Early three point barrage enough for Freaks & Greeks to hold off Hack-A-Harry

Both these teams found themselves in the bottom of the standings heading into this one, but Hack-A-Harry had a chance to get out of it with a win. Freaks & Greeks, meanwhile, was stuck down in the bottom half regardless of the outcome, but another win on their resume would certainly make the top teams think about picking them early. To the action!

The first period of the game featured an insane shooting performance from Freaks & Greeks. Neither team was playing any defense, but Harry’s team was playing the math game and making three after three to build a comfortable lead. Lynch hit five threes in the first half and out of nowhere Harry hit four in a row at one point! These threes made Hack-A-Harry switch up their defense as previously they had Robel playing Harry, but not guarding him which really opened things up for Lynch inside. 

Hack-A-Harry was also scoring with Robel and Sam each hitting a few threes and carrying the majority of the scoring load. With six minutes left, Sam had a unique five point player as he hit a jumper and was fouled, but missed the free throw. The ball came right back to him and he nailed a three and that swing brought it back to as close as it would get in the first half at 34-29. Lynch quickly answered with a three and at this point Freaks were 10-16 from three in the half. They did miss a couple at the end, but went into halftime with a comfortable lead at 48-39. Lynch led the way with 21, while Weinstein and Harry each chipped in 12. Pollock led the way for Hack with 17, while Robel had 11. 

The first period of the second half was the complete opposite of the first half as neither team could buy a bucket. After nine minutes, the teams had combined for 14 points and Hack-A-Harry showed no intention of cutting into the lead. Eventually, Pollock started to wake up and made a few shots and threw a couple really nice passes including finding Bauman on a backdoor cut to cut the lead to three at 58-55. It looked like we were in for a great finish now after Guns nailed a three and Bauman followed with one. Lynch hit another three after that, much needed after he started the half missing five in a row. Pollock followed with a tough layup, but Weinstein answered. 

After a miss from Robel, Harry called a timeout with three minutes left to reset things with Freaks holding a narrow five point lead. Out of the timeout, Freaks missed their shot and Pollock went down and hit a tough jumper. Harry turned the ball over on the next possession and Hack-A-Harry had the ball with a chance to tie. Unfortunately, Pollock threw the ball away, but lucky for them, Harry missed the front end. History repeated itself on this possession as Pollock again turned the ball over on a bad pass to Bauman. Lynch hit 1/2 after that and Silva missed a three. Now up four, Lynch had two free throws to seal it and he hit both as Freaks and Greeks walked away with a much needed 73-67 victory. 

Freaks & Greeks
Lynch A+: Great game overall with 38/19. Hit some insane shots early on and made enough shots when it counted down the stretch to carry them over the line.
Weinstein A-: Quieter scoring game, but can’t complain about output that is one rebound shy of a triple-double.
Harry A: Four threes, some nice passing and pizza for the crew. Quality day at the office.
Guns B+: Hit a pair of big threes including one late on when Hack-A-Harry was coming back.
Packard B: Hit a three and played really solid defense. 

Hack-A-Harry
Pollock A-: 33/11/7, but late turnovers ding the grade.
Robel B: Great first half, but quiet second half and really struggled from deep after that hot start.
Bauman B: Quiet first half, but really came on in the second half. 
Silva C-: 0-5 from three is tough.
Shook C: Looked like someone who missed a couple weeks while on vacation.

Calderan sinks Freaks & Greeks

Heading into this one, both teams needed a win to get out of the bottom half of the standings. With attendance not an issue for either team we looked headed for a competitive game and that’s exactly what happened. To the action!

Both teams came out hot on offense with Joel and Isak shooting well for Calderan. Isak was getting good looks from deep as Lynch was hesitant to venture too far out of the pain, while Joel was hitting some absurd shots as usual. For Freaks, Lynch was on fire from deep. He hit his first five attempts and the rest of the team was hot from deep as well with Weinstein, Harry, Packard and Guns all hitting threes as well. After a Guns steal and bucket, Freaks found themselves up 30-23 and though the lead would close some, they found themselves up at halftime 38-34. Lynch led the way for Freaks with 20, while Calderan was far more balanced with Isak scoring 10, Dias 9, Paul 7 and Joel 6. 

The second half got started with Harry’s team unable to make a shot so Calderan grabbed a quick lead. Isak was finding space down low and Dias continued his strong play with an offensive rebound and outback to grab their first lead since early in the first half at 40-38. Isak was tossing dimes left and right and had a no look pass to Paul shortly thereafter which was Jokic-esque. 

For the next few minutes went back and forth, but then Harry decided to try an interesting lineup with no Lynch or Weinstein. During this team which spanned about four minutes they didn’t score a single point. They only allowed six points, but it allowed Calderan to go from being behind 48-46 to up 54-48. The margin for error for Freaks was low now and they left the Great One open and he drained a three to push the lead to nine. Dias followed with a bucket in the post and layup and all of a sudden it was a 13 point game at 61-48 with five minutes left. 

Harry’s team finally broke their six minute scoring drought with a Lynch jumper, but the damage was done. Lynch would hit consecutive threes on the next two possessions to make it 61-57 and then he had a steal and layup to make it a two point game with 1:30 left. He was unable to convert the free throw for the and one, however, and Joel went down and out of nowhere made a tough layup to push the lead back to four at 63-59. The last minute wasn’t very exciting for a close game as both teams missed shots and free throws. Isak would eventually hit his last four to make it an eight point game and Freaks wouldn’t score again. Final score Calderan 67, Freaks 59. 

Calderan
Isak B+: Quiet scoring game, but just missed a triple-double and did a good job getting his teammates involved. 
Joel A-: Hit the dagger shot and also did a nice job on defense.
Dias A: Great Dias game on both ends and was even very effective on the offensive glass.
Great One A+: Hit a big three and had a couple of other nice plays along the way. 
Paul C+: Relatively quiet game in his return, but did a nice job on the glass.
Joe D+: Better days ahead.

Freaks & Greeks
Lynch A-: Kept his team in the game with his shot making and defense at the rim.
Weinstein C+: Passed well, but quiet game overall.
Harry D+: The lineup with no Lynch and Weinstein was a disaster and it’s surprising he let it go on for so long. 
Guns B: Solid defense and hit a couple nice shots.
Packard C+: Worked hard on both ends and knocked down a three.
Colin D: Didn’t take many shots which was surprising after how he played last week. 

Freaks & Greeks lose their Golden Ticket at the last minute

Coming into this matchup, absences where the biggest storyline. We were without Jake, Isaac and McNabb meaning we were left with a fill-in at Harry’s discretion. Harry approved Ian Marlier so he was our fourth, while Freaks were without Lynch. 

Early on, it was pretty clear what Harry’s strategy was, on offense everything was a pick and roll with Weinstein and on defense Harry wasn’t guarding anyone and was just camped in the paint. Initially, it looked like this strategy wasn’t going to work as Nick and George both got off to quick starts, exposing the lack of size on Freaks. That early lead was short lived, however, as Weinstein had it going fro the field and Sam made a couple of tough layups. Through the first quarter of the game, my team held a constant lead, but we were never able to pull away. Things flipped for the first time with the introduction of Guns as Harry gave him the green light and he rewarded Harry for that confidence. Guns hit four threes in the first half including one that banked in and all of a sudden Harry’s team was up as the first half came to a close, 34-30. Guns led the way for Freaks with 12, while Weinstein had 11. For my team, Nick led the way with 15. 

At halftime we made some defensive adjustments and started to pressure Harry more. That made Harry pass the ball off earlier and allowed us to get a few stops to start the half. On the other end, we got off to a quick start and within the first five minutes had regained the lead with George cooking from the field. Again, like the first half, we couldn’t get any separation and things continued to go back and forth with us up by a few points, but never establishing a comfortable lead. With Harry not able to initiate the offense as much, others picked up the passing weight, but they continued to run everything through Weinstein. He was making some tough shots and when we overplayed the screen, Colin was finding open space and nailing midrange jump shots. Colin had 11 big second half points and with only a few minutes left it was a tie game. George hit a massive jumper to regain the lead, but Weinstein answered immediately. 

Big players step up in big games and after a relatively quiet scoring game, Ian found himself open on the baseline and nailed one of his signature jump shotshots to establish the lead. We got a stop on the next possession and after a few free throws pushed the lead to six. There were only 30 seconds or so left at this point and Weinstein went up for a three and KD called a foul. He made all three free throws, leaving Freaks needing to get a steal off the inbound. Unfortunately for them, they had a defensive miscommunication and left Ian Marlier open over half court. He caught the inbound pass and charged to the rim where he put up a layup as he was tackled into the wall. Unbeknownst to him, he made the layup and got the foul putting the game out of reach once and for all. Final score, 69-63 Golden Ticket escapes with a win.

Golden Ticket
Ian Marlier A+: Played two full games winning both and hit big shots in each. Can’t ask for anything more from a fill in. 

Nick B: Great first half, but struggled from the field in the second half.

George A-: Great second half after a quiet first half and had an answer every time Freaks hit a shot. 

Ian Cundall B: Solid all around game, but was too slow to adjust to the way Harry was playing on offense. 

Freaks & Greeks
Weinstein A-: Was asked to do pretty much everything on offense and kept them in the game until the end.

Colin A: Great game on both ends and was very efficient on the field and made us pay for over helping on Weinstein.

Guns A-: Great first half where he led his team in scoring and hit several deep threes.

Packard B: Didn’t have many opportunities on offense, but played really solid defense on Martin

Harry C: Good rebounding and passing game, but struggled from the field on his few attempts.