THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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RL Cruisers 79, New York Fury 56 |
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A PAPERLESS WORKPLACE |
| Modern Day Clash of Titans Results in Old Fashioned Beatdown at Julia Richman HS |
| April 6, 2008 - New York, NY (DL) - On paper, the regular season matchup between the reigning champion RL Cruisers and the NY Fury seemed fast-tracked for the Dream League annals of new classics. On paper, the clash between these two franchises would feature firepower, size, and athleticism on both sides. On paper, this would be a reporter’s dream game to cover. But like the writing of this article, this contest was not done on paper. By the time that the NY Fury’s top player (the unstoppable Christian Stevens), and the Cruisers’ incomparable Tony Hu both arrived to the gym in the second half, the game was already far out of reach, decided by their teammates. Merciless defense and rebounding by the Cruisers’ twin towers, George Chan (10 rebs) and wunderkind Howard Chu (11 rebs), added to the relentless ball pressure by Leon Chu (4 steals) made life absolutely miserable for the Fury offense. Only able to muster 11 points in the first quarter and 4 in the second, the shorthanded Fury called upon a trio of last-minute pickups to round out their squad. Having just battled their hearts out in a losing effort in the previous game, Old Boys Nick Gao, Jason Kwok and Ricky Ho weren’t able to get anything going in their guest appearance in the NL. Additionally, super Fury guards Ren Hsieh and Banglee Takenouchi were never able to get on track as both their shots were off. The same could not be said for the Cruisers’ CB Liu, who missed his first couple of shots when shooting off the dribble, but as the game progressed, his big men and especially the heady guard Garry Yeung (6 assists) were able to find him with skip passes for open jumpers again and again, for a total of 18 points, all of the long range variety. The lack of Fury big men seemingly allowed the Cruisers to operate their offense with impunity, getting whatever looks and shots they would call for as they set up their offense. Leading 61-32 heading into the fourth quarter, it looked as if the Cruisers might set the record for biggest margin of victory in a Dream League game. Only the arrival of the imposing Christian Stevens and his wasting of no time in getting off the blocks (7-11, 14 points and 7 rebounds in not much more than a quarter of work), as well as some hot late shooting from captain Ren Hsieh, prevented the Fury from going into the paperless record books under a slew of ignominious categories. Final score: a drama-less 79-56 that was only exciting for the score and statkeepers. Four Cruisers hit double digits, led by CB Liu’s 18 and supported by 13 from Hu, 12 from Chan, and 11 from Mark “The Professor” Yiin. Ren Hsieh of the Fury posted 18, but on 7-19 shooting. Christian Stevens added 14 and 7, but only as a teaser as to what could have been if he had played from the tip. |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RL Cruisers | 17 | 20 | 24 | 18 | - | 79 |
| New York Fury | 11 | 4 | 17 | 24 | - | 56 |
Boxscore
| RL Cruisers - 79 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chan, George | 6 / 12 [0.500] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | |
| Cheng, David | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Chu, Howard | 3 / 9 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
| Chu, Leon | 3 / 5 [0.600] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Hu, Tony | 5 / 10 [0.500] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | |
| Liu, CB | 7 / 10 [0.700] | 4 / 7 [0.571] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 18 | |
| Tso, Quincy | DNP | ||||||||||
| Yeung, Garry | 4 / 10 [0.400] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| Yeung, Stan | DNP | ||||||||||
| Yiin, Mark | 4 / 10 [0.400] | 2 / 5 [0.400] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | |
| 33 / 72 [0.458] | 8 / 22 [0.364] | 5 / 6 [0.833] | 44 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 79 | ||
| New York Fury - 56 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chang, Rich | DNP | ||||||||||
| Choi, James | DNP | ||||||||||
| De Leon, Andrew | DNP | ||||||||||
| Gao, Nick | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Ho, Ricky | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Hsieh, Ren | 7 / 19 [0.368] | 3 / 7 [0.429] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 18 | |
| Kwok, Jason | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Moy, Jeff | DNP | ||||||||||
| Parekh, Ram | 4 / 14 [0.286] | 0 / 5 [0.000] | 4 / 4 [1.000] | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |
| Redhead, Roger | DNP | ||||||||||
| Stevens, Christian | 7 / 11 [0.636] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
| Takenouchi, Banglee | 1 / 8 [0.125] | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| Wang, Alvin | DNP | ||||||||||
| Youn, Chris | DNP | ||||||||||
| 22 / 64 [0.344] | 5 / 23 [0.217] | 7 / 7 [1.000] | 28 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 56 | ||
Referees
| Gina Kennedy: | Rate Me |
| Lamont Long: | Rate Me |