Season 2, Game 4 Recap

Zuricalaw.com v. Edelmania
7/22/08
Loss

Team members present and game grades

Zuricalaw.com (C+) - didn't have too many errors, but didn't assert himself at all on either end of the court. Needs to get in much better game shape.

Noel (B-) had some nice shots and played solid, just not enough (as with the rest of the team)

Mike B (B-) Had a good game shooting, but was one of 3 that tried and failed to stop the Hebrew hammer from scorching us on offense

Ahmad (B-) Another third of the Hebrew hammers victims. Tried to assert his will on offense, but just another case of not enough for the zuricalawyers

Joe H (B-) Combined with our other big man to miss a total of 79 layups and put backs. Other then that played some nice D, but was petrified of the 2.5 mile court

Gantor (B-) Made his debut with the boys in tan and had a decent game. As aforementioned, combined with Joe to pull a 2 half Charles Smith Act.

Zosh (DNP) - Went to tenjune with Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher

Anicito (DNP) - was too scared to come back to earth after his career game last week and decided to skip the match


"I have a bad feeling about this". - Han Solo





Noel and I arrived at the gym (or dungeon) pretty early and as we were sitting there, a few teams showed up. Out of the three other teams there it was obvious as to which one I wanted to play. Their team was talking about google/microsoft for about 20 minutes and they had a guy that looked exactly like the kid from Family Guy that wants to date Meg (see pic).






Unfortunately for us, the kid turned out to be the second coming of Ray Allen. He scored about 45 of their 73 points. I've never seen someone shoot that well. He made Anicitos game of last week look like little league. And even besides the Hebrew Hammer, the rest of their squad also shot about 95% from the field.


You guys know I hate recapping losses, so I'm not going to go that much further, but some of the problems last night were poor rebounding, not getting back on D, not hustling on offense, missing easy buckets, etc... With all that we did a decent job to cut the lead to 44-40 at the beginning of the second half, but it just seemed that for every 3 we made, they made 4 more. It goes without saying Mike and Mike would have made a big difference last night. Also special thanks to super sub Gantor for coming down and helping us out.


I know i didn't emphasize how ridiculously big that court was, but lets just say the Steve Prefontaine would have taken one look at it and said "damn".


Right now, we're 2-2 and we honestly cannot afford too many more losses if we want to make the playoffs. Next week we have a much needed bye, so lets rest up and come out strong for the second half of the season.

-Zurica out

Season 2, Game 3 Recap

7/15/08

Zuricalaw.com v. Bugle Boys

Win

Team members present and game grades

Zuricalaw.com (B) - Had some nifty passes and played hard all game. Deduction in grade for forcing a few too many passes

Tanzosh (B+) - Has become a clutch foul shooter, who woulda thunk it.

Joe H (B) - Played his game, but didn't stand out as much as normal.

Ahmad (B+) - His hustle was exactly what we needed. Helped stave off a few Bugle boy runs

Tommy P (B+) - Came back to the court after a ten year hiatus and gave us quality David lee type minutes

Anicito (first half B-, second half A+, overall A) Tale of two cities with mike in this one. He looked disinterested in the first half, then somehow played like a modern day larry bird in the second half. I mean, for the love of god, the kid had a 4 point play. Hasn't been seen since the days of grandmama.

Betancourt - (DNP) Back spasms caused by heavy lifting of Styrofoam cup at work

Noey -(DNP) Playing little league (Didn't little league end when we were 13?)



"Excuse me are those Bugle Boys jeans you're wearing?" - random sexy 80's model



Last night was all about 2 things, the near brawl and Anicito having the game of his life. Before the game he must've asked Zoltan from the movie BIG if he could be "the guy" for once in his life. Mike was actually "the one guy we have to stop" according to the Buglers. "This guys killing us", "Someone guard him", "He's their only shooter". These were some of the other comments heard. Mike was praying that this game was caught on tape somehow so he could show his kids somewhere down the line that he actually played "out of his mind" at least once. Kudos to Mike, I haven't seen shooting like that since i borrowed Tommy P's Peter North tape last fall.

As for the second big thing in last nights game. Zosh and graybeard from the other team went toe to toe about 3 times. It looked like Tyson, Holyfied was about to go down. My favorite part was when graybeards cousin had to step in and defend his honor cause "that's my cousin your messing with". Good job to get in their head Zosh.

Back to the game, huge thanks to our super sub Tommy P for stepping in and giving us some nice defense and much needed breathers. Tommy wanted me to remark on his dunk, but unless you're talking about that oreos and milk last night, I must've missed it.

Ahmad, Joe and yours truly all played solid games and it was just one of those times where we looked like a well oiled machine for pretty much most of the game. Probably one of the more enjoyable games I've played in a while. Although, i must say, 9:00 games are rough. I felt like a zombie waking up this morning.

Well, we're back over .500 and I don't plan on falling back under. Lets keep it up. Next week we play at a nicer gym I hear, so I'll see you all then.

Zurica out.

Season 2, Game 2 Recap

7/8/08

Zuricalaw.com v. Wheres Kenny

Players present and game grades

Zuricalaw.com (C+) - major hindrance caused by his torn calf muscle of a week ago.

Betancourt (B-) - once we hit the good basket, mike started hitting shots, but it was too little too late

Joe H (B-) Made some nice plays offensively and defensively in the second half, but again it wasnt enough to stave off defeat

Tanzosh (B) Kept us in the game throughout. Played huge, but jinxed himself by proclaiming he is a 100% free throw shooter

Josh S (supersub) (B-) Earned his ten day contract, played with hustle and tenacity, made a few sloppy plays, but it was his first organized game since 99

Ahmad (DNP) - had a date with Ashley Dupre
Anicito (DNP) - Was out in strong island fishing
Noel (DNP) - Went 2-4 in his slow pitch underhand beer drinking full contact softball league

"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" - zuricalaw.com

As I spoke to some of you guys about last night the similar characteristic of every basketball game I've lossed in my mens league career is very easy to explain. When we have our full squad or at least a sub, we win 9 out of 10. When we are down a guy or 2 is the only time we lose, its as simple as that. Obviously we all have other things to do so I know full attendance at every game is never possible and I've accepted that after years of frustration, but it still sux when we lose to a squad that would have been destroyed if we had anicitos rebounding, ahmads intensity and noeys threes. It wouldn't have been close.

And that's no offense to the five strong we had there. The simple fact is that a few of us, me mostly, after my injury, needed a blow. They were able to trot out 2 fresh legs every few minutes and we were running on fumes at the end. It didn't help that the gym was about 900 degrees.

As for the game itself, you know I hate recapping losses, but I'll give a quick word. Josh stepped in and gave us huge and quality minutes on super short notice. This game really came down to hustle and shooting. In the first half, the blue squad shot on their good rim and hit almost everything while we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. In the second half, we switched places and their shots were just as off as ours. However, we were too far behind to make it all the way back. We valiantly cut the lead to 5 with 2 minutes left, but a few missed free throws and sloppy play did us in.

I honestly hope we get to see this team again as there is no way they should be sitting at work right now thinking they are better than us. Its simply not true, with our three amigos present, we win that game by double digits. Again, I'm not trying to make an excuse, but that game just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Thanks again to Mr. Scher for coming down and helping out.

So, it looks like we wont be going undefeated but I'll take another 7-1 record. Unfortunately, there will now be no NOBU due to the loss, sorry mike.

Same time next week, lets avenge this loss.

Zurica out