SDL WEEK 2 WRITE-UPS & POWER RANKINGS
by Jason on
Week # 2 Power Rankings
- Costa (3 - 0) - We’re still undefeated after 3 games and have embraced our defensive identity. Dylan Costa is looking like a visionary after forming one of the most formidable teams in the league. Charlie Maneval and Emmanuel Okharedia continue to make every captain regret passing on them.
- Nair (1 - 1) - Nair is poised to compete for the # 1 spot in these Power Rankings. If Nick Lynch's 39 points in his debut are any indication of what’s to come we’re all in trouble when Adwaith returns from his broken hand. Can’t wait to see them both on the court at the same time. Can’t forget about the amazing start the DTO and Ruff are off to.
- Stull Here (1 - 1) - After an impressive week 1 victory, David P and Co.lost their first game of the season to Team Costa. Jordan Staiger looks to be an excellent addition to not only the team but the league. When fully staffed, this team will be one of the top-tier teams in this league.
- Daniels (1 - 2) - Offensively Team Daniels is one of the most talented teams in the league, but they cannot seem to put it together for a full 40 minutes. Cam. Adam, and Ghost average 15+ points, how that’s not translating to wins is baffling.
- Platano Power (0 - 2) - It’s hard to really gauge this team's ceiling because they haven’t had their full complement of players through the first 2 weeks of the season. AO returned to the lineup, but no Jorge really hurt them against us today. I will say, this team works their ass off on both ends of the court and I can see Tim, AO, and Jorge leading this team to the playoffs.
Week # 2 WRITE-UPS
Nair VS. Daniels
By JAMIL
Even with Nick in attendance, I had Team Daniels as heavy favorites in this matchup and they didn’t disappoint early on jumping out to a quick lead. Ghost “MICHAEL FRAHER” got off to a scorching start, scoring 20 of his 27 points in the first half.
Cam Daniels (21 Points) was stroking it from deep and Team Daniels looked primed to run away with this game leading 24 - 11 through the first 7 minutes. David Ter-Ovanesyan (DTO) led the way early on for Team Nair with a ridiculous 25 points and 18 rebounds! WTF?
Team Nair would go into the half down 11 (47 - 36), but you could tell Nick Lynch was starting to heat up. The second half would be the Nick Lynch (39 points, 1 steal, 4 blocks, 19 rebounds, and 3 assists) show.
This dude was absolutely unstoppable and despite their efforts, Team Daniels had no answer.
With under a minute left in regulation, Andrew Marra would hit a huge three to tie the game at 72. With the clocking winding down, Team Daniels would inadvertently foul and Team Nair took full advantage converting the free throws and notching their first victory of the young season.
Team Nair
Patrick Blaikie C+ - Patrick is in a shooting slump like I’ve never seen before, but despite his struggles, he’s making a huge impact on the defensive end. I have no doubt he’ll find his stroke, I just hope it’s not against us.
David Ter-Ovanesyan A+ - DTO scored 25 while shooting 44% from three on 9 attempts. He’s off to a fantastic start this season.
Damian Ruff B - Despite struggles beyond the arc, Ruff did a fantastic job rebounding and distributing the ball to his teammates. His ability to slow down Ghost was the difference in this game.
Nick Lynch A+ - 39 points, 4 blocks, 19 rebounds do I really need I say more?
Ben Mitchell A - Did a fantastic job defensively and played within the team offense.
Team Daniels
MICHAEL FRAHER A - 27 and 10 rebounds should have been enough. Ghost played a fantastic game despite his team suffering the loss.
Cameron Daniels B+ - Cam had 21 points and played well for the most part. I still feel like he has another gear.
Adam Ellabidy B - Adam struggled early on but still finished with 18 points. Cam and Adam aren’t on the same page yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Andrew Marra A+ - Played fantastic on both ends of the court and hit a couple of huge threes when his team needed it the most. I would love to see him more aggressive on offense.
Costa feasts on Platano Power
BY DRUFF
Coming into this game I was interested in seeing the full Platano Power (PP) squad. To my disappointment their captain Jorge was missing. Although PP was already the underdog in this one, they had their 4th overall pick Alan Orellana in attendance so anything was possible.
The game was so bad to start Jamil Ball asked me at the 8:50 mark was the time right? Umm yes it was and so was the score 25-8. To close the half, things didn’t get any better, well for PP I mean, Costa went on a 16-3 run and was up 41-11 at the half.
Halftime stats:
Plantano Power
Alan Orellana 6 pts, 1 stl, 2 blks, 4 drebs
Neil Aggarwal 1 blk, 2 drebs
Tim Roberts 5 pts, 1 drebs
Chris Agresti 2 orebs, 4 drebs
Costa
Jamil Ball 19 pts, 1 blk, 3 orebs, 6 drebs, 2 asts
Charlie Maneval 13 pts, 3 drebs
Emmanuel Okharedia 6 pts, 4 stls, 1 oreb, 2 drebs, 1 ast
Dylan Costa 6 pts, 1 blk, 9 drebs, 2 asts
Player of the half:
Jamil Ball
Second half
To all the millions of readers across the world, if you’re waiting to read about a crazy comeback or how the game became interesting, keep waiting because neither thing happened. 10 minutes into the half Costa was up 62-23. Final score ended up being 74-44 Costa with the win. What’s crazy though is that PP was actually even with Costa the second half.
Player grades
Alan Orellana B after the game we talked briefly he said he didn’t think he could’ve done much more aside from being more aggressive, bingo.
Neil Aggarwal C just an ok game for him. I actually think he can play better and his team will need him to as well.
Tim Roberts B was obviously the best offensive weapon for his team but would’ve liked to see him do a little more on the defensive end. Admittedly if his team wins he gets a higher grade
Chris Agresti C+ good rebounding numbers and I liked that he gave me the guys names on the team I didn’t know. I swear he shoots the ball with both hands so maybe he just needs to figure out which hand to shoot with.
Rob Lunder C+ played sparingly but I did enjoy my conversation with him about the Celtics.
Jamil Ball A- was the best player on the floor only knocking his grade for asking me if I took time off the clock smh.
Charlie Maneval A says he was saving himself for the second game but still managed to shoot decent and get some other stats.
Cameron Daniels A in a blowout victory didn’t miss a three and got some other stats.
Emmanuel Okharedia A— had a solid game with 5 steals but had to give one minus for the 0fer from three. The other minus is because the trash talk was non-existent. I actually respect that because the game wasn’t close but there were still opportunities to do this and I was disappointed.
Dylan Costa A although I know Dylan can play better he led his team in rebounding, assists and blocks while also going perfect from the free throw line. What more do you want?
Player of the game:
Jamil Ball as previously mentioned was simply the best player on the floor and It wasn’t even close.
Back to back no problem
BY RUFF
Coming into this game I thought Stull Here had the advantage of fatigue. Not only was Costa playing their second game of the day but they only had 4 guys. Stull Here was missing arguably their best player which obviously didn’t help but no excuses. A smart thing done slightly before the game by Jamil was telling the ref to put on some tunes. The music I heard was how do I say it in a nice way, not to my liking. Cam and I had an interesting conversation about it. Ok enough rambling let me focus on the game.
The pace of this game was super slow. With about 10 minutes left in the half there was a total of only 14 points on the board and tied up. As the half continued, Costa pulled away slightly and ended the half with a nice dime from Jamil Ball to Dylan Costa for the layup right before the buzzer. Costa was up 19-13.
Halftime stats:
Stull Here
Steve Rakusin 4 orebs, 5 drebs
Christopher Stull 2 drebs
Jordan Staiger 1 pt, 1 stl, 2 drebs
David Pendergast 12 pts, 1 blk, 1 oreb, 6 drebs
Costa
Jamil Ball 11 pts, 1 blk, 1 oreb, 4 dreb, 1 ast
Charlie Maneval 6 pts, 5 drebs
Cameron Daniel 1 oreb, 1 dreb
Dylan Costa 2 pts, 1 blk, 9 drebs
Player of the half:
Jamil Ball
Second half:
2 minutes into the half, Costa went on a 10-2 run forcing Stull Here to call a timeout. While Stull Here continued to battle, they were never able to recover from that run. Costa wins 49-39.
Player grades:
Steve Rakusin C while he did have a good rebounding game, he struggled putting the ball in the basket which is what his team needed. He did go scoreless in the first half and was able to change that in the second, he just needed a similar output to his week 1 performance.
Christopher Stull C- managed to get some rebounds and obviously going 0-7 is not good. The reason I added the minus to his grade is because he stopped shooting. I’ve literally seen this man make 4 straight threes in a game last season. He definitely lost his confidence in this game. As someone who will continue to make and miss threes, take it from me, don’t stop shooting. Especially if they are good shots and your team needed some offense.
Erik “Slick” Johnson C+ while Slick was anything but that on the court today. Hopefully he was at least successful at the casino. His + grade is because he agrees with me that Michael Jeffrey Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all-time.
Jordan Staiger B- had a good debut in SDL. I think anytime you’re playing with guys for the first time there will be an adjustment. The minus to his grade comes from his low three point percentage.
David Pendergast B was obviously the best player on his team. Would’ve loved to see him be a tad bit more aggressive and use his energy as he did against my team in week 1.
Jamil Ball A— in back to back games was the obvious best player on the floor. Had to add some minuses to his grade. The first one was for telling the ref to put on some tunes. All those in favor of never allowing the ref to play music again, say I, I. The other minus has to go for saying that LeBron James is a better “basketball” player than Michael Jordan. I won’t get into it so we can just respectfully agree to disagree.
Charlie Maneval B- actually had a decent game but added the minus because he specifically told me he was saving himself for this game. For whatever reason his three ball wasn’t what I expected but regardless his team won.
Cameron Daniel C got a few stats and played his role despite not scoring.
Dylan Costa B despite the struggles from the free throw line and three point line, still managed to have a double double and 3 blks.
Player of the game:
Jamil Ball I might have to start excluding him from this if he keeps winning it so easily. No seriously well deserved and just was really good.