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"So, you show up for the 2nd and 4th quarters. Where were you during the 1st and 3rd quarters?" Hustlas coach looks exasperated. "Legkauskas, you are coming off the bench from here on out. I know you lead the league and scoring, or you did, you fell to second now, but we need continuity with the new guys. You can lead the bench. Lord knows we need our second string to be nearly as strong as our first string."

The Hustlas players sit with their heads down. "We have some tough assignments coming up. But our next league match is against Tachenko. That matchup will tell me whether or not we can actually compete against the top tier or if we or middling tier. The GM put in a lot of work this last week. This was a poor performance. And, on paper, you guys are better. But, it was my fault. I came with the wrong gameplan and they exploited it. Though I did not think it would be that bad. Lesson learned."

Huk looks at his team mates, then stands. "We will avenge this loss to them coach. You'll see. We will make them pay for this. And next time it will be them that will have their takes between their legs." The team nods, then starts to get pumped up.

"We can do this, and we will be a force to be reckoned with," says Legkauskas. "Especially with me coming off of the bench."

Talman stands. "This loss was on me. I got dominated inside. Me and Ziehaus. We were better and got killed inside. Yes that defense was the wrong defense. But even still, we should have done something. Next time, we will."

Hustlas will prepare for their upcoming matchups, and look for an upset in their next league match.

Loving the match commentary, folks - keep it up!
Day 6 (Tuesday 16 August 2022) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Linndale 119 - The Lone Wolf 99
Lion Rebels 30 - Rip City Revival 98
Mighty Moose Rockets 34 - Philly Dribble 137
Carolina Rebels 72 - San Dominica Warriors 74
2 percent 116 - Żubr Białystok 128
Is This Heaven? 59 - The Beer Bellys 113
Tachenko 81 - Miami Cleo 69
Hustlas 86 - The Ashkickers 105

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 137 : Philly Dribble
Rebounds : 67 : Philly Dribble
Assists : 31 : The Beer Bellys
Steals : 12 : Rip City Revival
Block Shots : 13 : Philly Dribble

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 39 : A. Varpukevicius (Miami Cleo)
Rebounds : 25 : D. Wilmink (2 percent)
Assists : 9 : B. Coenen (Linndale)
Steals : 5 : R. Tobin (Tachenko), E. Pagnini (Rip City Revival)
Block Shots : 4 : K. Walker (Philly Dribble)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : H. Šapiras (Żubr Białystok) (30 Points, 0 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27
Shooting Guard : T. Ogata (2 percent) (36 Points, 8 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 39
Small Forward : N. Mezzalira (The Lone Wolf) (38 Points, 8 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37
Power Forward : T. Colomina (The Ashkickers) (19 Points, 12 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 33
Center : E. Pagnini (Rip City Revival) (8 Points, 19 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 5 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31

MVP of the evening
T. Ogata (2 percent) (36 Points, 8 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 39

The bad performance of the evening
K. McNulty (Mighty Moose Rockets) (21 Points, 3 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -19

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : O. Dragić (Is This Heaven?) : 8 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : N. Motturi (Lion Rebels) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Gallucci (Miami Cleo), K. McNulty (Mighty Moose Rockets), A. Albrecht (Mighty Moose Rockets), J. Cadelago (Mighty Moose Rockets), E. Albright (Mighty Moose Rockets), W. Johnson (Mighty Moose Rockets), L. Arevalo (Carolina Rebels), H. Espinosa (Carolina Rebels), S. Hollins (Lion Rebels), C. Davis (Lion Rebels), S. Hatch (Żubr Białystok), P. Mari Acuña (2 percent), D. Wilmink (2 percent) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : L. Baião (San Dominica Warriors) : 6 Three points

The best performer : R. Mason (Tachenko) : Rating : 17.0

The worst performer : W. Johnson (Mighty Moose Rockets) : Rating : 2.0

Hustlas, after being down 5 in the BB madness tourney with 1:47 left in the fourth, They finished on a 7-0 run to win by 2 points 85 - 87.

108 to 57, for a BB madness game...I'm still shaking my head at UBC Eastside Potsdam. They go inside isolation, like every game, so predictable. So I went 2-3 and moved Homs to SF and shut them the $uck down. 57 to 22 at the half...so of course the booze was flowing in the locker room which fueled a 31-16 fourth quarter to finish off the drubbing. Man, I wish I had experimented with that lineup sooner...may have kept me from doing my fire sale ha ha.

Suen Jun Hoi, the newest addition and now biggest star of the Hustlas, played his first game. He is coming off of an injury and is now completely out of shape. He went 1-10, 0-3 from 3 with 2pts and 10ast. The Hustlas will need to get him in shape fast if they hope to have a shit against their next league opponent Tachenko.

Week 3 Power Rankings and Notes - Part One
Third week is in the books and we're seeing the continued development of groupings in the league between the Elite, the Could Be Betters, the Best of the Worst, and the Cellar Dwellers. Hutch44 continues ineptitude, but is at least dressing five players now, while Jbogoroff is on a tear.

Buzzer Beater Madness Tournament Undefeated
We're fortunate to have a couple of undefeated teams in BBM so far this season after three games.

Lion Rebels 3-0 in Tier 6 - we've been fairly evenly matched up in three contests so far, but came out on top on all three. Next week, facing a Division III Spanish team that's a little more rounded out than we are and ranked higher in the world by nearly 500 spots.
Carolina Rebels 3-0 in Tier 7 - they had what some might call an upset victory over an Argentinian Div III team, winning by 13 and playing steady the whole way. Next week, they face another higher ranked opponent, a Div III Portugal team.
2 Percent 3-0 in Tier 7, they haven't faced very stiff competition yet, being ranked higher than all their opponents, which continues next week as they face a 6023 ranked Div III Slovakian team.
Hustlas 3-0 in Tier 7, they had a narrow win last night against a team ranked 1500 spots behind them, winning by two with a last minute come from behind victory after being down 5 with 2:23 left in the game. Next week they face a 5151-world ranked Russian team from Div III.

Interestingly, all teams except The Ashkickers are at least 2-1.

Notes & Observations
Week 3 brings us some changes to players at the top of various statistics. First up, the scoring leader has changed to Miami's Arys Varpukevicius, who overtakes Hustlas Sirmantas Legkauskas by 1/2 a point - interestingly, the leading number has fallen by 3 whole points down to 27.8 ppg.

Last week's FG% leader, Nikky Nay dropped nearly 12% to out of the top 20 in scorers, opening the door for Rip City teammate PF Federico Fornels to lead the way with 57.1%. 3PT% has shifted as well, with 2 percent's Harvey Griffen leading the way with 63.2% on 19 shots (Arys dropped to 44.7% on 47 shots going 5-16 this week from the arc).

I didn't bring this up last week, but Tachenko's SF Randell Tobin has been perfect from the charity stripe, nailing his first 19 free throws (Nikky Nay with an impressive 18 or 19, Carolina's Ben Buijtels with 17 of 18, and Philly's Phillip Huddleston also only missing one at 16 of 17). Cheatle remains in the lead with 15.3 RB/G for Miami is Armstead (Lion Rebels) and Tachenko's Richard Mason and Gordon Pullen right there - Hustlas Nazmi Samuk (last week's co-leader with Cheatle) has dropped down to 12.3/game.

The Ashkicker's Rojas has separated himself just barely from Tachenko's Cico Kallay averaging 6 assists/game with Kallay at 5.8 (one assist difference in total), but I will point out that Rojas averages 7.2 assists per turnover given.

On the team side, still no one with more than 50% FG shooting (though Philly is flirting with it at 49.7%) and two teams are averaging more than 44% from three (Ashkickers and Philly). One last interesting team stat of note: Rip City averages nearly 26 assists per game and only allows 9 giving them more than double a difference than the next closest team with 16.7 more assists per game than they give up. Pretty ridiculous.

Onto the rankings - again, last week's rank will be designated in parenthesis behind the team’s name.

Last edited by Baine at 8/18/2022 12:16:32 PM

Week 3 Power Rankings
The Elites
1. Rip City Revival (1)
Jbogoroff's team's dominance on both sides of the floor is pretty astounding as they make their way through the Big 8. While they saw a considerable drop in EFFG after teeing off on Mighty Moose in week 2, they still lead the league in that as well as in OPP EFFG, dropping that stat another 3.5 points down to 43.2 efficiency allowed by the opposition. Interestingly, they have three regular season games at home in a row following their drubbing of the Lion Rebels, facing The Lone Wolf and, in the first interconference matchup of the season, The Beer Bellys. I'm imagining an 8-0 Rip City with the Revival party going strong heading into Week 5.

2. Philly Dribble (5)
Storming up the chart this week, Philly took advantage of a soft week for them averaging over 132 ppg in that stretch and only allowing 41 ppg. They saw great improvement to their EFFG and OPP EFFG, up more than 20+ points each placing them solidly at 2nd on the list. They face 3rd place San Dominica Warriors on Saturday before hosting Miami Cleo at home.

3. Tachenko (2)
Interesting slip this week for kokka, but mostly thanks to Philly's dominant week. They beat one great team in The Ashkickers and held off upstart Miami in their second matchup on the road. They also saw their EFFG/OPP EFFG drop slightly (though still good), but that's a result of facing some stiffer competition. I can't envision them falling out of the top 4, even with a loss or two. They face a 370 US ranked squad in the Cup this week, and then the Hustlas get to try their hand at an upset before Tachenko goes on the road for a sure victory against MMR.

4. The Ashkickers (4)
Despite the loss to Tachenko on the road, Tylormade's crew stays resilient with a minor drop in EFFG and an even less minor drop in OPP EFFG. Thanks to their ranking this week, they edge out number 5 on this list to retain a top 4 ranking, but much like Tachenko, I doubt they'll stray from the Elite Squad ranking this season.

The Could Be Betters
5. San Dominica Warriors (9)
A nice jump up this list for Coach Stephenson and them boys this week, thanks to facing MMR on the road, followed by a near upset loss to Carolina Rebels on the back of L. Baião's 32 points (despite terrible shooting from the field, but helped out by making 6-11 from three). Still, the MMR effect is very real, which pushes them to this spot. While I'll expect regression, coupled with an even matchup in the Cup for them Thursday, they fortunately get to host both Philly Dribble and The Ashkickers - at least they get them at home - we'll see if they've got the fire power to pull off an upset and really mess up my power rankings next week!

6. The Beer Bellys (10)
Another big mover this week, I'm sure thatguy would be stunned if he wasn't so drunk when he reads this...they find themselves here because of their easy week against the Great 8 portion of the Cellar Dwellers, finding a near 20-point boost in EFFG and a 25-point improvement on their OPP EFFG. They have a tough Cup matchup against US's 74th ranked EDH Wolves and then have a critical matchup against Żubr Białystok at home before traveling to face the giant Rip City Revival next Tuesday. If they can split those games, they deserve to be near the top of the Could Be Better grouping.

Last edited by Baine at 8/18/2022 12:21:31 PM

7. Lion Rebels (3)
Having enjoyed the MMR effect for my team last week, a reversion was expected, especially because I didn't want to be out of the Cup tournament after two games and didn't want to risk trotting my terrible rookies out for their training with my backups against 377th US ranked Mad Warriors, another Div III team. So I sacrificed them to Jbogoroff on the road, netting only 9 first half points. As a result, I saw a significant drop in EFFG and a slight drop in OPP EFFG, dropping my boyz to 7th on the list. An interesting matchup against Linndale on the road before hosting Is This Heaven? probably leaves us about in the same spot - middle of the pack.

8. Hustlas (7)
Reece's new star PG is activated and ready to go and along with their other acquisitions, I imagine they might move to the top of this tier, potentially even into the Elite group, however, Tuesday night's loss to The Ashkickers feels a little fresh. They'll get a chance to showcase any real changes to their playing style when they travel to Tachenko on Saturday before playing a 2nd road game next week against Carolina. A slight drop in EFFG and a minor drop in OPP EFFG, but the good still outweighs the bad for Reece and his crew.

9. Miami Cleo (6)
Slight drop in the rankings for Miami after starting the season undefeated over the first two weeks, before succumbing this week to Hustlas on the road and Tachenko at home. Neither game was a blow out, but packer_22 definitely has their work cut out for them to stay in the playoff race in the Great 8. Drops in both EFFG and OPP EFFG saw them fall out of the top half of EFFG rankings to 11th and out of the top 4 in OPP EFFG to 7th. And this week doesn't look fun as they face The Ashkickers and Philly Dribble. Looks like they might be .500 by the end of week 4.

10. Linndale
Linndale has replaced 5 mid-twenty something players with two mid-twenty somethings as a way to improve their baseline and while they've only lost two games on the season (including to a bigger effort to try to knock off Rip City that ended in failure), they still have to figure out how to shift their new lineup around to make good on the transfers. Their EFFG isn't terrible, but it's not great, especially compared to last season (ranked 3rd), and they've seen a drop off in their OPP EFFG since last season as well. Game shape changes could be effective as the season progresses, but the fight for 3rd & 4th appears to be a three-way race.

11. Żubr Białystok (11)
Staying steady at 11, whitestok's team had two nice easy wins this week against the Cellar Dwellers of the Great 8. After starting out 1-3 on the season, they're back to .500 heading into an important matchup against The Beer Bellys on the road, before testing their mettle against The Lone Wolf. Their soft week helped improve their EFFG by 20 points and their OPP EFFG by 12.5, but it wasn't enough to move them up these rankings.

12. Carolina Rebels (13)
Moving up a spot in these rankings after week three, Daisy Merollin's squad gets the nod a bit surprisingly after losing two games, including a close loss to San Dominica where PG Olivier Engler notched it at 72-72 with 21 seconds to go and then Warriors F. Alidori attempted a dunk with 1 second to go, only to be fouled and injured on the play. His substitute Janaki Grcev (averaging 15 min/game) game in and sank both free throws...and somehow, with that one second remaining, the Rebels managed to do what must have been a full court alley oop for Leroy Arevalo who only managed to have the shot blocked. (I do love/hate how far down the court the ball can get at the end of a quarter - seems crazy to me!) Anyway, despite the losses, they managed to move up the rankings mostly because of the following teams’ further ineptitude in OPP EFFG. But it's looking brighter, and because of the close loss to San Dom, I'm keeping them out of the Cellar Dwellers for now.

Last edited by Baine at 8/18/2022 12:15:01 PM

13. The Lone Wolf (12)
Tough four game losing streak for The Lone Wolf, including a loss in Week 2 to Carolina. They haven't been able to compete very well with the Could Be Betters, but I'm going to give them another week to see how they fare once interconference play starts. They had a minor improvement in EFFG (up 2.7 points to 72), but that's still only good for 13th, while their OPP EFFG continues to drop, down to 134.8. They edge out of the Cellar Dwellers group, but just barely. With a matchup against Rip City on the road before hosting Żubr Białystok, I think there's a lot to be told by that second matchup as to where they stack up in our league.

The Cellar Dwellers
14. 2 percent (14)
Ray's crew hasn't won a game yet, but they also haven't been completely blown out of every game, keeping things somewhat respectable against the top teams in the Great 8 (excluding the 59-point drubbing at home to The Beer Bellys this week). They're actually ranked 12th in EFFG at 81.7, but their 15th ranked OPP EFFG is what's really hurting them as they can't seem to stop anyone. An opportunity for a win presents itself against Is This Heaven? on Saturday before they travel to Linndale.

15. Is This Heaven? (15)
Dropping the last two games this week to the 6th & 5th place Great 8 teams doesn't bode well for IOWA's group this season as they remain winless on the season. Dropping down to 55.7 EFFG and giving up 9 more points in OPP EFFG (127.5 - good for 13th), their offensive push isn't going to be near enough, while their defensive capability matches. But they do have a chance to get a win on the road against 2 percent before traveling to the Lion Rebels.

16. Mighty Moose Rockets (16)
Hutch44's crew is averaging a meek 25.5 EFFG and giving up an astounding 184.5, which makes me sad. Here's hoping he's got a plan in the works to avoid relegation this season. With Carolina and The Lone Wolf not far ahead of them and two terrible teams on the other side, there's a chance they could pull it off still. Only time will tell.

Only two teams have dropped out of the Cup after Week 3 - congrats to those that moved on and my condolences to Speedtraps who had to face the #3 team in the country Bananahorns (who had a valiant effort losing only by 19, despite giving up 51 points to $101k salaried PG "DVD" Van Damme - they were tied after three, but couldn't keep pace in the final period) and to thatguy's Beer Bellys who faced #74 in the country EDH Wolves (though, they didn't put forth the effort and just scrapped any idea of proceeding by playing 5 scrubs).

Best of luck to the rest of us still trying to forge our way forward to $50k wins per week.

Hustlas visited Tachenko and won by 13. It was a solid outing for the Hustlas. At the last minute, they changed their starters to continue with team leading scorers Legkauskas and Huk, and decided to bring Nabukioff of the bench. It paid on this game. But, with almost 5.5 minutes left in the first quarter, a big piece of Tachenko went down, and was out the rest of the game. At the time, Tachenko was up by 1.

Denkovic on the Hustlas, the starter at th beginning of the season, had his worst game as a Hustlas, missing every fieldgoal attempt he took. "I couldn't buy a bucket. But as coach knows, I'm not great in a fast paced offense playing offense. I'm better at slow paced where I can pick my spots. Or playing pg where I can find the open guys."
The Hustlas remain in third with this win, moving to 5-2.