despite Kim’s heroic attempts in breaking down the Cruisers’ press with his dribble penetration, his teammates continually miss the open jumpers or the close lay-ups. The frustration of 101 carried over from the offensive end to the defensive side as the Cruisers continually beat them to the loose balls including a Tony Hu offensive rebound before hitting a cutting Quincy for a pull-up jumper near the end of the second quarter. With two minutes left in the first half, 101 already has 13 turnovers and finishes the half down 31-9.
The Cruisers started the 2nd half on cruise control ignited by a ridiculous fade-away jumper by Garry Yeung. 101 did come out a bit stronger this half, including, for the first (and only) time all game, a 4-0 run finished by a Liang with a dime from Nelson Wong. However, another steal by Stan leading to a three-on-none break crushed all hopes once again for M&A. Despite sporadic successes in the second half by M&A including several tough lay-ups and hustle rebounds by Yang and Asato and three-pointers coming Fred Lee and Jon Chin (10 points), the Cruisers easily countered, hitting on all cylinders. A Lakers Showtime, not unfamiliar to those on 101, was displayed -- a semi-dunk by Mika Ohiorhenuan, a behind-the-back pass from Hu in transition, a CB alley-hoop to Mika, and finally a three pointer by Hu – all pushed the lead further. The Cruisers (4-1) demonstrated their formidable team play and power on this evening as they hit from all cylinders, complemented by an impenetrable team defense, and turned this lopsided affair into a joke.
Don't think so? The way the coach and players were toying with M&A and doing whatever they wanted, and saying whatever they wanted, you'd thought it was Open Mic Night at the Apollo. On the other hand, you could see and feel the sigh of relief on the side of 101 as the buzzer sounded and the evening’s highway to hell ended. The basketball gods must have driven off a ramp and were dining at the local In & Out this night. Members of the new franchise were robbed of confidence, lunch money, and complacency by a very cohesive band of thieves. With the little money left in their pockets, members of M&A went to the local bar hoping to forget the horrific evening. Two large combo platters of nachos, quesadillas, and wings, supplemented by bottomless Bud temporarily soothed the painful memories. But no amount of food and booze was going to heal the pain. ‘Cause no one ever forgets his first highway robbery. Not on the 101.
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Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M&A 101 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 18 | - | 41 |
| Homecrest Cruisers | 14 | 17 | 19 | 21 | - | 71 |
Boxscore
| M&A 101 - 41 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asato, Hiro | 2 / 11 [0.182] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| Chin, Jon | 4 / 11 [0.364] | 2 / 3 [0.667] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | |
| Kim, Kirk | 0 / 6 [0.000] | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
| Lai, George | DNP | ||||||||||
| Lee, Fred | 3 / 7 [0.429] | 2 / 6 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 8 | |
| Liang, Brian | 2 / 5 [0.400] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 6 | |
| Wong, Nelson | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Yang, Brian | 3 / 6 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 9 | |
| Yu, Young | DNP | ||||||||||
| 15 / 52 [0.288] | 4 / 15 [0.267] | 7 / 8 [0.875] | 29 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 25 | 18 | 41 | ||
| Homecrest Cruisers - 71 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chan, David | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Chan, George | 3 / 6 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 / 5 [0.800] | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |
| Cheng, David | DNP | ||||||||||
| Cheung, Warren | DNP | ||||||||||
| Hu, Tony | 3 / 6 [0.500] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | |
| Liu, CB | 7 / 13 [0.538] | 5 / 10 [0.500] | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 22 | |
| Ohiorhenuan, Mika | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| Tso, Quincy | 3 / 5 [0.600] | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | |
| Yeung, Gary | 4 / 4 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| Yeung, Stan | 4 / 11 [0.364] | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | |
| 27 / 53 [0.509] | 8 / 19 [0.421] | 9 / 14 [0.643] | 32 | 16 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 71 | ||
Referees
| Tyrone Blount: | Rate Me |
| Sean Fincher: | Rate Me |