July 27th, 2003
Teams Gear Up for Next Week's Playoffs
EDISON (HP) – The final week of the HBA season provided a taste of the playoff atmosphere that would be present next week. Gray needed an improbable 6-0 record at the end of the day, coupled with a 0-6 day for Orange to claim the final guaranteed spot for the playoffs. To start the day, Gray finished with a hard earned and energetic double overtime win over a favored White team, and then came over to watch the end of Orange vs. Red matchup. Orange was leading 10-4 (game point) but cheers from Gray created playoff intensity. The defense toughened up, and Red ran off four points to knot it at 10. Things looked to be going Gray’s way as Orange continued to turn the ball over to Red, keeping Gray’s playoff hopes alive, but Orange finally pulled it out, thanks to the heroic efforts of second-week player Brian Kim.
Brian Kim led his Orange team to three victories on Sunday, a feat which was not thought to be possible given his limited supporting staff.
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Gray and Red must play a best out of three qualifier series to earn the fourth and final spot in the HBA playoff bracket, as well as a chance to play top-seeded Blue. The playoffs will be well documented and recorded, and the teams look to be in top shape by next Sunday. A Blue team practice on Monday was interrupted by Gray team, minus Suarez and Ni (out with bad back), and turned into a friendly scrimmage. It looks like all the teams want to get a leg up on the competition. The playoffs will be a best of five series format, single elimination. Blue will play the winner of Red-Gray, and White will play Orange.
Red Team
RED LOOKS TO PLAYOFFS AND DOC HEALEY’S RETURN
Red team finished a disappointing last in the league after a 0-6 day. They looked strong in the first game against Orange, rallying to tie it after being down 10-4, but could not pull out the win. Red is by far the league leader in steals and blocks, but simply cannot generate enough offense to go with their many defensive stops.
The Red team showed signs of fatigue and weariness after suffering six losses in one day.
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Despite being easy wins for other teams the last couple weeks, Red is the team nobody wants to face come playoff time. Chris “Doc” Healey returns just in time for the qualifier and inherits three defense-hardened players. The three “midlevel” Red players in Chou, Bisker, and Chandran have been guarding superstars. Their weekly struggles without Healey have undoubtedly prepared them to play playoff basketball. Once Healey comes back and provides the offense, Red could be the first fourth seed in HBA history to win the championship.
Orange Team
ORANGE SURPRISES WITH 3-0 START; FALTERS LATE
A good shooting performance by Ed Liu helped Orange upset teams such as Gray and White.
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Orange ended all questions to their place as the third seed in the HBA playoffs by opening this week with a 3-0 record, quickly crushing Gray and Red’s chances to overtake them. Improved play by Peter He and Brian Kim was key to Orange’s early success. Kim finished third in the league in average HBAP, surprisingly above both Kang from Blue and Patel from White, as well as everyone on Gray. Kim only played two weeks, but if coupled with Jake Douglas (still questionable for the playoffs), Orange could be a force in the playoffs.
Fatigue and lack of physical defense caused Orange to finish the week with four straight losses, but the outlook is bright. If Douglas and/or Freeman return next week for the playoffs, Orange has a legitimate shot to upset the second-seeded White team. If not, Kim has his work cut out for him as Orange looks overmatched.
Gray Team
GRAY’S UNLIKELY BID FOR A THIRD SEED ENDS EARLY; NI INJURED
Gray team looked strong the last couple weeks with their new member Yifu Wu, posting a 10-4 record over the last two weeks, but could not overtake Orange for the third place seed. This creates many problems for the rejuvenated Gray, as they are slated to play Red team in the playoff qualifier next week. Gray has historically played poorly against Red, winning only one game all season against them when Healey was present.
Rondeep Dutta continued to play inspired basketball as he helped Gray win an early game against White.
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Andy Ni’s strained back remains questionable for next week. Ni injured it in a game against Blue, and could not play much of last week. The odds look stacked against Gray—even though both Rondeep Dutta and Tim Chang both average more HBAP per game than Ni, he remains their on court leader and takes the tough assignments guarding opposing teams’ superstars. Will Gray have to play without Ni? Can they overcome their slim chances and make it into the bracket? Next week will decide whether Gray will be a forgotten last place team, or the Cinderella story of the HBA.
White
WHITE UNIMPRESSIVE IN “LAME DUCK” WEEK
Neerj Patel, in the absence of scorer Jeremy Doodanauth, found more opportunities to shoot the ball and raised his scoring average to 4.2 ppg.
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White played without Jeremy Doodanauth this week, looking sloppy and lazy at times. White still managed a 3-3 record, but their momentum from previous weeks was slowed. White’s newest player Ed Bong replaced an absent Doodanauth and was inconsistent in play. Despite the lackluster play and results, White picked the perfect week to take a break: they are a virtual lock for the second seed, so this week’s results do not matter.
White will play a Praveen-less Orange next week, possibly without Jake Douglas or James Freeman as well. If the Hsieh-Patel-Doodanauth lineup faces the Orange lineup of Kim-Liu-He, White looks to have an easy time getting into the finals.
Blue
BLUE LOOKS PRIMED FOR PLAYOFFS
Blue looked good in their final week of regular season play. Working out the kinks in their offense, Blue played well enough to post a 6-1 record. Peter Kang shot well, and Mike Sheehan worked on his low post moves. Soang and Chen partially recovered from poor outings last week. Blue looks ready for the playoffs.
Peter Kang finished the season above 30 HBAP per game with a string of high-scoring games. He was also able to capture the assist title despite 18 turnovers.
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Blue was a virtual lock for the first seed, provided they beat Orange at least once (they beat Orange twice in two overtime games), so the style of play focused more on individual efforts. Sheehan looked to improve his rebounds per game while hoping to at least come close to the insurmountable 11.2 rpg averaged by Chris Healey; he finished second overall. What proved to be a sideshow throughout the day was the tight race for the assists title between Kang and White’s Hsieh. The two players came into the day only a few assists apart from each other. In an effort to win the title, Kang took plenty of risks and committed an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers in 6 games, but was redeemed as he captured the assist title with 2.33 per game. Hsieh finished with 2.27 apg.
Blue will play the winner of the Red-Gray qualifier series. Red could provide match up problems for Blue, as Chandran has become somewhat adept at guarding Kang, and Healey could take many rebounds that Sheehan usually would get. Blue will be without Sheehan if they make it past the first round, as he will be absent for the finals. The key to Blue playing well will be the defense of Soang and Chen, as they must step up and shut down opposing midlevel players.
(HP)
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