Dribble Handoff Blows Out B2 Dropouts to Advance to the Finals

Our second semifinal featured our #1 Seed (Dribble Handoff) and our #4 seed (B2 Dropouts). B2 Dropouts were playing without some significant pieces with Remy Baudet, Jackson Cote AND Schyler Oliveira all missing. Already a dog with those three playing, B2 Dropouts would have to overcome a pretty decent talent gap to steal this game away. Early on, it looked like they might.

Zach Davidson hit a 3 to open the scoring for B2D and then Joe Martin hit a mid range 2. 5-0 B2D. Dribble Handoff definitely came out low energy. Well, everyone except Alex Gatter. He missed an early three point attempt but his assist to Derek Erion got the scoring started for DH. A Disola floater and a Gatter steal that he finished with a layup got Dribble Handoff on top 6-5. But B2D kept fighting. Davidson made two free throws. However, his three point attempt was blocked by Disola on the next possession. The game played pretty close moving forward and Dribble Handoff actually found themselves down 12-11 following a Zach Davidson three. Dribble Handoff took the lead back following an Alex Gatter steal where he found Disola for an easy layup. Dribble Handoff couldn’t seem to put together a run to extend the lead for most of the first half. B2D cut the score down to 19-18 following Martin make on of two free throws after he was fouled putting an offensive rebound back up. That offensive rebound was a theme for B2D in the first half, pulling down 7 of them. Which was surprising considering DH had Erion in the lineup. But, Davidson and Martin are two of the best offensive rebounders we have. This 19-18 score must’ve shifted something in the chemistry of Dribble Handoff because they went up a level at that moment. Erion put back an offensive rebound of his own. Gatter had his third steal of the first half that he took coast to coast for two. Disola hit a floater in the paint. 25-18 DH. Sam Johnson temporarily stopped the run with a three but that didn’t stop DH from scoring. Disola drove past Corey Fein and got fouled, making both free throws. This was a poor matchup for B2D but given their limited roster for the evening they didn’t have much choice. Brock Mickley got involved in the scoring taking advantage of the size advantage he has on Johnson to score in the post. 29-21 DH. Mickley posted up again on the next possession and fed Erion for an easy two when the double team came. Then Mickley hit a fade away two with just 3 seconds left to give DH a 35-23 lead. 

It happened so fast. One moment B2D was in the game, and then DH closed the half on a 16-5 run, getting contributions from everyone. That’s the problem with playing against DH, they can just score so fast that if you have ANY offensive lull, you’re going to be behind 10+. B2D needed to come out in the second half with a high level of intensity. This would be difficult considering they only had five guys tonight. 

Sam Johnson gave them a flicker of hope when he opened the half with a three pointer. But DH snuffed that flame immediately. Emmanuel Okharedia hit a two and then had an assist to Gatter for 3. Mickley scored on a fast break off feed from Gatter and then Michael Fraher hit one of his patented long twos. That one felt so good he hit another one right after. 46-26 DH. Wow. With 6 minutes left in the first half B2D was only down one. Now four minutes into the second half they were down 20, and without their best scorers that type of lead seemed insurmountable. 

They kept fighting with Martin adding to his offensive rebound total and Corey Fein hitting a long two. Manish Chawla even chipped in a bank three pointer. The lead was down to 50-36. And then DH had had enough. Specifically Disola and Okharedia. Disola converted a three point play, then found Erion with a sick assist from damn near half court. Okharedia splashed two threes. And once again, DH showed off their scoring burst. 65-36 was the score now and it was all over. We played things out a little longer with the teams trading some meaningless threes and ended up with a final score 73-47.

B2D gets credit for playing it out and making it interesting for most of the first half. But, being down three key players made this an impossible task. I really liked the way Sam Johnson played tonight and he’s the kind of guy that can be a key contributor on a championship team. B2D also made their presence felt on the glass with Martin and Davidson. It was nice to see Corey Fein finish the season after suffering a gruesome finger injury back in May. Manish Chawla showed off his three point shooting tonight. But, they just didn’t have the horses to get it done. 

Dribble Handoff is an offensive machine. Disola, Okharedia and Gatter are a very dynamic trio of offensive playmakers. Throw in the shooting from Fraher, the size from Erion and a brand new post game from Mickley, it’s just a really tough team to slow down on offense. 

A quick look ahead to next week for their game against BALL.

You have a trio of strong perimeter players on both sides (Disola/Okharedia/Gatter vs Laureano/Debari/Ball). What BALL has that Dribble Handoff doesn’t is Jonah Feldman who is a “big” who can create his own offense and switch all over on defense. But, what Dribble Handoff has that BALL doesn’t is Derek Erion. A true big with real size that normally does a lot of damage around the hoop altering shots and grabbing rebounds. These have been the two best teams all season and we’re going to be treated to a gem of a game. In game’s like this, it’s a play or two from the role players that can change the outcome. Can Fraher get hot? Can Andy Sealund knock down some threes? Either of those would be huge for Dribble Handoff. Can Buckley be an animal on the glass? Can Klaehne hit some 3s? Either of those would be huge for BALL. My guess is the stars are going to show out, it’s going to come down to these role guys. Or maybe it’s as simple as Disola just goes for 40, or Laureano takes over. So many ways this can go and I’m excited to be there.

Dribble Handoff Locks Down 1 Seed

Dribble Handoff jumped out to an early 5-2 lead after an Emmanuel Okharedia assists and then an Okharedia 3. They were looking to lock down the one seed but baed on their defensive effort in the first half, you'd think they didn't care. Luckily for them Bet The Over forgot how to dribble and was called for 3 early travels. BTO was basically playing defense on itself. BTO had two subs tonight. A leaner wing player (#12) and a taller post player (#0 henefortch known as SubZero. SubZero was a problem for DH and after he hit two free throws around the 6:30 mark, BTO had the lead 18-17. A bit of a surprise given each team's record coming into the game. This was about the time Rich Disola got engaged offensively, and couple of his patented euros and a 3 pointer help DH close the half with a 32-28 following an Alex Gatter buzzer beating layup.

In the second half the game stayed close, tied up at 45 with about 10 minutes left. Brian Horton hit two threes to give BTO their biggest lead of the game 51-45. A Disola two pointer and a Gatter corner 3 cut the lead down to 51-50 but Horton hit ANOTHER three. 54-50. A minute later with the score 56-54 BTO, Horton hit his 4th three of the half. This forced DH to call timeout. Okharedia looked around and said "I don't know what's going on". What was going on was a lack of defense from DH, their achillies heal. When they play defense, they win. When they don't, they lose. DH came out of the timeout LOCKED IN on defense. Steals, threes, Disola paint points. They closed the game on a 14-5 run and despite missing their free throws they escaped with a 68-64 win.

Thus ends a miserable season for Bet The Over who had to play the whole year without a first round draft pick. Props to the guys that played the season through and hopefully they come back next session and get a better draft runout.

Dribble Handoff locked in the one seed and is the favorite in the playoffs. We'll dive further into their playoff prospects in our playoff preview this weekend.

Dribble Handoff Survives

Dribble Handoff and Hoopa Loompas got together to battle in our second game of the night. Hoopa Loompas secured their playoff spot last week but if things broke their way the last two weeks they could move as high as the one seed. First they had to beat the league favorite right now, Dribble Handoff.

First Half Highlights

• Kevin Ryff opened the scoring with a smooth jumper
• Alex Gatter had a fouled called on him early that looked like it should have been Rich Disola, Gatter was very confused about the call.
• Thomas Skates had a nice bounce pass through traffic to Kevin Ryff
• There was a stretch early where both teams were playing kind of sloppy with some bad turnovers
• Michael Fraher showed off his patented 18 footer. It's just so money, especially off of feeds from Emmanuel Okharedia.
• Hoopa Loompas had a BUNCH of shots go in and out specifically Christian Brooks layups
• Carlos Carmona finally made an open fast break layup!
• A Skates bank three pointer tied us up at 20 with 8 minutes left
• Chris Whitney hit a "three". It looked pretty clear he was on the line but the ref called a three so we score it a 3. That gave Hoopa Loompas a 29-23 lead.
• Dribble Handoff closed on a 9-2 run. Two Disola FTs, a Gatter layup, another Gatter three and a Disola layup with 3 seconds left.
• Dribble Handoff went into the half up 32-21

The first half was really close both ways. Each team had their runs. I think Hoopa Loompas looked like the better team except for the last two minutes. They could have been been up more going into those last two minutes if more of their shots hadn't rimmed out. Neither team crashed the offensive glass well. 

Second Half Highlights

• Dribble Handoff started to extend their lead early behind a Disola three, an Okharedia runner and some Disola FTs going up 47-40 and forcing an early Hoopa Loompas timeout.
• The lead continued to grow out to 60-48 after a Gatter three pointer and a Disola layup off a Fraher steal
• The lead got as high as 63-50 after an Okharedia and-1. 
• Disola showed his defensive ability with a block on a Brooks shot "get out of here with that soft sh*t"
• He may have spoke too soon because Brooks got hot after that.
• A three to bring the lead down to 67-62 late.
• Okharedia went 1 of 2 from the line. 68-62 DH.
• ANOTHER THREE FROM BROOKS 68-65
• Disola missed the front end of a one and one
• BROOKS HITS ANOTHER THREE TO TIE THE GAME!! 68-68 with maybe 17 seconds left.

This is where it got interesting. Dribble Handoff inbounded the ball to Okharedia who Aidan Enright intentionally fouled. Everyone was confused. Enright thought his team was still down. Okharedia went to the line and nailed both free throws. 70-68 DH.

A poor pass from Brooks to Skates led to a Loompas turnover. On the inbounds Disola got the ball and was intentionally fouled. He yelled "THANK YOU" and went to the line to close out the game. HE MISSED BOTH FREE THROWS. The Loompas secured the rebound and called timeout with three second left.

The inbounds pass found its way to Enright who found Kevin Ryff who got up a contest three that fell short at the buzzer. Dribble Handoff held on to win.

This was an impressive game by both teams. 

Dribble Handoff played with only 5 guys for the second week in a row but the five play well together. They really could used Derek Erion's size because they really have no offensive rebounding prescence without him. Still the favorites even if it's just this 5.

Hoopa Loompas might see Dribble Handoff again in round one and they have to feel like they aren't that far off from an upset. Brooks didn't played well in the first half. Carmona didn't play that well all game and they were without their best perimete defender St Ulme. And they still had a shot to win at the buzzer. Given they already have their playoff spot secure, this is a "good loss".

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.