October 9 Championship Weekend

The sun shined down on us on a warm Sunday afternoon on our first D League Championship Weekend.  I can't believe that we made it this far... but we are here and we had great match ups on today's menu.

Special Guests

ATR vs Primetime

Mad crazy first game!  It is no secret what Primetime brings; SPEED, TEAMWORK and PRIMETIME PRESSURE!  ATR does not hide the fact that they have a speed deficit but they for sure will make up for what they lack with their size and tremendous post presence.  Primetime came into the game with a full bench and Primetime Coach, Elco, was going to use everyone on it today.  ATR only had six players to work so they had to make sure that no one fouled out of the game.  The game started out hot with both teams trying to establish their tempo.  ATR came out and executed their post game early and got out to an early lead.  It was clear what ATR was going to do but Primetime was running with a full tank and ran on every opportunity to answer back.  Alex for Primetime took the liberty to take a few rebounds coast to coast it for a couple of buckets.  Marlowe and Colin followed suit with threes and open mid range jumpers.  ATR stuck to their game plan and fed Jun, William and Jon in the left post to get key Primetime players into foul trouble.  Christian, Deejay and Corey complemented the post game by making open perimeter shots and easy transition layups.  ATR's Jon was ejected for unsportsmanlike behavior and put ATR's chances of going to the Finals in jeopardy.  But ATR kept to their game plan and built a double digit lead.  Primetime's Marlowe picked up quick fouls and unfortunately fouled out of the game.  Colin for Primetime stepped up and went on an 11 point run on his own to close the lead to 4.  Primetime's Alex cut the lead to two points and turned up  the pressure on ATR.  ATR's Deejay called a timeout to get the his team refocused.  In the closing minutes ATR's Jun grabbed an offensive rebound and scored.  Alex had a chance to tie the ball game with a three pointer bit the ball rimmed out.  What a ball game! ATR pulled out a win and got a ticket to the Finals!

Spartans vs Dragons

Spartans was entering the Dragons lair for the second semi final game of the day.  Dragons are made up of Superstar and experienced players so they were not going to overlook the Spartans not one bit.  Spartans looked like a small Army of special forces with Bong and Drexler, team captains, orchestrating a dangerous mission to win the Championship. From jump street the Spartans tried to take advantage of every opportunity and ran, ran, ran the ball.  The Dragons responded by taking advantage of their great half court pick and roll plays.  Rob, Joey and Hervin set up Daryll and Mike for beautiful looks at the basket.  The game was tight through the 3rd quarter when Masato caught fire!  Masato literally went "John Rambo" and scored most of the Spartans points in the fourth quarter.  Joey and Hervin for the Dragons shot well from the perimeter to keep the game close.  Daryll and Mike controlled the boards for the Dragons and went to the line to several times but could not  make all of their free throws.  In the end Spartans came out of the Dragons lair victorious and advanced to the Finals.    

ATR vs Spartans

Watching both teams warm up I did not get the sense of any nerves.  Both teams seemed calm and relaxed. After a hilarious player introductions it got real serious as the players stepped onto the court.  Once the ball bounced on the floor the nerves started to show as both teams on several sequences turned the ball over 4 four times consecutively.  Once the smoke of nerves cleared ATR established their game plan "FEED the POST".  ATR took advantage of their size and fed Jun, William and Jon for easy buckets.  Jun got going early and went to the line to convert a couple of three point plays to get ATR in front early.  The Spartan's Alonzo pushed the pace for the Spartans to try to get his team running like a pack of wild mustangs.  Nav and Drexler converted on tough layups and floaters up the middle. Masato had a hard time getting into the flow of the game but Armand picked up the slack offensively.  Allen for ATR did not play in their first Semi Final game but contributed in this game with a few big threes and defensive stops.  Christian shared the responsibility with Allen to try to slow down the Spartans pace and executing their game plan.  Spartans went on a run led by Alonzo but ATR's size and trips to the free throw line proved to be too much as ATR's lead grew to double digits.

ATR are this Season 1's D League Champions!  Congratulations!  The Private Award Ceremony will be held a Salo Salo restaurant our Official Sponsors.  We will post footage of that soon.

Jun G. Finals MVP