THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2005 _Summer/Fall AAA-Premier (SF/San Mateo/Oakland) |
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 The best of the best is in the wild wild west! Asian, Open, Women's, and Masters divisions available...More info Just Ballin' Out-Balls Ballers NOVEMBER 13, 2005 -- Point guard Greg Ong scored 8 of the last 12 points made by Just Ballin' to lead the #5-seeded team to victory in the double-elimination repeat championship against the #1 Ballers...Full Story It was quite a road to the championship for Just Ballin', which was knocked down to the Losers Bracket in the 2nd round after a 2-point loss to none other than the Ballers. They then survived a showdown against the scrappy #3 T.L Bombers, who had been victimized to the Losers Bracket by the Cinderella #6 Big Gamerz, who also victimized Just Ballin's next opponent, the #1 Outlawz. But the Outlawz fizzled out and that setup a rematch against the Ballers. This time, Just Ballin's Ong emerged as the X-factor while the defense keyed in on league-leading scorer Khalid Hasri of the Ballers.
Just Ballin's Tyler Camara came within one rebound of averaging a double-double for the season and as Top Defensive Player ranked 1st in rebounding, 4th in steals, and 3rd in blocked shots, is the easy choice for Most Valuable Player. Guards Hasri and Ryan Susanto are a formidable backcourt for the Ballers, although Susanto might be found spending more of his time in the NL and AL next season. The Outlawz had the most disappointing playoff performance, getting mentally phased out with the loss to the archrival Big Gamerz and subsequent ouster by Just Ballin'. Jin Kim was strong underneath with a 53.8% shooting percentage. Just Ballin', the Ballers, and the Outlawz might all be a better fit in the AAA-Elite, as each has adequate inside play and the AAA-P is supposed to be for teams that, minus one player, would have almost zero inside presence (and hence be relegated to AAA-6FT or REC). The Big Gamerz got on an almost magical playoff run, but were stopped short just as the roster started to finally coalesce. On paper it doesn't seem like they have a star player and were able to use that to their advantage in the playoffs, but Bobby Leano was as solid and efficient a point-guard as you can ask for, especially the unselfishness and smart shot selection -- the 72% shooting from the floor is so astronomical, you have to wonder if we messed up the stats; all indications are, we did not. The T.L Bombers had leadership from captain Mike Siv and veteran Ty Tek to go along with their singular inside player Steve Chow, but Sam Soun was inconsistent all season long. Like the Big Gamerz, Aball didn't have anyone averaging over 12 points or 6 rebounds a game and unfortunately ran into a championship-destined Just Ballin' early in the playoffs, but captain Mark Fang had a respectable 11.8 points, 2.5 assists per game while steering the ship -- not an easy thing to do. The Replacements were one win away from double-elimination status, but didn't have the personnel against the top three Elite-equivalent teams. Victor Yang did all he could to keep the train moving, as well as on defense in leading the league in blocked shots. Ryusei came in a disappointing 8th place out of nine teams, perhaps their worst finish in a long time. This just goes to show how important power forward yet sharp-shooter Jon Kwok is to the team. Jimmy Hom and Glen Fong stepped up, but they still didn't have that third go-to guy. Look for Ryusei back at to the top of the standings upon Kwok's return. And None and its height gave it a valiant try, but no one averaged more than 7 points or 5 rebounds per game, so captain John Chan might be looking to take a step down to REC, where top teams like Scrub Club and Green Hills (formerly Free Agents Peninsula) proved they can go from worst to first. Scrub Club and Green Hills have already indicated an interest to move up and compete in AAA. The impending third iteration of REC and the division right above REC, AAA-Premier, should result in more and more parity. |