THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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A Ball 47, M&A 101 46 |
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Return Of Chin = Win |
| January 31, 2008 – New York, NY (DL) – Just another example of the early bird getting the worm. A Ball opened their season with a tight 47-46 surviving of a totally retooled M&A 101 squad on Thursday, making it 3 wins in their last 4 games dating back to last season. (That qualifies as red hot if you ask me.) What a difference a Danny will make. Having spent last season with only one Danny (Han), after the other one (Chin) jumped to the RL Cruisers for an uncomfortable season, A Ball welcomed back the jumpin’ one with open arms. He showed his gratitude for their not blacklisting him for dissin’ them last season by delivering 5 threes in a blistering hot 2nd quarter on his way to 19 points and 4 steals for the game as A Ball got out to large lead early, and held on late. Chin’s virtuoso performance in the 2nd reminded at least one of Michael Jordan’s Game 6 performance against the Portland Trailblazers when he dropped 6 1st half threes and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “No sweat.” Chin’s 5 threes in this game were also made to look as simple as lay-ups as he barely had to do anything to make ‘em. After A Ball and 101 played their roles in the opening quarter (A Ball the well-oiled veteran team and 101 like some of their guys had just met each other, which of course was the case) and A Ball claimed a 14-5 lead (101 had just 1 field goal in the 1st), Chin got it going by dropping his first 3 to make it 17-9 early in the 2nd. For the next 6 minutes or so, Chin rained on 101’s head like a monsoon, only he barely had to make a move to do so. So wide open at times, it was more embarrassing to 101 than getting caught with their flies down, Chin took advantage handsomely. He hit one from 2 feet behind the line. Once, he took a dribble to his left, one step back, and yawned, before he tickled the twine. And on his final one, when 101 defenders finally caught on that this guy was hot, he gave the smallest chin flick that got two defenders flying past him as he once again found himself wide open to finish scoring all 15 of his team’s points in the period. Normally, a subtle move like that would be construed as someone perhaps cracking or stretching his neck. In this case, so fearful was 101 of anything Chin was going to do, it seemed like the greatest head fake in the world. Well, 101, as discombobulated as they were (Wilson Wang couldn’t find the gym and arrived late to the game even though he’d been here several times already and only lives down the street from it), has players and pride and wouldn’t let up. They finally figured out a way to control Chin (get in his jock) and as James Park (11 pts, 6 rbs, 3 blks) and Mark Kiang (10 pts, 7 rbs, 2 blks) used their brawn in the 3rd instead, 101 creeped back into it since they stopped allowing 3’s. Wang (11 pts, 6 rbs, 2 assts, 5 stls, 7 turnovers) and Mike Ma (9 rbs) hustled their way to a pair of baskets each and before Drew Chen closed out the quarter with 3 free throws, 101 had drawn within 36-32. Okay, so after Chen opened the 4th with a drive to make it 41-32, and after Chin hit a pair of free throws to make it 43-32, and after Han stopped making one of his 7 steals (sick), 101 finally got it going. Six free throws and a Myong Choi triple put 101 down 45-40, Park finished in traffic for A Ball, but within two blinks, Choi (12 pts, 11 rbs) and Wang hit back to back threes after Kirk Kim (5 assts, 3 stls, 6 to’s) stole an inbounds pass in the backcourt to make it 47-46 with a minute left. And because the early bird gets the worm, the late bird gets nothing. Having waited till the very end to finally come together, 101 was rewarded with a harsh lesson in too little, too late. A Ball gave them every opportunity, but it was not to be. With 51.3 seconds left and possession, Wang stepped out of bounds on the baseline. With 4.0 seconds left, Wang missed a jumper, Choi wound up with the ball, and he too missed a shot, this one at the horn. Over the duration of a season it may be different, but in this case, a fast start beat a strong finish. |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Ball | 14 | 15 | 10 | 8 | - | 47 |
| M&A 101 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 14 | - | 46 |
Boxscore
| A Ball - 47 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baik, Jeff | 0 / 7 [0.000] | 0 / 5 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| Chen, Andrew | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Chin, Danny | 5 / 12 [0.417] | 5 / 10 [0.500] | 4 / 4 [1.000] | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 | |
| Han, Danny | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Hwang, Jae Ha | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jhaveri, Nihar | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kiang, Mark | 5 / 11 [0.455] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | |
| Kim, Chris | DNP | ||||||||||
| Morita, Brent | DNP | ||||||||||
| Park, James | 5 / 11 [0.455] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 11 | |
| So, Andy | 0 / 5 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 4 [0.000] | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 17 / 50 [0.340] | 5 / 17 [0.294] | 8 / 19 [0.421] | 28 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 20 | 12 | 47 | ||
| M&A 101 - 46 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choi, Myong | 4 / 10 [0.400] | 3 / 5 [0.600] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| Choi, Yusik | DNP | ||||||||||
| Hara, Andrew | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kamdang, Len | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kham, Mark | 3 / 9 [0.333] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| Kim, Gene | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Kim, Kirk | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 4 | |
| Liang, Brian | DNP | ||||||||||
| Ma, Mike | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Nausrudeen, Usama | DNP | ||||||||||
| Ueno, Jeremy | 0 / 5 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Wang, Wilson | 4 / 11 [0.364] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 11 | |
| Watana, Ace | DNP | ||||||||||
| Yang, Brian | DNP | ||||||||||
| 16 / 50 [0.320] | 6 / 16 [0.375] | 8 / 15 [0.533] | 38 | 8 | 15 | 3 | 23 | 16 | 46 | ||
Referees
| Bobbie Lewis: | Rate Me |
| Lamont Long: | Rate Me |