Before I get to the game, I have to note what a disappointing showing from the rest of the players in the league. In the past we use to fill the gym with former and current players which made the post-game celebration that much more enjoyable. I want to thank Brian Healy, Derrick Brown, Dan Maloney, Greg Baker, Dan McEldowney and former players Jim Barry and Matt Houser for showing up to support the game and the league and to join in the post-game festivities. I apologize if I missed anyone.
Now to the game:
O’Malley over Statham- the score does not matter because this game was over before it started. Team O’Malley came ready to play from the opening jump ball and sprinted out to a 11-2 lead with Team Statham committing TO’s on 4 of their 5 first possessions. Team Statham managed to crawl back into the game despite the suffocating defense of Team O’Malley with the tone being set early with DeCarlo go after his man like it was the last White Claw on the planet.. Team Statham cut it to 23-17 with 30 seconds to go and then after a TO had a chance to cut it to 4 but missed a front end of a 1 and 1. Team O’Malley held team Statham’s top 3 scorers to 9 points in the first-half. Give credit to Team Statham for not panicking and playing some tough defense of their own to prevent the game form getting out of hand.
Despite getting the ball to start the second half, Team Statham was not able to get anything going offensively and Team O’Malley quickly increased the lead to 10 and never looked back with the lead at one point getting as much as 17 as team Statham kept shooting themselves in the foot.
As expected McCann carried the offensive load for Team O’Malley especially in the second half as Team Statham constantly got burned by double-teaming and Team O’Malley finding the open man. Tyler was a one-man wrecking crew on the boards creating numerous additional opportunities for his team to score when points were tough to come by. Team O’Malley got key offensive contributions from Petrak(not sure how many but he will gladly tell you) and a key 3 pointer by Egan. Team O’Malley completely shut down Team Statham’s offense with a heroic “in your face” effort on defense especially by DeCarlo and Egan and McCann.
Congratulations to Team O’Malley on a great season and a convincing Championship win-truly the best team won. A 16 week season is long and grueling and you have a have a little bit of luck and remain injury-free and continue to grind it out every week and play every play in the play-offs as if it is your last. Team O’Malley should be proud of their accomplishment especially considering how competitive the league has become.
Congratulations also to team Orange a great two year run and for coming one game short of back to back Championships.
General Observations:
The victory was especially impressive considering Team O’Malley was missing Granville and two of their players were drunk and over-coming match-up disadvantages on almost every position on the floor.
Rarely will you see a game in which everyone on the losing team has a sub-par game on the same night but the credit goes to Team O’Malley for that.
My early prediction for next year is that Team O’Malley will repeat as Champions unless looking at their ugly mugs on the Website for the entire season next year is enough to motivate some team to knock them off.
I anticipate that we will lose a number of players form this year so if anyone knows players interested in getting in the league please get me their contact information so we can put them on the waiting list.
Thanks to Mike Green for all his unsung efforts in running our great league year after year- no one really knows all the drama that goes on behind the scenes.
I hope to have my year-ending blog with the Ridggie Awards posted in the next couple of weeks- I just need a little time for the stink to wash away from the crushing defeat.
All comments on the league, season or the game are welcome.
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