THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2006_Summer NL (SF/Oakland) |
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| Game Time wins 2nd franchise title OCTOBER 22, 2006 -- Game Time prevented the East Bay Cardinals from repeating and secured its own 2nd-ever franchise championship with a resounding 20-point win... More info ALL-LEAGUE SELECTIONS Cardinals Will Need 2 Straight to Repeat Bird's eye view of schedule Playoff Brackets OCTOBER 6, 2006 -- The East Bay Cardinals will need to beat Game Time this Sunday 10/8 and the following Sunday 10/15 if they hope to repeat. The last team to repeat was the Wildcatz in 2005 Winter/Spring and 2005 Summer/Fall. Before that, it was none other than Game Time that took the crown, albeit with a much different lineup that featured 3-time NL MVP Hubert Liu and 6'5" Brian Liang.
Now, it's power forward outside shooter Mike Kraus and sniper Keith Wang leading the charge for a much smaller, more nimble reincarnation of Game Time. It's a fairly well-matched-up collision: Wang and 2-time MVP Karl Gusner. At power forward, it could very well be the young, up-and-coming athletic Kevin Sagong to try and keep Kraus in check. On the flip side, you might be seeing former Top Defensive Player Jameel Uddeen trying to contain the Cards' Huy Nguyen, who has been playing like an MVP himself. At point guard, there's Game Time's Johnny Liu who is matched up very evenly by Johnson Bui. And finally let's not forget the guys that do the dirty work, the Cards' Andrew Lee and Game Time's Yih-Wei Chien. It's as if the teams are looking at themselves in the mirror. The only problem for the Cards is that they have to win twice and Gusner has been hobbling since an ankle injury suffered in the recent elimination of the Wildcatz Playoffs Postponed to 10/8 SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 -- Due to key players on both Game Time and EBC playing in the Sacramento Barons Reno tourney, we will postpone the championship to 10/8. See updated playoff brackets. Playoff Matchups for 9/24 SEPTEMBER 19, 2006 -- The playoff brackets have been updated. Let's get caught up somewhat. Specific game recaps are certainly warranted and we'll let you know when those go up, but back in Round 1, there were two upsets. The first was Driven's loss to the Bay Area HEADS. The HEADS were held to 4 points in the first quarter, but by anecdotal accounts, guards Vince Chooi and J.R. Maddela led the comeback. Driven's Sunny Margate said that they handed the game back to the HEADS, which is probably somewhat true considering Driven was up big in the 1st. The second was Cawit's surprising 5-man defeat of the Wildcatz. As briefly reported, Cawit played more conservatively. In other words, they didn't jack up threes left and right because they knew they only had 5 guys. Alvin Vinoya only took a trey when he had to and when he was open. Chris Tenoso played great down low in defending the Catz frontcourt of Will Wagner, backup Andrew Walder, and pogo-stick Gary Chern, and as you will read below, Tenoso is playing the best we've seen him play in his career. Point guard Jeremy DelaCruz is playing as close to warp speed as you can get without having a screw come loose and his ability to ride the redline is carrying Cawit way beyond its 1-7 regular season record. Then we had the Cardinals take care of business against the Bad Boyz while Game Time survived a heroic half-court banker from Michi Langfeldt at the regulation buzzer, who has done that oh so many times in many different ways in his career. Then in overtime, Game Time also survived a late three ball corner pocket from Jeremy Lee that should have tied the game, but the ref said he stepped on the line -- consensus eyewitness accounts say that it was a trey and gym director Al said it best: "Jeremy's the type of player who would know where his feet are." But the real dagger was Game Time's not-so-secret-weapon, Keith Wang, who buried deep from downtown late in OT to put the nail in the coffin. Setai Cossa was not ready for Wang and that was the difference. Still, Setai displayed the utmost class in not making a big deal of Lee's two-pointer. They know they could have been more aware of Wang in the last few plays and that could have made a difference had they played a little better D. To needlessly complain about the ref's apparent mistake would be making that oft-abused naive mistake of assuming it was in the hands of someone whom you have no control over. And let it be reiterated: not a peep from Setai about Lee's trey being called a two. Then this past weekend in Round 2, Driven's Margate spent the weekend with family in Seattle while tempo-setting point guard Sean Caiola was with his family in Vegas. All-up-and-coming Ryan Cruz was out due to similar circumstances and let's just say a forfeit by Driven in an otherwise highly anticipated rematch against the Wildcatz was probably Driven's best option. Game Time survived a scare by the HEADS, which got big small forward Francis Machica back from the Philippines. Machica hit some critical threes, but failed to capitalize on the line in crunch time. However, the HEADS never really had the momentum and were playing catch-up all game long. The HEADS' Julian Ramos (former Top Defensive Player) did a good job containing Wang, as expected, but his teammates did not do a good job of containing Mike Kraus and the supporting cast. Game Time forward Dave Peng and guard Johnny Liu snuck in their offensive rebounds and timely drives and jumpshots. Kaju Bhullar got some strong post moves late in the game, but it was too late. The HEADS defense was subpar, but if they can get center Eric Heidler back for next season, things should open up a little more for the feisty Maddela at guard. Game Time is not exactly playing up to potential, either. They still tend to watch Wang try and break down the defense or Kraus shoot threes, with Peng covering up the lack of a pick-and-roll offense with his sneaky put-backs. As a result, Game Time is actually a bit "slow" in the backcourt. Which brings us to Cawit Law Offices. Yet another minor miracle in defeating the East Bay Cardinals, albeit with last year's MVP Karl Gusner missing. And true to form, Cawit nearly handed it away to the Cards on series of late game miscues, such as missed layups and a quarter-court dime from DelaCruz to a streaking Hong, which Hong let slip through his hands. They showed poise -- either that or they were too pooped to get haywire over. Power forward Albert Yee got the yeoman's call and despite the bad knees, came out and did a decent job on the Cards' frontline. DelaCruz had the Cards' defense constantly on its heels, not knowing when he'd drive or pull up for a potentially ill-fated three, which he has willed into the hole time and time again a la Tim Hardaway. Let's not forget the supporting cast of small forward/slasher Carlos Gacula, point guard speedster Mike Hong, and rough-and-tumble Donnell Scobie down low. They are displaying the discipline and maturity that was perhaps absent in the two failed championship runs under the guise of Rich's Rayguns several seasons ago. Then there's Chris Tenoso. He still doesn't get as many touches as he finally deserves these days, but when he gets it in the low block, he's doing some damage. A one step here to the paint, then back the other way for a turnaround banker. Wow. He can defend any of the NL's starting centers and power forwards. He's taking up space in the middle. The man is shaking off all Joe-Barely-Cares references and has undergone a rebirth. He is currently the best center in the league (did we just say that?!). So Cawit beat the Cardinals in overtime to force a powerhouse showdown between the Cards and Wildcatz on 9/24, to be played at the Catz homecourt. Let's not discount the Cards too heavily, either. They did not have Gusner and Huy Nguyen made a case for MVP by single-handedly bringing the Cards back with scoring or assists late in the game. Bill Truong stepped up big in limited minutes, but no one really filled the void left by Gusner. Center Andrew Lee, forwards Ross Lim and Kevin Sagong, and guards Johnson Bui, Henry Chhiv, and Brad Nakano were all somewhat lost in the shuffle. PREVIEWS/PREDICTIONS -- EBC at Catz: Assuming both teams at full strength, neither team goes ahead by more than 6 points and this game goes into OT...Overall, EBC guards have trouble containing the more physical Catz backcourt of Jeremy Brady and James Chuong, but do a decent job of keeping Catz defense on their heels as Chhiv joins Gusner in the scoring column from outside...Catz's Mike Reding can't really get going against the long-armed defense of Lim until EBC drops back into a zone after power forward-point Teraz Lee terrorizes his EBC defender (Andrew Lee?)...But Nguyen continues to keep the Catz guessing...So anyways, the Catz get the ball in OT down by one, Reding drives to the hoop, gets partially blocked by Lim with help from Nguyen, Wagner gets the putback and misses but somehow Chern gets the ensuing rebound and taps it in at the buzzer...Otherwise, it's Gusner launching off a Nguyen penetration-and-dish and...? It's the Catz's Ace-Seven all-in against the Cards' pair of eights (flip a coin). Cawit at GmTm: How can you not pick the underdog? -- and no, this does not mean it's our fault for jinxing Cawit...But anyways, a focused Gacula does a decent defensive containment of Wang, leaving Yee on Kraus which is not exactly daylight for Kraus either...Game Time has trouble scoring early and falls behind, with Vinoya and DelaCruz doing most of the damage and Hong offering some jabs...Peng gets his now-expected offensive rebounds, but can't get a shot off over Tenoso, not to mention the drives of Game Time guard Ryan Susanto also ending up in the forest of the tree...and Tenoso does enough damage down low to keep the outside-in attack of Vinoya and DelaCruz honest...Cawit gets tired, but there is enough of a cushion and aside from a couple free throws from Kraus, no one on Game Time can convert on Scobie's late-game hacks...Oh yeah, captain Ken Wan will be out for a wedding in Hawaii, further depleting Game Time's frontline...Cawit wins by 5. Playoff Matchups for 9/17 SEPTEMBER 13, 2006 -- Wow, only East teams are left in the Winners Bracket. Driven held the Heads to 4 points in the first quarter, then the Heads came back thanks to the guard play of Vince Chooi and Jed Meddela, as well as Julian Ramos's defense. The Wildcatz committed over 20 turnovers as Cawit only had 5 guys, but gelled. Chris Tenoso played a solid inside game and with only 5 players, Cawit didn't jack up needless threes left and right. They played efficiently and got timely baskets from Alvin Vinoya, Jeremy DelaCruz... WINNERS BRACKET E#4 CLO at E#1 EBC (Oakland) E#3 BAH at E#2 GmTm (Oakland) LOSERS BRACKET W#2 Drvn at W#1 Catz (at SQHS) Interestingly, we have two of last season's Final Three, Driven and the Wildcatz, fighting for survival this weekend in the Losers Bracket. Adding to the Legacy of Asian American Champions AUGUST 26, 2006 -- As we head into this weekend of first-round NL playoffs, let us be reminded that half of the teams currently in the league have in the past won a championship at one of the highest levels of Asian ball (if not the highest), while another two have come close and one has won in AL-Elite, the division directly below... More info Also, we forgot to post last season's All-League selections until now... More info Finally, some NL-related preludes to the Vegas AANC... More info Notes for 8/27 Bird's eye view of schedule AUGUST 25, 2006 -- Scheduling notes for 8/27... SETAI at GMTM -- Both teams wanted late tipoff. BOYZ at EBC -- Only time/gym w/ no conflicts for EBC guys on 2 teams. BAH at DRVN -- BAH needed between 2:30 and 4:30. CLO at CATZ -- CLO need 3pm or later. T-SHIRT UPDATE: Superstar kid scorekeeper EJ and Commish spent 4 hours last night sorting out the t-shirts. All t-shirts owed should be passed out by this Sunday at your respective gyms. Please see a scorekeeper. Also, the quantities for the New t-shirts were messed up, so we gave the Circle or Gothic version to those of you whom we think have not been in the league as long as others. Payment Auto-Forfeits as of 8/23 Excerpted from an email sent today to all captains with outstanding payments: YOU WILL ALSO FORFEIT THE ENTIRE PLAYOFFS. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO PAY. ABSOLUTELY YOUR LAST CHANCE, PERIOD -- NO MORE WAITING ON UNPAID PAYMENTS AFTER 8/27 ANYMORE AND I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE THE BAD GUY AND CUT YOU AND YOUR TEAM OFF. AUGUST 23, 2006 -- We will be calling refs on the spot to ensure payments have been made to ANY SCOREKEEPER prior to tipoff (not after). The following teams are at risk of forfeiting their next game: DRIVEN: 8 of 10 spots paid for. 9th spot is currently $86.82, plus 10th spot at $32.70 totals to $119.52. Please pay for the 9th spot and we will bill you separately for the 10th. Team Payments and Preferences (as of 8/23) # LOCALE TIPOFFS TEAM NAME/CAPTAIN STATUS BYE(S) | |||||||