BALL Has Major Second Half Comeback

Corporate Startup was playing for their season in the last game and they looked like it early. Elliott Sackman hit an early three, although Maurice Klaehne responded with one of his own. Sackman hit another early three and then Dainis Klavins got hot from three, hitting FIVE in the first half. It was a three point barrage from Corporate Startup. Nick Mazzeo, Klavins, Sackman, Kunal Chawla. They were up 32-17 midway through the first half. CS was only playing with five guys in this game so they had a call a timeout around the 5 minute mark to keep their lungs fresh. BALL did get the game down to 34-24 after a Debari 3 but CS slowly built the lead back out and capped the end of the half with a Klavins three at the buzzer to go up 47-31.

BALL looked out of sync and not engaged. Jamil Ball got into a slight verbal altercation with Disola who was hanging out from the game before. Disola claimed Ball was mad because he was getting smoked. Ball wasn't in the mood to engage in the conversation.

But boy did we get a different BALL team in the second half.

The very first possesion Ball stole the ball and that led to a Debari 3. Jonah Feldman hit a 3. Klaehne got a two threes early. Just like that we had a 14-2 run from BALL and were only down four VERY qucikly. The defensive intensity was staggering. Mazzeo pushed the CS lead out to 7 after an and-1 when he was fouled by Lonny Laureano. Laureano was adamant he didn't touch him. 52-45 CS. Then BALL really went bonkers. 

• Feldman two pointer
• Ball FTs
• Another Feldman two
• Ball with a three
• Ball with ANOTHER three
• Debari with a three

A 15-0 run and BALL was now up 60-52. CS never recovered from that run. They were out of gas and out of threes, making zero in the second half. They never got closer than 8 the rest of the way and eventually lost 81-63.

Coroprate Startup watched their season end in a way that's all too familiar. All season they would play one great half and one bad half. Usually it's the second half when they play well, today it was the first. You can MAYBE beat the bad to average teams like that, but you can't beat the good teams and tonight they ran up against a good team. It's disapointing because there are individual talents that could have made noise in the playoffs. Mazzeo is a bucket getter, Klavins can be one of the league's most dangerous shooters, Sackman is someone who I was really impressed with and he does everything well and everything under control. He would have shone bright in a playoff game. They just couldn't consistently put it together and that's why there will be no playoffs for this team.

BALL played awful in the first half. Just really bad. I don't think they did anything well. But that second half is what they're capable of. Tough defense, limit second chance opportunities. Get Debari open looks from three, let Ball and Laureano break down the defense, Feldman go to work in the post. Buckley and Klaehne could be a top 4 player on any other team in this league. It's really just such good team and they play well together and they complement each other well. We look like we're on a crash course for a BALL / Dribble Handoff finals. It will be fun to see Disola and Jamil Ball matchup. 

Corporate Startup At Risk of Liquidating After Loss

Our #1 team took the floor for the last game of the night. The question was, was this going to be a defense or no defense night from Dribble Handoff? When they gave Nick Mazzeo a wide open lane to put Corporate Startup up 4-2, looked like it would be a no defense night. Okharedia got his team on track early though. A couple of offensive rebounds and a couple of assist, one each to Michael Fraher (for his patented 12 foot jumper), Rich Disola (which prompted a “can’t leave him open” from the opposing bench) and Alex Gatter (on a fastbreak). Okharedia got himself on the board with a drive to the hoop to put DH up 15-8. A Dainis Klavins 3 (off a feed from Mazzeo) sparked an 8-2 run for CS to pull with one at 17-16 following a beautiful Jonathan Abreu pass to Isaac Julien. Disola responded with a patented move of his own, the “Slow Euro” (the Eurslo? I’m still workshopping names). A Gatter 3 and a Disola 3 force CS to call timeout down 29-21. Maazeo came out of the timeout aggressive. Actually he was aggressive driving most of the half instead of settling for 3s. He was able to score and find his teammates (mostly Julien) for easy baskets, when he drove. He settled for too many threes going 1-6 from deep in the first half. CS’s biggest problem is they couldn’t stop DH from scoring. Okharedia and Andy Sealund were racking up assists while Disola, Fraher and Gatter were racking up points. DH also got plenty of points in transition off of 6 first half steals. The scoring and the steals helped DH get out to a 49-31 halftime lead.

Mazzeo and Julien were doing most of the work for CS while DH was getting contributions from all over. The one weakness for DH is offensive rebound when Derek Erion is absent (which he was tonight) They had two first half offensive rebounds and both of those were in the first 2 minutes of the game. Meanwhile CS had 6. But when you can score from all over and you’re creating extra possessions, while not turning the ball over (zero first half steals from CS) you’re going to win most of the time.

In the second half Disola was looking for his shot early, creating contact and hitting two free throws to open the half. Mazzeo decide to just put the team on his back at that point. He hit a 3, drove for 2 and hit another 3 and racked up an assist, creating an 11-2 run single handedly. With the 20 point lead now down to 11, DH had to respond. Okharedia started distributing again and an assist to Fraher and one to Gatter pushed the lead back out. Gatter also continued to show his quick hands racking up some steals and completely killing any momentum CS had. The lead stayed around or above 20 until the 5 minute mark when a Mazzeo three off of a Tyler Pontes assist cut it to 16, but DH just scores to easily to try to make up that type of lead in that short amount of time. Final score 89-68.

DH looks like a machine right now and this was without Erion or Brock Mickley. The trio of Disola, Okharedia and Gatter compliment each other so well. They can all score and they can all create havoc on defense. They have size from Fraher and Erion and they have shooting from Sealund and Mickley. This will be a tough team to beat and are the favorites right now.

CS needed this game to help their playoff chances. You could tell they missed Elliot Sackman tonight who is a great connective piece on both ends. Mazzeo did what he could and it was a very impressive game from Julien. But they need more from others. Klavins, who was lethal from three last session, hasn’t got going so far this season. Abreu is great at getting to the basket but a lot of his layups spin off the rim. Chawla got hot from deep last week but was 0-2 tonight. It was just a rough night and there wasn’t a ton of ball movement. I think CS can compete with anyone when healthy and moving the ball. But if they count on Mazzeo to create everything, they’re going to find they’re season over in two weeks. The schedule does them no favors as they play BALL next week (#2 team in the league) and the team their chasing (B2Dropouts) plays the 0-8 Bet The Over. Their playoff hopes could end next week if they lose and B2D wins.

Corporate Start Up got off to a fast start against Bet The Over, capping off a 7-0 to start the game with a nifty spin move and floater from Jonathan Abreau. BTO finally got on the board after a pass from Alex Rosenbluth to Brian Horton for 2. BTO continued to chop away at the early lead after Rosnebluth had a putback, Brad Myatt had a nice drive for two and Ben Brown had a steal that led to an open basket for Alex Biskelonis. They cut the lead down to 12-11 after a Horton 3. A quick 5-0 run from CS pushed the lead back out to 17-11 following a John Reilly bucket and BTO took a timeout. BTO wasn’t really locked in coming out of the timeout with Brad Myatt asking “we’re playing right now?”. To be fair, it was a quick timeout. Horton knew it was game time and hit a 3. His shooting was finally clicking after a couple of cold weeks. Kunal Chawla got involved on offense for CS with a nice feed to Isaac Julien in the post and a nice feed to Abreau a possession later. Horton hit a layup and a three around those plays keeping BTO within striking distance only down 23-19 with about four minutes left in the first half. CS started to stretch the lead out from there. Nick Mazzeo hit his first three of the night and had a tough drive for two. Elliot Sackman hit a three off of a Julien assist. Mazzeo missed a layup at the buzzer but CS went into the half up 35-25.

Horton’s shooting was keeping BTO in the game in the first half as Biskelonis and Brown went a combined 0-6 from deep. For CS they were spreading the ball around nicely with 13 assists in the first half including 3 each from Mazzeo, Chawla, Abreu, and Julien. 

We kicked off the second half with Julien and Brown having a small tussle under the basket after a rebound. Nothing more transpired from there except more CS points. A Mazzeo three made the lead 44-30 and a few moments later two Abreu free throws made it 50-34. CS was moving well without the ball whereas BTO was mostly either Brown, Horton and Rosenbluth trying to create offense on their own. Brown started to catch fire from three in the second half, making four of them. The lead stayed around 10 most of the second half and got as low as 52-43 following a Horton 3. Elliot Sackman had a great feed to a cutting Mazzeo to push the lead back out to 54-43 at which point the teams traded baskets for a bit. BTO was hanging around just close enough to make a move at any moment. They even got the within 8 points after a Brown freethrow. 58-50. That’s when Chawla took over the game. He nailed a three from the right corner. Then on the next possession hit a 3 from the left corner. 64-50 now. On the next possession Chawla hit ANOTHER 3 from the elbow. 67-50. Chawla was single handedly putting BTO “night night”. Brown hit a three to stop the onslaught but Chawla hit his FOURTH consecutive three to end things for good. 76-60 was the final. 

Bet The Over put a lot into this game. We’ve rehashed they’re playing without a first round draft pick. No need to do that again. They did a lot of good things tonight and if Chawla doesn’t catch fire at the end, they might have been in position to steal this game. 

Corporate Start Up looked great most of the night. They got contributions from everyone. Five of their seven players scored in double figures and everyone had at least one assist. The Chawla flame throwing was a fun one to cap off the evening but I want to give a special shoutout to Elliot Sackman who was efficient from three, had FOUR blocks and did a good amount of playmaking for them. This team is one game out of the playoffs with 3 weeks left. The schedule ahead is not easy. They play the top two teams each of the next two weeks before closing against B2 Dropouts. A game that might be a play-in situation.

CORP STARTUP HAS A (cash) FLOW ISSUE

Hoopa Loompas (HL) and Corp Startup (CS) kicked us off tonight. A very cordial start with pre-game daps all around center court. Christian Brooks got the scoring started for HL near the hoop for two. CS countered with a 3 from Elliot Sackman off a feed from Nick Mazzeo. Mazzeo converted a 3-point player shortly thereafter Othniel St-Ulme got the memo about attacking the basket so he did the same and drew a foul on Jonathan Abreu. We did a quick ball swap at that point. Brooks and Mazzeo must have both signed off on the ball swap because they both started cooking after that. Brooks took a rebound and found Daniel Hasegawa for an easy two. Mazzeo responded with a 3. Brooks then hit 2 free-throws. Brooks then hit a pull-up, Mazzeo hit another 3. HL was up 15-12 at the 12 minute mark. We finally got some scoring from one of the others when Sackman had a nice assist to Isaac Julien. A Brooks airball forced HL to call timeout. They were only playing with five guys and needed to preserve those legs! Coming out of the timeout it was back to the Brooks and Mazzeo show. Brooks hit a sick fadeway over John Reilly’s tough D, Mazzeo hit a three and then found a cutting Reilly who converted. Reilly’s bucket gave CS a 20-19 lead. A Chris Whitney bucket (off a feed from Kevin Ryff), a Brooks drive and then a Mazzeo drive took us to the 6 minute mark all tied up at 23. CS called timeout there which gave a member of CS a chance to run off to the bathroom. A pee break that was way too quick to have included a hand washing. Coming out of the timeout, Mazzeo must have been aware of the lack of hand washing because the next time he got the ball he immediately passed it to… St. Ulme? A couple of Brooks buckets and minimal scoring from CS helped HL go into half with a 31-26 lead.

Brooks has 21 of HL’s 31 first half points, and Mazzeo had 16 of CS’s 26 first half points. The second half would be about if someone else could help either one of these guys with scoring. 

The answer at the start of the half of HL as Hasegawa got an early bucket from a feed from Ryff. Chris Whitney started making noise with buckets near the basket and even had a nice play when he stole a defensive rebound from Dainis Klavins and got an easy two. It was all HL to start the second half with Them opening on an 8-2 run to go up 39-28 around the 16 minute mark. Reilly then came in for CS and tried to use raw energy to bring his team back, chasing down an offensive rebound and stepping up the perimete defensive pressure. It didn’t help close the gap. We did have an interesting moment where St. Ulme had the ball and did a “ghost dribble”. I’m not even sure what happened but it looked weird it was like he dribbled without touching the ball and moved without dribbling. I don’t know. A real glitch in the Matrix moment. CS was falling further behind, they were down 45-34 with about 9 minutes left. They were making a lot of good passes and even good second passes but they couldn’t make a shot. They called timeout to gather themselves. Fortunately for everyone, no pee breaks this time. CS started to claw back after the timeout and got within 7 after a Tyler Pontes offensive rebound where he hit Julien with a great pass that Julien converted for two. The teams traded buckets to get to 49-42 HL, but a 4-0 run by HL pushed the lead out to 53-42. The 4-0 all came off of offensive rebounds. One by Ryff and one by Whitney. Abreu had a nice drive to the basket to cut the lead to 53-44. Mazzeo hit a DEEP three to cut it to 53-47. Reilly found Mazzeo for ANOTHER 3 to cut the lead down to 3 with less than 2 minutes left. CS didn’t really have another good possession the rest of the game and they were forced to foul over and over again. HL made enough of their FTs to walk away with a 59-50 lead. An impressive last minute comeback by CS that came up just short.

HL rode Brooks in the first half and got contributions across the board in the second half. Specifcially Whitney who was a monster on the glass. 23 total rebounds for the game and 11 points in the second half. Ryff chipped in 5 second half points, Hasegawa chipped in 4. A great win for HL down three guys. Brooks is in the running for smoothest scorer in the league, Whitney gives them legitimate size and everyone else can fill in scoring or defensive roles as needed. The ceiling for this team is high.CS never really felt like they had it going tonight. Their spacing was problematic all night. They overloaded the ball side of the floor, guys would cut to the same spot, they didn’t roll well off of screens. It was just clunky all night. They had bursts of defensive energy and Mazzeo had bursts of shooting but Mazzeo being the only guy over 7 points is just not a recipe for success. They also only had 3 offensive rebounds whereas HL had TWENTY!!! Some of that has to be an effort issue. Given how competitive the final playoff spot is going to be, you can’t expect to get in if you’re getting smashed on the glass like that. Hopefully CS can find their mojo before next week.