Summer Session #8 - Playoff Game #1

The opening game of the North Division playoffs featured the Clip Joint against a revamped "Tenatious Teabaggers" team that looked to pull the first round upset. Featuring a new point guard at the helm the "Teabaggers" tried to follow the recipe for success that "O'Donnel" used one week prior. A focused Clip Joint came out of the gate on a mission to get out early and not look back. Once again shorthanded the Clip Joint jumped out to a big lead early leading 14-0 before the game was 5 minutes old. This of course is a stark contrast to what had been going on all season but with the big lead the Clip Joint was able to cruise to a solid 19 point victory. In an earlier post I predicted a 15 point victory (59-45) so I was not too far off in my vision. Overall, we played fairly well and only suffered through a couple of tough stretches where they were able to cut the double digit lead down to 8 or 9 but we never really felt threatened. Due to the poor schedule we were forced to endure a 2-3 wait before our next game so a few of us decided to go home and come back and a couple of us chose to stick around to watch the rest of the action.

Some brief recaps and information about the other games that caught my attention from the opening round.

"Yo Momma" squared off against "Dynasty" who was looking to assert themselves as the dominant team they once were before the injuries and roster issues. "Dynasty" was still without their point guard and without the starting power forward who has been out for quite a while now. Returning to action was one of their two stud centers giving them back that deep inside presence that makes them very difficult to play against. It was close for the first half but in the end "Dynasty" was able to wear them out using their inside players and advanced to the second round. One thing I noticed was that their fitness upfront was not where it could be and I think they could have been exploited if "Yo Momma" had pushed the tempo more aned made some of their shots.

In the final Round 1 game, Cinderella team "O'Donnel" faced off against "Beltway Ballers", but before the game started there was already controversy as the "Beltway Ballers" arrived late to the party causing a delay in the starting time. It was difficult to figure out exactly what was going on but we later found out that "O'Donnel" had the option of taking a forfeit win but were coerced into actually playing the game after several of their players were ruled ineligible and not on their original roster. Despite all of this they managed to hang close and actually led the game down the stretch before finally bowing out ending their mini run.

Up next Round 2.....