Second American Basketball League

Cave Creek is marching toward a division clinching sweep of rival
Scottsdale. In game 3, Scottsdale was able to keep things closer as Rahim,
Kidd, and Carter all score 20+ points. The final score of 137-130 was
largly decided on the line where Cave Creek shot 46 free throws and Scottsdale shot 33 leading to both Hilario and Thomas fouling out.

Kobe had 30, Richardson had 20 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists. Hilario and Thomas combined for 29 points and 12 boards, and 7 Longshots ended up in double figures, with Daniles at 9 points as a total team effort burn Scottdsale.

Overheard from coach Long, "I will now wait a few days before playing my last game vs.
Scottsdale. The reason is Kobe is right on the cusp of minutes. Depending
on what happens in my 8 away games this month, I may need to sit him or play sparingly."

The Nats completed a very workmanlike job in sweeping Indy, winning 107-86, 98-83, 95-84, and 97-77. Only in game three was it close into the fourth period, as the Rebels didn't have the firepower to threaten, shooting below 40 percent for the series.

That makes a clean sweep of the 8 games this year by Cave Creek over SF. San Francisco came close in game 1 of the series, losing 88-86, but Kobe and JRich were too much down the stretch. Game 2 was a laugher, a 121-73 blowout by Cave Creek, that pretty much demoralized the Terminators for the rest of the series!!

This was as exciting a series as any all year - four close, hard fought games.
Game one. McLean won by the largest margin in the series, 119-106. A 44-34 margin on the boards and 26 points from both Tracy McGradya nd Richard Jefferson propelled the Nats despite Shaquille O'Neal's 29 points.
Game two. New York won 104-103 in a real cliff hanger. Shaq hit three of four free thrown is the final minute to give NTC a 104-102 lead. The Nats went to Jefferson, who was fouled but could only hit one of two free throws. Shaq had 30 and McGrady 34.
Game three. McLean wins 111-108, as NYC was hurt by 23 turnovers. The Slammers kept trying to claw backin the final minutes but never got there. Shaq led all scorers with 28, and Jefferson had 27 and McGrady 22.
Game four. The best game of them all, with the Nats winning 106-106. With 21 seconds left and a 107-105 lead, the Nats fouled Shaq, who missed both free throws. But wait - McGrady is called for a loose ball foul. Bosh hits one of two to make it 107-106, and NYC fouls Troy Murphy, who misses the first, but hits the second. NYC calls time and tries to get the ball to Shaq, but McLean has double teamed him and the ball goes to Dwayne Wade who misses at the buzzer. Whew!

Cave Creek was outscored in every period but the 3rd, but a 12 point
advantage in that period leads to victory. Rahim has 28 points, and solid
bench play by Traylor (10 and 5) and Elden Campbell (pressed into duty because of foul trouble with 6 minutes, 7 points, and 5 boards) keep the game close.

In the end, it was too much Kobe (31 points, 8 boards, 7 assist, 3 steals).
McInnis finished 8 of 10 shooting with 17 points and 6 assists. Jalen Rose
has had many of his minutes taken up by Marquis Daniels lately, but in the past 2 games has shot 5/9 both games and is averaging 15 points in just 24
minutes. Rose, who at first pouted when asked to get many of his minutes
at the PF position, now seems to relish his role.

Scottsdale takes the 5 minute trip north to Cave Creek in the first of a
pivotal 4 game series that could help decide the division crown. For
Scottsdale, Kidd (12 points, 13 assists) and Carter (22 points) came to play.
Unfortunately, nobody else really did. IN a game where Kobe shot just 5-17, the Longshots were picked up by Jason Richardson's 12-15 shooting and 27
point/7 board performance. Dampier's 15 boards helped Cave Creek to a +17
rebounding advantage in a 123-100 blowout.

Cave Creek had maybe their best "team" performance of the year with 7 players in double figures and two other reserves (Daniels 5 points, 2 boards, 3 assist, 1 steal in 10 minutes, and Strickland's 7 points and 4 assists in 13 minutes) played key roles.

Holcombe is the first 2005 SABL team to clinch their division. Congratulations to Holcomb for winning the Royal Conference North Division Title. Listed below are the updated playoff races.

Tri City wins game 1 100-106
Holcomb takes game 2 104-100 im OT, game 3 118-110, and game 4 97-84

Heat take 4 from the Evil Druid
Heat win Gm 1 96-94
This would prove to be the best game of the series. Lewis led Bettendorf with 26, Terry had 23 for the Heat Heat win Gm 2 97-77 Terry had 34 on 14 of 22 shooting Heat win Gm 3 110-86 Barry has 14 points and 12 assists Game 4-Big win for Heat 117-77 Terry and Jones go for 26 each

As March starts and there are only 16 games left to play in the regular season, only 5 teams (Minnesota, Chandler, Springfield, Atlanta & Indy) have been mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt. Let's take a look at the playoff standings in the Royal and Classic Conferences. Remember the 2 division winners qualify then the next 4 best teams out of each conference for 6 from each conference and 12 total playoff teams advance.

February has been wrapped up and game plans can now be sent out for your March games. Please remember to have your game plans to opposing teams by March 4th. Also, please use the league disk entitled SABLFIX3a.BBK in Steve's 2nd e-mail. The first disk sent out had a problem with it.

64. Brooklyn trades Rod Strickland to Cave Creek for John Salmons Effective: March 1st

63. Bettendorf trades Milt Palacio, Vin Baker, Bettendorfs 2005 #2 pick & St. Lucie's 2005 #2 pick to New York City for Glen Robinson and Steve Smith Effective: March 1st

62. Richmond trades Aaron McKie and Richmond's 2005 #3 pick to New York City for Allan Houston Effective: March 1st

61. St. Lucie trades Holcomb's 2nd to New York City for Brian Grant Effective: March 1st

60. St. Lucie trades Kevin Garnett and Brevin Knight to Chapel Hill for Andrei Kirilenko, Darrell Armstrong, and Chapel Hill's 2005 1st round pick Effective: March 1st

59. San Francisco trades Joe Johnson, Primoz Brezec & San Francisco's 2005 #1 pick to River City for Samuel Dalembert and Jason Hart Effective: March 1st

58. Cave Creek trades Damon Stoudamire to New York for Marquis Daniels Effective: March 1st

Manu Ginobili's scores 24 points.
Brooklyn outrebounded Springfield 53-32 in gaining the victory, as Chris Mihm led the way with 12 boards

Galactic takes 3 of 4. Galactic rumbles as Thunder rains down dazzlers on Jams. It's tough enough when the Payton/Cassell backcourt starts ringing up the automatic twos, but the addition of the quick deuce from Kukoc and Webber will drive a coach to hit EXIT.

Just when Akron was thinking about the playoffs they run into the New York
Slammers and get dunked 3 games to one. Once again, Akron fans are calling
for a coaching change.

Game 1: Bettendorf 124, Fort Hays 111
Jamaal Tinsley triggers a 50-point fourth quarter for the Druids by
scoring 19 of his 23 points. Paul Pierce leads all scorers with 32. Teams combine for 74 points off the fastbreak.

Game 2: Bettendorf 122, 119
Desmond Mason's three-pointer gives the Druids a 117-115 lead with 2:04 to
play. Teams trade baskets until Rashard Lewis makes one of two free throws
with four seconds left. Jason Williams desperation shot misses. Paul
Piercescores a triple-double (25 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists), but shoots only 38 percent from the field. Fort Hays consistently breaks Bettendorf's
press and scores 50 points off the fastbreak, but Druids counter with 16-of-31 three-point shooting.

Game 3: Bettendorf 109, Fort Hays 88
Mehmet Okur scores 31 points, 18 in the fourth quarter, to lead the
Druids.

Game 4: Bettendorf 102, Fort Hays 90
The Druids outscore Fort Hays 32-11 in the third quarter to complete the
sweep.

Jams came into this series feeling like a playoff team with chance to finally give the Aces some competitive games. The Jams come out of the series shelled, shocked and slaughtered. StLucie swept the 4 game set: 105 - 89 94 - 83 114 - 69 110 -87. Every game was marked by a final fourth quarter surge of at least + 12 points for St Lucie. In the AK47/KG battle, Kirilenko was + 8 points for the series. Ex-Jam Speedy Claxton also outplayed ex-Ace Darrell Armstrong convincingly in the series.

St Lucie win all 4 games in Springfield. Game one score is 106-82 behind KG's 30 pts and 14 boards and a 48-12 advantage in points in the paint. Game two is more of the same, 113-92 in favor of St Lucie, who goes to the foul line 49 times, making 37, compared to just 13-21 FTs for the home team. Game three is the worst blowout of all - 120-76. The Bulldogs manage to shoot just 33% from the field and had only two players score in double figures, Cheaney (16) and Bell (15). St Lucie hits 59% and it took a 27-point 4th quarter for the Bulldogs to avoid a completely inept offensive performance.
Oh, and the rebounding advantage was 54-31 (including 49 defensive boards) in favor of St Lucie. Game four was the "closest" of the four games. The final was 116-101, as the Bulldogs managed to hit 51% from the field, though St Lucie once again hit 58% of their tries. George and White have big offensive games for the Bulldogs, scoring 18 apiece.

The Bulldogs upset Richmond 98-90 after being down 11 at halftime. Planinic, Pavlovic, and Rodney "Hair Trigger" White combined for 33 points off the bench and the scrappy Springfield D holds Baron Davis and Mike Redd to a combined 9-29 shooting from the floor. Davis clanked 10 of 11 3's, apparently ignoring his coach's instructions to abandon the one-man chuck and duck offense Baron was leading.

Star of the Game was Ben Wallace who had a pretty quiet 13 pts 8 boards 2 block game. The Jams are totally dependent on Andrei Kirilenko to carry the offense and when he goes 4 - 16 from the field, the Jams feel very lucky to only lose by 4 points.

Eddie Jones hit for 25 points and Kenny Thomas collected a double-double (13 points-10rebounds) for the visitors. Steve Francis led San Francisco with 29 points and Zach Randolph added 18.

57. San Francisco trades Rahim and Damon Jones to Scottsdale for Steve Francis and David West

55. St. Lucie trades Darrell Armstrong & McLean's 2nd to Chapel Hill for Claxton

St Lucie had little trouble with Indy, cruising to a 103-81 win. Kevin Garnett was named the star of the game for the 3rd time in 4 home games this month, scoring 32 points, and adding 10 rebounds and 7 assists. The Aces again outshot their opponents by a wide margin, 53% to 41%.

River City overcame a 14 point halftime defecit to make a valient comeback, that fell just short. San Francisco wins for the first time in 3 games on the homestand. Carlos Arroyo led River City with 28 points, followed by Quentin Richardson's 18. Steve Francis scored 28 for San Francisco, and Elton Brand finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Rookie Dwayne Wade had just 7 points and Shaq hit just 3 of 12 FTs. I doubt the Slammers will see this kind of production next year from the dynamic duo. AK47 led ChapelHill w/21 points.

The Jams were expecting an easy win (since Indy was 4 - 44 at one point) but this was an 8 point game with 2 minutes left in the game. Ex-Jam Kedrick Brown had 12 point, 5 boards and 3 steals in 24 minutes to spark Indy. Kirilenko had 17 points and Player of the Game.

Standings, league leaders & team totals have all been updated through February 15th.

The concession stands were making a fortune selling the brooms as the Longshots sweep cross town rival Chandler 4 games to none. None of the games were too close as Cave Creek held at least 20 point leads in every game.

Game 1: 101-87 Cave Creek.
Game 2: 107-69
Game 3: 113-97
Game 4: 98-78

Series MVP was Eric Dampier who had 11 points and 15 boards per contest, and although Richardson never scored more than 23 points he proved to be a solid
shooter going 33-55 in the series (60%). McInnis continues to handle the
ball with amazing skill, having 27 assists and only 1 turn over, and for the season is averaging 6.5 assists per turnover.

Rasheed Wallace had his best game of the year (18 pts 17 rebs) as Chapel Hill ran away from Brooklyn 101 - 83. Lamar Odom was only 5 - 18 for Brooklyn. AK47 had 6 blocks for the Jams.

Bucs were trailing by one point going into the fourth quarter, but outscored the Tigers 38-27 in the final frame. Melo scored 30, Bibby had 24. Nash (11 points, 14 assists) and Boozer (10 points, 13 rebounds) had double doubles. Gasol led Brooklyn with 23 points.

Game 3: Tri City 92, Minn 68. Minnesota actually led by three at half-time! But a 32-9 third quarter spurred Tri-City to victory. Ricky Davis scored 18 to lead Tri-City

Game 4: Tri City 104, Minn 87. A 34-15 first quarter led Tri-City to a rout. Minnesota made it almost respectable in the second half. Jamal Magloire led Tri-City with 23 points.

Akron blows out the Bulldogs 115-89 behind Lebron's 29 points and 10 dimes.
Ray Allen chiiped in 20 points and 9 dimes, as the visitors won the game at the foul line, making 17 more free throws than the Bulldogs did, and on the boards, outrebounding Springfield 47-33, including a 16-7 advantage on the offensive glass. Bell and Cheaney led the Bulldogs with 14 apiece.

Springfield upsets New York 84-82 after falling behind by as many as 21 points late in the 2nd quarter. Down 44-23, the Bulldogs go on a 28-7 run to tie the game late in the third quarter. The game went back and forth down the stretch until Rodney "Hair Trigger" White was fouled with 2 seconds left and the game tied. He coolly sank both free throws and the Bulldogs pulled it out.

Shaq was quiet this game, going to the line just twice, taking only 11 shots, and finishing with 13 points. Harrington led the Bulldogs with 18, while White chipped in 16 in 15 minutes off the bench.

Galactic 124

Atlanta once more lead in scoring by Jackson with 30. House added 15 with 7 assists. Lenard had 13 with 6 assists. Alston had 8 with 8 assists.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 37 and 12 assists. Iverson added 21. Payton had 19 with 8 assists and 8 rebounds. Marshall had 18 and once again lead both teams in rebounding with 9. For the 4 game series Cassell shot 46-76(60.5%) from the field and Payton went crazy shooting 40-57(70%).

Bettendorf 107, San Francisco 85

The Druids led by as many as 31 points and coasted in behind Rashard Lewis's
26 points. Elton Brand had 17 points and 15 rebounds for Frisco, and Zach
Randolph added 13 points and 14 boards.

Tucson 99, Bettendorf 86

Tucson limits the Druids to 41 percent shooting. Latrell Sprewell scores 30,
but Joe Smith with 14 points and 15 rebounds is chosen as the star.

Bettendorf 114, Scottsdale 103

Bettendorf pressured Jason Kidd into nine turnovers. Vince Carter scored 26 points despite being double-teamed most of the game. Mehmet Okur had 16 points and 11 rebounds to be voted the star of the game.

Tulsa defeats Bettendorf, 111-103

Bettendorf put seven players in double figures in a 114-99 victory. Steve Blake and James Posey, the star of the game, led the way with 16 apiece. Jermaine O'Neal had 24 for the Twisters.

McLEAN TOPS NEW ORLEANS 117-90

It was very cold down south for the Bucs as they were 0-11 from the arc in the first half and 3 of 23 for the game. McGrady poured in 51 points to lead McLean to the victory. Melo was high for the Bucs with 26.

Cave Creek Sweeps Battle Of State

Cave Creek completes their sweep of the team from just down the road with an
ugly 93-85 victory. Tucson was within 3 points with 90 seconds to go when
Jeff McInnis hit a clutch 3 point shot. A few foul shots later combined with Tucson missing their last 5-6 shots allowed the Longshots to hang on to victory. Tucson shot 32% for the game and allowed a whopping 63 boards to Cave Creek including 3 guys in double figures (Kobe-11, Thomas-11, Dampier-17).

Dampier finishes as the series MVP averaging 13 points, 15 boards, and 2.5 blocks. Kobe finishes his worst stretch of the year by scoring less than 20 points in two of the four games and shooting 40% or less in three of the games. Guess somehow those defensive gods Spreewell and Hamilton stepped it up.

Cave Creek Holds On

In game 3 of this Arizona battle, it looked early on like it was going to resemble the other 2 blowouts. Cave Creek led by 11 and built a 18 point midway though the 3rd quarter. Dampier came out on fire with a first half that consisted of 13 points and 15 boards. Led by Richard Hamilton, Tucson mounted a furious early 4th quarter comeback as the Longshots managed just 2 points in the first 4-5 minutes of the quarter. Tucson pulled within 5 points when Jason Richarson, who finished with 21 points and 10 boards, took over.

Galactic Takes First 2 Of 4 From Havoc

G1(2/18) Atlanta 96

Galactic 113

Atlanta lead by Jackson with 32. Only other player in double figure for Havoc was James with 10.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 31. Iverson added 25 with 7 assists. Marshall had 19 with 11 rebs. Payton 16 with 6 assists and 7 rebs.

Havoc held a 3 point lead(56-53 at the half, but Galactic thundered to 60 second half points while holding Atlanta to 40.

G2(2/19) Atlanta 101

Galactic 120

Atlanta lead by Lenard with 22. Simmons had 14 . Jackson 11.

Galactic lead by Gary Payton scoring a season high 38 points on 17-20 shooting from the floor as well as grabbing 7 rebs and picking 4 steals. Iverson added 24 with 8 assists. Cassell had 17 with 8 assists. Marshall 14 with 8 rebs and 4 Blks.

Longshots Cruise As Recent Upset Is Forgotten

Tucson continues to be Cave Creek's bitch as the Longshots cruise to another dominating 115-88 victory. Leading by as many as 41 points, the Longshots call off the wolves late and put in the scrubs most of the last quarter. Kobe nearly gets a triple double with 21 points 8 boards and 10 assists. Hamilton and Spreewell schore 21 and 17 points respectively, but 38% shooting and shooting 25 less free throws than Cave Creek dooms Tucson.

Cave Creek Exacts Revenge

Revenge is sweet for the Longshots who were upset down the road in Tucson a few days ago. They took their frustrations out in the form of a 110-76 thrashing of the boys from down south.
Tucson shot 32% for the game and the game was never closer than about 20 points from about midway throught the 2nd quarter. This despite Kobe only plyaing 26 minutes and having one of his worst games (4-16 shooting and 5 fouls). Richardson picked up the slack with 28 points. Damon Stoudamire and McInnis both scored over 16 points and combined for 36 points, 8 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals. Even Brian Cook entered into the party with 8 boards in just 7 minutes. Tucson was led by Fisher with 13 points, and Sprewell and Hamilton combined for just 18 points on 7-31 shooting. Total domination as Cave Creek had 17 more free throws, 21 more rebounds, 12 more assists and 5 more blocks.

McLean Takes three Of Four From Richmond

Game one was a real thriller, with the Raiders coming back from a 16 point deficit to take a one point lad with ten seconds left. Tracy McGrady drove to the basket - and missed! But he got the offensive rebound and scored at the buzzer for a 115-114 McLean win. Richard Jefferson led the Nats with 30, and McGrady had 27. Baron Davis led Richmond with 29.

In game two, the Nats fell behind early, and trailed by as much as 24 in the third quarter. They rallied, but too many turnovers (21) and an inappropriate love for the three point shot (five for 20) shortcircuted any real shot, and they lost 114-107. Dirk Nowitzki led five Riader double figure scorers with 23. Jefferson had 32, McGrady 27, and Andre Miller had 23.

In game three, the Nats overcame a 35 point performance by Davis that included nine for 18 three point shooting, pulling out a 118-111 victory. Jefferson again hit 30, and McGrady had 29. Andre Miller was the star of the game with 19 points, five rebounds, and nine assists. Richmond had only eight free throw attempts in the game.

McLean won the last game easily 120-95, as the Raider three point shooting collapsed (six for 26). Andre Miller led the Nats with 30, while McGrady had 29. Michael Redd led Richmond with 23.

Tucson Holds Off Late Game Comeback, Upsets Cave Creek

Tucson starts out on fire and builds a 25 point advantage and hangs on for dear life and a 100-90 upset over Cave Creek. Derek Fisher was the star for the Sky going off for 26 points on a 10-13 shooting performance. Kobe led all scorers with 38.

Springfield Beats Indy from the FT Line

Springfield beats Indy 90-86 behind some clutch free throw shooting in the last two minutes by Planinic, who has proven to be a good clutch player for the Bulldogs. Some of the Bulldog fans - those with dreams of seeing Emeka Okafor in a Bulldog uniform - were actually rooting for the hapless Rebels to win the game. But nonetheless, the Bulldogs pull out a close one, led by Bell's 16 points. Harrington added 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists.

For Indy, Wells and Taylor combined for 25 points on 12-37 shooting from the field

Galactic 120 Brooklyn 118 In A Close One

Very close game all the way. With Brooklyn ahead by 1(118-117) and 41 seconds left Cassell scores on a driving layup to put Galactic up by one. With 34 seconds left Gasol called for Offensive foul. M.Allen(in for the fouled out Martin with 59 seconds left) intentionally fouled Marshall who made 1 of 2 to make score 120-118. Brooklyn held for last shot which was a penetration by Mobley vs Cassell but shot was no good and Marshall cleared rebound to end game.

Brooklyn lead by Gasol with 30, Martin had 25 with 7 rebs, Odom had 20 with 7 rebs.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 31 and 9 assists. Iverson had 27 with 5 assists and 4 steals. Payton added 20 with 6 assists.

For the game Brooklyn mad 15 more free throws(28-13) and shot 54 percent from field but Galactic shot 62% from field and mad three 3's to Brooklyn 0 3's.

One of the best games I've played all year.

Brooklyn Edges New Orleans 108-106

The Bucs continue to slide at home, losing their fourth straight. Odom led the visitors to victory with a game high 29 points. New Orleans shot only 40 % from the field.

Tri City Comes Up Short Against Cave Creek

Tri City tries, but comes up short versus Cave Creek. Despite Marbury's 32 pts and 15 assists, Hughes's 27 points and Magloire having 15 points and 14
boards, Cave Creek wins. Kobe finishes with 29 points, and Rose with 21. However, with 7 people in double figures, this was indeed a total Longshot team effort. Yet again, the Longshots win the game with a major stat difference being free throw attempts where the Longshots make 4 more shots than Tri City even attempts.

Nationals Storm back Only To Lose To Galactic 124-117

After leading by 25 points Nationals storm back to tie Thunder at 117-117 with 1:33 left but Galactic scored the next 7 points to win the game 124-117.

Tracy McGrady, being Double teamed most of game, scored 51 points on 20-35 FG, 6-10 3's and 5-5 FTs. A.Miller added 17 with 6 assists. Arenas had 16 with 6 assists.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 33 and 11 assists. Marshall added 22 with 10 rebounds. Iverson only 9 points but 8 assists.

Blimps Fly Over New Orleans 129-107

The Bucs lost their third straight home game to a red hot Akron team led by Allen-James-Ming.

The Blimps shot over 60% from the field to easily defeat the slumping Bucs.

McLean Tops Bucs in OT

For the second time in a week, Richard Jefferson hit a three pointer to send a game into overtime. And for the second time, the Nats took advantage, pulling out a hard fought 133-131 wind in a game in which no team ever held a double digit lead. Jefferson would up with 35, but the star of the game was Andre Miller, who finished with 26 points, six rebounds, and eight assists, and whose two free throws with one second left in overtime gave the Nats the win. New Orleans was led by Carmello Anthony with 30, and Mike Bippy (24), Amare Stoudemire (23) and Carlos Boozer (21) all were over 20.

No This Isn't A Halftime Score

Chandler wins, 64-54.

Yes, you read that right -- 64-54. Dashing through the snow of Minnesota -- ugly all the way! Minnesota led 24-22 at half. Chandler dominated in the thrid quarter, 29-12, to break the game open. Minnesota's offense once again stuck in a snowdrift. Reggie Miller and Brian Skinner led Chandler with 12 apiece, while Mike James scored 19 for the Chill.

Scottsdale Wins After Chill 2nd Half Slide

Minnesota actually led by 6 after the first quarter, but a terrible second quarter had the Chill down 7 at half. It was downhill from there. Vince Carter led Scottsdale with 20 points, while Tyron Lue led the Chill with 18.

San Fran Game Closer Than 92-79 Score Appears

Close game. San Francisco only up 7 after three quarters. Minnesota's defense played tough in the fourth quarter, allowing only 16 points, but the Chill's offense went into the deep freeze and scored only 10 points. Jamal Crawford led San Francisco with 21 points, while Mike James sparked an listless Chill effort with 16 points.

Cave Creek Routes Minnesota

A 55-29 first half leads to a route. Nene gets 23 points, 10 rebounds to lead Cave Creek, while Mike James scored 14 for the punchless Chill.

Tucson Beats Minnesota 88-77

Minnesota's offensive woes continue -- 23 points in first half. Rip Hamilton had 25 points to lead Tucson, while the Mighty Ostertag had a double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds) for the Chill.

New York Defeats Bucs in OT 134-125

The Slammers came form behind in the 4th quarter to send the game into OT. They proceeded to get red hot in the extra period to gain the road victory. Shaq was in a bit of foul trouble but was the star of the game. Melo had a game high 35 for New Orleans. New York shot 62 % from behind the arc and 58 % for the entire game.

McLean Tops Springfield

The Nats were uninspired early, falling behind by nine points in the second period. But they had enough spunk to come back against a surprisingly tenacious Bulldog team. The final was 104-93, and Andre Miller led the Nats with 23 while Brad Miller added a season high 20 plus 16 rebounds. Raja Bell led Springfield with 21.

Nats Hold On To Top Atlanta

With an eighteen point lead in the third quarter, the McLean players were anticipating a laugher. But the Atlanta team played Havoc with that idea, mounting a comeback that brought a two point lead before falling 100-95. Tracy McGrady, with 24, Andre Miller with 22, and Richard Jefferson, with 21 led McLean. Steven Jackson had 25 for Atlanta.

McLean Tops St. Lucie in OT

Tracy McGrady couldn't hit a shot - drives, fast breaks, anything. He would up with 12 points on four for 22 shooting. But Richard Jefferson had his best game of the season, with 40 points on 16 for 23 shooting, including a tieing three pointer as time expired in regulation. McLean then took an early lead in overtime and held on to win 122-119. Gilbert Arenas added 21 for the Nats, and Brad Miller had a game high 15 rebounds. Kevin Garnett led the Aces with 28.

Indy Pulls Upset Over Bucs 92-86

The New Orleans coach refused to give a statement to the press.

Cave Creek Battles, Wins Ugly Game

Cave Creek battles to win one of the uglier games of the year. Both teams shot under 40%, Cave Creek made just 14/25 free throws, River City had 20 TO's, RIchardson and Kobe combined to shoot 9-31, and although Q scored 24 and had 8 boards he shot just 9-25 and had 6 TO's and 5 fouls.

However, Eric Dampier continues his rebounding rampage (having 19 or more in
3 of the last 4 games), and Jeff McInnis realized his team mates were having trouble filling the basket so he decided to score 25 points on 11 of 14
shooting. The outcome of 93-94 was partially due to the fast break point
differential of 28-6 in favor of the home team Longshots.

Cave Creek Tops Fort Hays

Cave Creek fights hard to beat Fort Hays at home. A close game throughout
(neither team leading by more than 7), the Longshots were able to seal the victory as Fort Hays either turned it over or missed their shots down the
stretch. Star of the game, Eric Dampier, had 17 points and 19 boards.
Artest and Pierce each score 23 for Fort Hays who comes up short in the end despite Kobe and Richardson shootinga a combined 13-39

Galactic Edges Richmond 117-113

Richmond lead by Reed with 25. Davis had 24 with 9 assists. Stojakovic had 19 with 7 rebs and 4 assists. Nowitzki 16 with 8 rebs.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 30. Iverson added 21.

After leading by as much as 17 Richmond closed to within 2 late in 4th quarter but key FT's by Iverson helped Thunder hold on to close victory. Galactic shot 11/18 on 3's. Richmond 11/23 on 3's.

Cave Creek Embarassed

The first quarter was a contrast in styles as Holcombe shot 5/10 from 3 point land (Cave Creek 0/3) and Cave Creek was 14/15 at the line (Holcome not even one free throw). From there on out the Longshots played like panzies summed up by a 26-10 2nd quarter burst by Holcombe and a 24% first half shooting performance by Cave Creek. Terry and Jackson both scored over 20 and Cave Creek never made a game of it.

Longshots with Comeback Victory

With about 3 minutes left in the game, Bettendorph held onto a 104-103 lead. From there on out, Kobe and the boys took over on the way to a 118-109 Longshot victory. Lewis led 6 Bettendorph players in double figures including the surprising Steve Blake with 10. Cave Creek was led by Kobe's28 and Richardson's 27. However it may have been Dampiers 20/20 game, including 11 offensive boards, that stole the show. McInnis again proved his worth with an 11 assist, 0 TO game, giving him 22 assists and 1 to in his 2 home games.

McLean Bounces Back Against Galactic

With Sam Cassell and Gary Payton in early foul trouble (interestingly the computer manager continued to play Cassell with four first half fouls), the Nats took a 29-18 first quarter lead and held on to most of it the entire game, winning 117-110. Richard Jefferson had 36 on 16 for 22 shooting, and was supported by Gilbert Arenas with 20 and Tracy McGrady with 19. Alan Iverson led the Thunder with 27.

Chapel Hill Jams McLean

On a day when the Nats couldn't shoot (40 percent from the field, zero for five on threes, and ten missed free throws) or hold on to the ball, Chapel Hill won going away, 96-82. Andre Kirilenko had 27 points and four steals, and only Andre Miller had a good game for the Nats with 26 points and ten rebounds.

Galactic Thumps Indy 125-94

Indy leady by Wells with 21 and Daniels with 17 and 8 assists.

Galactic had 8 men in double figure scoring lead by Cassell with 24 and 9 assists. Marshall had 19 with 18 rebounds. Playing for the first time all year K.Perkins had 15 with 10 rebs, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 BLK in 20 mins of action.

Hot Shooting Leads to Bettendorf Win

A red hot Rashard Lewis and an ice cold 3rd quarter for Tucson pave the way for a 109-96 Bettendorf win.

Chill Melt in Heat of Arizona Desert

There is not a trackable stat for this, but I am guessing that Minnesotta had around 12-15 24 second violations. Not surprising considering all the replay shooters and lack of rated shooters. Greg Ostertag tried to keep the Chill in it with 8 first quarter points. However, the 24 second violations and 39% shooting caught up to Minnessota who fall 100-77. Kobe and Richardson both finish with 21 points. However, the star of the game might just have been Jeff McInnis who could not have done his job on this team any better than he did. He finished 1-2 shooting, but had 12 assists and just 1 turn over.

Galactic Outguns Akron

Blimps lead by James with 39. Allen had 25.
Thunder lead by Cassell with 27 and 8 assists. Iverson added 26.

Three pointers were flying as both teams combined for 23-44(52%). Galactic was 11-19(58%) on 3's. Galactic won the rebounding by 43-27. Thunder made 23-25 FT's(Blimps 24-30).

Instructions Out By The 4th

Remember that with the rules change from last month, games do not have to be played by their play date on the schedule but by the last date of scheduled games in a block. This month the final date to get games completed will be February 28th. However instructions still need to be sent out by the 4th of every month. Please include Steve Walters in your mailing of instructions.

Trade Deadline Change

We are making a slight change to the trade deadlines and timeframes. Under the old rule, if a trade was made, it won toes took effect with Feb disk. Jan trades with the March disk, etc. Also, the old season trade deadline was Jan 31.
After discussions with our exec team, and specifically Steve Walters who maintains the league disk, we came to the conclusion that there is no reason that trades have to take over a month to take effect on rosters. So, we are making the following changes.

Trades that are made before the 25th of any month will be reflected in the next submission of the league disk. Trades made after the 25th will not be reflected until the following submission of the league disk. NOTE: Feb 25th is the final deadline to make any trades for this year. There will not be any more trades allowed until I announce trades are open again sometime after the end of the post season. In effect, this new rule not only allows trades to take place quicker, but extends our trade deadline every year.
In the future, the following chart will apply (subject to slight changes based on when we can start playing actual games, strat release dates, etc)

Trades Dec1-25 take effect Jan 1
Trades Dec 26-Jan 25 take effect Feb 1
Trades Jan 26-Feb 25 take effect March 1, and represents the final trade deadline for the season.

Welcome To Our Three New Managers

The Indianapolis, St. Lucie & Brooklyn franchises have been taken over by three new managers. They are Jim Correll, Mike Rohe & Dan McBride respectively. Please check the Members Section before sending out February instructions to make sure you have all their new information in place.

The SABL BS

Issue 122 January 2005

SECOND AMERICAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE

Deadline Tomorrow

Operations director, Steve Walters, one time extension to the monthly game play deadline is fast approaching. Tomorrow, January 30th, is the last day to play your January games. With this deadline in place, the disk for February will be to all league members by February 1st. Please have all games to Steve by tomorrow.

Druid Threes Bury Rebels

Fourteen three pointers scored by the Bettendorf Druids was thirteen more than the home Indianapolis Rebels and led the Druids to a 110-81 victory. Bettendorf shot 48% from the field while Indy averaged just 36%. The Rebels on the year have averaged an anemic .385 from the field,which is the league's worst. R.Lewis led the Druids with 29 points and three Rebs had 11 each (Wells,Blount,Davis).

San Francisco and Galactic Split

Game 1: Alan Iverson led Galactic with 23 points and Sam Cassell added 19. San Francisco shot 52% from the field, including 60% from 3 pt. range. Zach Randolph scored 21 for the Terminators.

Game 2: Donyel Marshall paced Galactic with a double-double, 24 pts and 12 rebounds, and Iverson scored 26 points on the way to a solid win for Galactic. Galactic shot 54% from the field, and outscored SF in fastbreak points 36-6.

San Francisco Trounces Atlanta Twice

Game 1: A 4th quarter comeback fell short for Atlanta, as San Francisco managed to pull out a 104-96 victory. Zach Randolph was high scorer for the Terminators with 22 points, and Steven Jackson had 30 for Atlanta.

Game 2: A blowout by San Francisco. Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 31 to go along with 11 boards to lead the Terminators. Steven Jackson scored 19 and Drew Gooden hauled in 10 rebounds for the Havoc.

San Francisco Drops Two to New Orleans

Game 1: New Orleans took control of this game in the second quarter and never relinquished, pulling out a 31 point victory on the road. Carmelo Anthony was the scoring leader for the Bucs with 24 and Carlos Boozer scored 13 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, six offensive.

Game 2: Another great road victory for the Bucs at San Francisco, leaving the Terminators shaking their heads and looking for answers. A trio of Bucs eclipsed the 20 point barrier for New Orleans, Bibby with 25, Anthony with 23 and Nash with 21. The Bucs shot 53% from the field, and were even efficient from beyond the arc, shooting 47%. Rahim scored 24 for the Terminators and Brand scored 20.

Give a Warm SABL Welcome to Shawn Tidrow

Shawn is Ron's 22 year old son. He has helped his dad play Ron's games, and got interested that way. As of now, if you e-mail him, you have to use his dad's e-mail. However, I have requested he get his own e-mail for simplicity purposes. Thanks to Ron for recruiting him to the league.

Welcome Back to Mike Resnick

Mike wanted back and requested his River City team. Kevin used to own the NY team, so it was a simple decision for the exec team. Normally, switching teams for existing teams is not a good option. But this was one rare case where it makes sense. We fill a spot, get back a faithful owner, and Kevin assumes responsibility for his old team.

SABL Fills Coaching Vacancies

Good news. Both franchises have been acquired. We will make the moves official with the start of the Feb games. So, any January NY and Brooklyn games will be played as normal. If the existing team owners play their home games in time- they can choose to do so. If not, Steve will be asking the away teams of any non-played games to send the game plans to him and he will auto play them. This makes for the easist transition.

Starting Feb the new teams will take over and Steve will make sure they get sent the updated league disk.

Rebs Burned By Heat

It was a hot time in the old town tonight as the Holcomb Heat eaked out an 80-78 win. Two free thows, one by Jackson and one by Thomas provided the margin of victory after the game was tied at 78 all. Kenny Thomas led all scorers with 17, while the Rebs were led by Barbosa and Daniels with 13 apiece. Everything was real even in the contest except that the Heat scorched the Rebs 16-2 in fast break buckets.

Jams Top Chandler

Chapel Hill won two home games vs Chandler by scores of 106 - 75 and 108 - 90. Andrei Kirilenko had a career high 37 points in the second game. AK47 thrives as the only rated shooter on the court for most of the game for the Jams. Speedy Claxton (the only other rated shooter for Chapel Hill) has finally started to hit some shots. It is doubtful if the paper or virtual Speedy realizes he's already been dumped after shooting under 30% early in the year.

Two Franchises Available for Immediate Ownership

SABL now has two franchises that need ownership. The Brooklyn team (12-16) and the New York team (15-17) are in need of someone to step in and grab the reigns. I will list their rosters below as well as instructions on how to deal with these vacancies until we get new owners.

For Brooklyn: Steve F. will continue to manage until we find a replacement. Continue to send game plans, etc. to him and play as normal.

For New York: Effective immediately here is what to do with his games.

Away games: send your instructions to Steve Walters (myril@gate.net). Per the constitution he will auto play the game on the league computer, using whatever lineup the computer chooses for NY. In essence, your away games process have not changed- you still get to send a game plan for someone else to play. Steve will send you the results.

Home games: Any January games remaining- go ahead and play them as you would. If Joe has sent you game plans- use them. If not, let the computer generate a lineup.

For February, please wait until after Feb 7th to start playing any games.
This will give us some time to get a new manager in place to send game plans for as much as Feb as possible. After Feb 7th, we will give you the go ahead to play the games using the computer generated linueps.

Brooklyn	New York
PAU GASOL	SHAQUILLE O'NEAL
LAMAR ODOM	ALLAN HOUSTON
KENYON MARTIN	GLENN ROBINSON
CUTTINO MOBLEY	DWAYNE WADE
MANU GINOBILI	JERRY STACKHOUSE
JEFF MCINNIS	CHRIS BOSH
SHANDON ANDERSON	JARVIS HAYES
T.J. FORD	BRIAN GRANT
RASUAL BUTLER	MARQUIS DANIELS
ROD STRICKLAND	MORRIS PETERSON
CHRIS MIHM	TROY HUDSON
MALIK ALLEN	JARED JEFFRIES
JASON KAPONO	STEVE SMITH
TIERRE BROWN	DONELL HARVEY

Please contact our commissioner Mark Long if you are interested in either team or know someone who is.

Springfield Takes Two From Twisters in Tulsa

The Bulldogs surprised the Twisters by taking both games in T-Town.

In Game 1, D Gadzuric led Springfield to a 89-84 victory by hauling down
14 boards and scoring 12 pts. As a team, the Bulldogs had 55 (23 off/32
def) rebounds to Tulsa's 38 (7 off/31 def). Once again, the Twisters waste a fine performance from T Parker (11 assists & 22 pts.)

In Game 2, R Bell led Springfield to a 96-84 victory as he scored 19 pts.
K Hinrich led Tulsa with 19 pts.

Monsoon Floods Springfield

Chandler came into Springfield and won a pair. Game one was as ugly a game as there ever was. Both teams played like they had been out drinking till 4 am the night before. The final was 79-77. Planinic had two chances to tie the game up in the final possession for Springfield, but both times he tried to shoot, he got replays, even though he only gets replays on a 2 or 7 on his card. The odds of that happening are probably around 5%. Perhaps he was thinking about the recent game that he won for the Bulldogs on a last second shot, only to have the Emeka Okafor-obsessed fans throw things at him and boo him as he left the court, and decided not to shoot it. At any rate, that episode capped a 13-point 4th quarter (Chandler had only 19) in which both teams combined missed about 8 fastbreak shots in a row at one point, going back and forth. I think there was puke visible on the court on my computer screen. Both teams shot 33% from the field, committed 53 fouls combined, and shot 66 free throws. Some of the individual ugliness consisted of Giricek shooting 2-15 for Chandler, and everyone outside of Al Harrington and and Carl Crawford shooting 12-52 for the Bulldogs. Harrington (23) and Crawford
(21) scored 44 of the Bulldogs 77 points.

The final of game two was 88-81. 20 turnovers did the Bulldogs in this game.
DeShawn Stephenson had a big game for Chandler with 16 points. Springfield wasted fine performances from Rodney "Hair Trigger" White (19 pts in 19 minutes on 7-11 shooting) and Crawford (16 pts, 6-9 shooting in 20 minutes) but got little help from the rest of the team.

Galactic Takes Two From Tulsa

Tulsa 110
Galactic 127

Tulsa lead by J.O'Neal with 25 and 13 rebs. Marion added 22.
Galactic lead by Cassell with 27 and 7 assists. Iverson had 25 and Payton 21

Tulsa 102
Galactic 124

Tulsa had 6 men in double figures lead by Marion with 21. J.O'Neal had 19 with 13 rebs and 5 assists. Parker lead both teams in assists with 15 but only 3 points.
Galactic had 8 men in double figures lead by Payton with 25. Cassell had 23 with 11 assists and 5 rebs. Iverson added 18 with 10 rebs in 25 mins of action. Marshall had 10 with 12 rebs.

Akron Takes Two From Chill

Akron uses it's strength inside to take two from Minnesota. Second game was never close, allowing Akron to give lots of minutes to the bench.

Nats Considering New Coach

No, not really. But after half the season, they are better on the road at 16-6 versus only 15-7 at home. Maybe I ought to autoplay the games!

McLean Takes Two From River City

The Nats closed out their home schedule for January with two close wins versus the Renegades. Game one was close all the way, with no team ever getting a double digit lead. McLean took the fourth period 27-20 and the game, 101-95. Tracy McGrady led all scorers with 38 while Quentin Richardson and Carlos Arroyo each had 18 for River City. It looked like game two would be a blowout, with the Nats holding a 92-76 lead after three periods. But the Renegades stormed back, tieing the game with two minutes left. But Andre Miller and Troy Murphy hit seven of eight free throws to give the Nats a three point lead with under ten seconds to play. Caron Butler missed a three pointer, and tipped in the rebound, but time ran out. McGrady hit 30 again, Andre Miller added 23, and Arroyo led the Renegades with 25.

Chapel Hill Upsets Cave Creek

Chapel Hill pulls an upset in Cave Creek with a dominating 4th quarter. Sparked by Kirilenko's 30 points, Chapel Hill outscores the Longshots 37-18
in the 4th on the way to a 120-111 victory. Jamison, Kittles, and Kirilenko seemed to hit every shot they took in the final quarter. Kobe
finished just 9/24 shooting and Cave Creek lost one they thought they had in the bag entering the last quarter with a 10 point lead

Chapel Hill Takes Two From Scottsdale

Chapel Hill took 2 from Scottsdale as the Scottsdale super trio of guards (Kidd, Carter and Francis) had a horrible series hitting just 31 of 89 shots. For the Jams, Rasheed Wallace had his two best games of the year with 21 and 27 points. Chapel Hill won 111 - 103 and then tried playing more half court enroute to a 97 - 74 victory.

3rd Quarter Tear Leads to Cave Creek Victory

A close game at half is opened up by Cave Creek with a 39-12 3rd quarter,
who cruises to a 116-87 victory. Chapel Hill's troubles can be summed up
by Kirilenko's 5-21 shooting and a team 35% shooting. Combine that with being outrebounded by 16 and that usually spells trouble. Kobe led the
Longshots with a solid 25 points, 6 boards, and 7 assists. Etan Thomas had an effective 14/10 game off the bench.

Lots of Scoring as Galactic Takes Cave Creek, 139-121

Kobe was in foul trouble early playing only 33 mins in game.

Dampier also was in foul trouble later and played 25 mins.

Cave Creek lead by Richardson with 30(13-22 on FGs). Bryant had 24 with 6 assists but 10 turnovers in his limited action. Dampier had 14 with 10 rebs. Rose 18 with 6 assists. Stoudamire 15 with 7 assists and 5 rebs.

Galactic head by Cassell and Iverson combining for 78 points(34 each) in 62 mins of action. Cassell also had 14 assists. Marshall had 19 with 8 rebs and 5 BLKs. Payton added 18 with 7 assists.

Trailing 27-17 at the end of 1st quarter Thunder boomed big time scoring 122 points in next 3 quarter(78 in second half).

I doubled on Bryant, when in game. Left Stoudamire open due to double team or Center position when Stoudamire not in game. Also pressed the entire game which is probably why Bryant had so many TOs. As a team Cave Creek had 25 to Galactic 18. Galactic also had 8 BLK and 12 steals.

Both teams missed 20 FTs combined(Cave Creek 11) and attempted 40 3's(20 each) Cave Creek made 7, Galactic 6.

St. Lucie Returns Favor For Split

In a game of runs, St. Lucie had the last one to seal a 119-114 victory at
Cave Creek. Garnett led the way with 22 points and 22 boards. Combined with Duncan's 19 points, St. Lucie dominated the paint. Kobe had 42
points, 8 boards, and 6 assists. However, that was not enough to overcome Jalen Rose's 7/23 shooting and Dampier only being able to play 25 minutes because of foul trouble.

Longshots Outlast St. Lucie

The tone was set in the first 2 minutes of the game where Maggettee had to sit with 2 fouls. He played sparingly during the game, and thanks to Kobe's
14 free throws almost fouled out. St. Lucie had 6 guys in double figures
led by Duncan. However, their team effort was foiled by a better team
effort by the Longshots. Kobe did his part with 27 points. Hilario came
off the bench for 12 points and 10 rebounds, Luke Ridnour had his best game of the year with 11 points and 5 assists. But the guy who made it click once again was Damon Stoudemire who shot 7-9 and had 8 assists.

In fact Damon Stoudemire has earned the unnoficial SABL player of the week with his recent 4 game rampage in which he has shot 73% and averaged 8 assists per game.

The game was close until an 8-1 4th quarter start led the Longshots onto a 107-96 victory.

Scottsdale edges New Orleans 119-116

Jason Kidd was two assists short of a triple-double and Steve Francis poured in 29 points to lead Scottsdale to the victory. The Bucs put on a furious 4th quarter rally and almost pulled it out. Bibby led the New Orleans team with 27 points. Melo was held to 12. New Orleans was out rebounded by an incredible 47-26 margin. Boozer went to sleep on the boards and the Buc coach was not too happy. Nash had 17 assists for N. O.

Galactic Beats Cave Creek 120-111

Cave Creek lead by Bryant with 31, 10 rebs 4 assists. J.Richardson added 23 with 9 rebs and 7 assists. Dampier with 27 and 14 rebs.

Bryant was Double Teamed(shooting 9-20 FG, 13-14 FT).
Dampier was open do to DT (12-14 FG)on Bryant.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 36 and 10 assists. Marshall had 16 with 6 rebs and 4 assists. Iverson 15. Thunder made 11-21(52%) on 3's.

Springfield Swept at Home by Scottsdale

The Sun-Burn came into Springfield and scorched the Bulldogs. The final score of the first game was 102-88. The difference of the game was the foul line. Scottsdale made 22 free throws, while the Bulldogs made only 7, even though Springfield only committed 5 more fouls than the visitors. Jason Kidd just missed a triple double with 8 points, 10 boards, and 13 dimes. Francis had 24 pts on 7-10 shooting, while Van Horn and Carter each added 19.
Springfield actually led most of the game up until about the 4 minute mark of the 3rd period, when Scottsdale went on a 17-0 run to put them up by 16 with 9:53 left to play in the game. Harrington led the Bulldogs with 15, while George, White, and Bell all added 11 apiece.

The final score of game 2 was 108-98, and the game wasnt really that close.
Scottsdale led by 24 at halftime, 62-38, and extended that lead to as much as 28 points early in the third period. But the Bulldogs finally warmed up and went on a 44-23 run to close the game to just 7 points with 5 minutes to play in the game, and that was as close as the Bulldogs could get. Kidd led the way with 21 points and 11 assists. Carter also had 21, thanks to going
11-12 from the foul line, as the Sun-Burn outshot the Bulldogs 54-45% from the field. For the home team, 6 players scored in double figures, led by Bell with 21 - 15 of them during the Bulldogs big second half run - Harrington 14, Crawford 12, Lynch 11, and White and Pavlovic each 10.

New Idea For Website

Thanks to Bob Storey for suggesting this, and please everyone, if you have any ideas for the website let me know. Anything that would make you use the site as a tool more or add to the enjoyment of SABL, shoot my way. I'll let you know if I can accomplish your requests.

From now on, we will be updating the current standings on the website every week. This idea will have a two-fold benefit. It helps let everyone know where their tema stands on a weekly, instead of monthly basis. As well as, it allows us to have two copies of the current league disk in different locations. The main copy will always be on Steve Walters computer. But if anything were to happen to his, I would have a clean copy to send to him to bring him right back up to speed.

We haven't figured out whether or not were going to ask everyone to include me on all your .gfl files or just have Steve send me an update once a week. More to come later, but as of right now, you can click on Standings above and see what we have as of right now.

Longshots Rebound After Tongue Lashing

Longshots got a tongue lashing after the previous nights lackluster performance and came out firing. By halftime the Longshot had a 25 point
lead, and at one point led by 40. Galactic shot a paltry 3-22 from 3 point land, and while Cave Creek shot 11-20 and 59% overall.

Longshots were led by Richardson who finished with 30 points and 10 boards. Dampier had 12pts/15 boards, and Stoudamire finished with 17 points and 13 assists, while once again lighting it up when Kobe was double teamed shooting 7-11. Kobe meanwhile sat quite a bit of the game.

Galactic had two guys with 20+ points, and everyhone else with 8 or less. Iverson shot 1-8 from 3 point land and had more turn overs than assists.

Final score 124-89. After the game, however, there was almost an on court brawl. With about 8 seconds left, Cave Creek took a time out just to try and get John Salmons a 3 point shot. Galactic did not like this showboating and thugs Iverson and Horry were on their way to pummel Longshot coach Mark Long when they were stopped by increased security. Said coach Long after the game "Hey, when you show up to play in girlie skirts and never compete, don't blame me".

Galactic beats Cave Creek at Own Game

Galactic ends Cave Creeks home dominance by beating the Longshots at their own game. They outrebounded Cave Creek by 9, and shot 9 more free throws. Iverson and Cassell each had 22 for Galactic, but it was Webber's 18 points in 17 minutes that sunk Cave Creek. Webber's penentration column STINKS, but the computer kept penetrating him and he kept rolling his only possible result- a two shot foul on 7! Unbelievable.

Galactic chose to double team Bryant who finished with 19. However, the DT proved to be rather innefective because the 2 guys left open (Staudamire and Cook) had 19 and 8 points respectively and shot a combined 13-15.

Tulsa Takes Two From Havoc in Tulsa

Game 1:

The Twisters cruise 125-98. Tulsa has 3 players with 20+ pts: T Parker (25), S Marion (22, 6 assists and 10 rebounds), and R Murray (20). V Lenard led Atlanta with 19 pts.

Tulsa outrebounded Atlanta 51-35.

Game 2:

The Twisters win 101-89. J O'Neal leads the pack with 19 pts and 11 rebounds. Parker also adds 19 pts. K Hinrich feeds his teammates with 11 assists. Once again, the visitors were led by V Lenard with 19 pts.

Galactic Takes Two From the Twisters in Tulsa

Game 1:

The Thunder wins 113-84. The victors were led by A Iverson (22 pts), S Cassell (18 pts & 12 assists), and D Marshall (15 pts & 12 rebounds).

T Parker led the losers with 23 pts.

Game 2:

The Thunder wins 109-90. Cassell has 22 pts; Iverson has 18. Parker leads the Twisters with 24 pts

Bucs Complete Sweep of Tucson, 110-89

Melo scored 44 points to lead New Orleans to an easy victory. Tucson was out rebounded 58-32.

River City Visits New York

River City comes to NYC and stuns the Slammers taking both games convincingly.

FT HAYS DEFEATS REBELS TWICE

Ft Hays Gorillas had little trouble with the home town Indy Rebels Winning 95-87, and then again 105-79. The losses puts the Rebel home record at 1-19.> Game 1-Just like Don Nelson of the Mavericks and his son coaching, the Rebels coaches son piloted them here. Shawn (6-6, 215) looks like he belongs on the court, and he does except for a broken ankle in H.S. This 22 year old out did his pop in the coaching ranks. The Rebs were close losing by only 7 to Ft.Hays. Ron Artest led Ft Hays with 19, and Vitlay Potapenko had 20 for Indy. Game 2 Dad proved that he can still lose better than son after being beaten by the same Ft Hays crew by 26 rather than 7 points. Paul Pierce let Ft Hays with 33, and 4 Rebs scored in double figures. The real kicker here was Ft Hays fast break points 22 to the Rebels 2. The senior coach Tidrow said " The next time Shawn coaches I'll either be sick or dead".

Holcomb Wins Two in McLean

After taking two at Holcomb, the Nats may have thought they would have an easy time at home. But the Heat were hot, took big leads in both games and fended off McLean rallies in both games to pull away for easy wins. In game one, the Nats tried to limit the heat three point shooters, and they did only five for 19. But the Heat hit 67 percent from everywhere else and won 124-107. Jason Terry had 36 despite being zero for eight on three pointers. Brent Barry was the star of the game with twenty points and 13 assists. Tracy McGrady led the Nats with 26 and Andre Miller added 25. In game two, the heat hit 13 of 29 threes and 54 percent overall and won 115-103. Barry again led with 22 points and ten assists. Andre Miller had 29.

McLean Breaks Slump, Pounds Minnesota

The Nats took two in McLean, showing enough energy to overcome the very fine and normally chilling Minnesota defense. Tracy McGrady and Richard Jefferson led the Nats with 28 and 26 respectively to prevail 104-81 in game one. Mike James led the Chill with 18. Game two was similar, a 104-82 win, with McGrady's 24 leading the Nats, who were aided by Brad Miller's 17 points and ten boards. Doug Christie had 20 for Minnesota.

New Orleans comes from behind to defeat Tucson 119-114

Derek Fisher and Derek Anderson hit an incredible 10 of 11 from behind the arc for Tucson. But the Bucs put on a 4th quarter surge to prevail. Amare led all scorers with 35. He also had 10 boards. Nash has another double-double for N.O.

Tri City Sweeps McLean

Tri-City sweeps. Marbury posts 22 points and 11 assists to pace Tri-City to a 108-89 win. Marbury again lead the way (33-9) as Tri-City won 119-109 to complete the season sweep of the Nats.

Richmond & Tri City Split

Larry Hughes dropped in 2 FT in the closing seconds to lift Tri-City to a 102-102 win.

P. Stojakovich pumped in 27 points, grabbed 6 boards, and 5 steals to lead Richmond to a 109-99 win, and a split of the 2 games at Tri-City.

New Orleans Edges Terminators in 120-116 Thriller

Steve Nash scored a game high 37 points and contributed 11 assists to lead the Bucs to a close victory.

Bettendorf Bombs Rebels Again Only Worse

The Bettendorf Druids made it a road sweep of the Indianapolis Rebels by winning 96-73. Rebel coach was heard to say "well at least we held them under a hundred tonight". The Rebels again shot poorly only 33% and again Rashard Lewis was the Druid Star with 32 after getting 29 two nights ago,giving him a 61 point romp. Bonzi Well had 17 for the Rebs, who now host Tri City.

SAN FRAN OUTGUNS NEW ORLEANS 129-124

Crawford scores 28 and Randolph has a double-double to lead the Terminators. The New Orleans coach was puzzled why his opponent does not have a better record. " It certainly played like a playoff team against us." Amare led the Bucs with; a game high 29. Nash and Boozer had double-doubles for New Orleans.

Spiders Work Well in Cold Taking Two From Chill

Richmond wins, 93-66.

Richmond wins, 85-74.

DRUID THREES BURY REBELS

Springfield splits two games with San Francisco at home

Game one is a nail-biter that goes to the Bulldogs. A game in which neither team ever led by more than 7 was won by Springfield when with 1 second left and down by a single point, Zoran Planinic penetrates, scores, and draws a foul, then makes the free throw for a two-point win, 86-84. Bell led the way with 17 points, while White and Gadzuric each had 11. Johnson, Thomas, and Brand had 19, 17, and 14 points respectively for the Terminators, who out-shot the Bulldogs 46%-37% from the floor but still lost, due to having 8 more turnovers, 5 less free throws, and 3 less three pointers than the home team. With dreams of seeing Emeka Okafor in a Bulldogs uniforms, some of the fans actually threw things at Planinic and booed him as he giddily leaves the court after winning the game for his team.

Game two had a better outcome for the visitors. They seemingly make every shot, especially inside, on their way to a 117-100 win. The Terminators score an amazing 46 points inside the paint (compared to 16 in the first game) as they followed their coaches instruction to "pound the damn ball inside!". The strategy worked as Randolph shoots 9-12 for 23 points, Rahim
9-15 for 24 points, and Brand 6-7 for 14 points, Joe Johnson goes 5-6 to add 12 more points and the Terminators out-rebound the Bulldogs 49-37, with Randolph grabbing 14 himself. Springfield, who had been poor from the foul line all year, hit 21 of 22, and also made 9 3's but shot just 40% overall from the floor. Bell led Springfield with 26 points, with White adding 16 off the bench, Harrington 14, and Lynch having his best offensive game of the year with 13 points, going 4-5 from 3-point land.

Minnesota Takes Two Close Ones Versus NY

Minnesota, up 66-65, goes on a 14-4 run to break open the game. NYC cut the lead to two with 59 seconds left, but free throws by Jason Collins and Mike James secured the win for Minnesota. NYC powered its way to the free throw line, but missed 11 of 34 free throws in the game, including 7 by Shaq. Allen Houstona led NYC with 15 points, while Bruce Bowen paced the Chill with 15.

Minnesota went on a five-point run to close within one point with three minutes to play. Tied at 73, Slava Medvedenko hit an inside shot and Mike James added two free throws in the closing seconds for the Chill's victory. Dwayne Wade scored 15 to lead NYC, while Doug Christie poured in 14 to lead the Chill.

Brooklyn Wins Twice at Minnesota

Only thing I can say here is that Minnesota didn't give up. Down 17 at half, the Chill fought back and cut the deficit to six points with 5:47 left in the game. But it was just too little too late. Pau Gasol led the Tigers with 24 points. Bruce Bowen led the Chill with 15.

Brooklyn used a 13-3 run early in the fourth quarter to break open a close game. Pau Gasol had 29 to pace the Tigers, while Doug Christie led the Chill with 12.

McLean Beats Minnesota 112-81 & 103-83

McLean used a 34-17 second quarter to break open the game. Minnesota had no answer for Tracy McGrady, who led McLean with 20 points. McLean shot 56 percent from the floor.

It was only a five-point game at half, but McLean took over from there behind 28 points from Tracy McGrady. A poor third quarter sealed Minnesota's chances.

Akron Freezes Out Minnesota, Twice

Game 1: Minnesota didn't have an answer for Akron's inside game on either end of the court. Behind Yao Ming's 23 points, it was never close, as Akron built a 14-point lead at half and increased it to 21 after three quarters. Akron outscored Minnesota 28-12 on points in the paint, while also having nine blocks on defense.

Game 2: This was a game through three quarters, but Akron blew it open, outscoring the Chill 36-13 in the fourth quarter. Once again, Minnesota had trouble with Akron's inside game on both ends of the court, being outscored 40-12 in the paint, while Akron defenders had eight blocks. Ray Allen led Akron with 19 points.

New Orleans Completes Sweep of Twisters

O'Neal had 33 for Tulsa but Melo poured in 35 for the Bucs. Four different players had double-doubles : Amare, Melo, Shawn Marion and O'Neal.
Tulsa lost despite taking 18 more shots than the Bucs.

NY and River City Split

NY captures game one, 95-81. Bosh lead the way with 23-12 and Shaq added 18-9.

River City stunned NY in game two, 92-84. The Renegades outscored NY, 29-16 in the 3rd quarter and held on for the win. Q. Richardson scored 24 and Juan Dixon added 16 in 17 minutes. Shaq had 17 points and 16 rebounds. G. Robinson scored 12, but shot only 4-19 and committed 6 turnovers.

River City and Indy Split

River City captures game one, 85-81. The Renegades got 42 bench points including 15 from Juan Dixon and 11 from Marcus Fizer.

Indy closed game 2 with a 17-6 run to capture an 85-80 win.

NEW ORLEANS SWEEPS TULSA IN TULSA

New Orleans takes Game # 1, pounding the Twisters 131-100. The visitors were led in scoring by C Anthony, A Stoudamire, and M Bibby who each had
25 pts. S Nash had 19 pts and 13 assists. The team shot 56% from the field.

For Tulsa, J O'Neal had 19 pts and 12 rebounds.

New Orleans takes Game # 2, 121-110 as they score an amazing 50 pts in the 3rd period! (The Twisters reaffirmed their claim as one of the worst defensive teams in the league.) The star of the game was C Boozer as he scored 22 pts and added 11 boards.

Tulsa wasted a 31 pt effort from T Parker.

McLean Bubble Bursts; Nats Drop Two to Tri-City

The Blackhawks seemed to like the rims in McLean, taking both games from the Nats to balance their Nats season record at 12-4 both home and away. In game one, Stephon Marbury went wild with 43 points and 11 assists, although he did give up 28 points (on 14 for 18 shooting) to Andre Miller. Jamaal Magloire added 15 points and 18 rebounds as Tri-City won going away, 147-117. Game two was a much tighter contest, but poor foul shooting (19 for 32) kept the Nats from ever quite catching up, as the Blackhawks pulled away at the end to win 111-101. Larry Hughes had 27 for Tri-City while Tracy McGrady had 30 and Richard Jefferson had 26 for McLean.

TRI CITY 97 INDIANAPOLIS 77

The Blackhawks had no problems with the Rebels. They led at half 52-36 and cruised to victory. Stephen Marbury led all scorers with24. The referees were certainly not "Homers" tonight giving 27 personals to the Rebs and 13 to Tri City. Indy was led by Bonzi Wells with 12. The hapless Rebs were outscored 26-4 in fastbreak land. Indy has not won a game since Wednesday December 22, 2004!

San Francisco Takes Two From Chapel Hill

The Terminators took the Jams down in both games, winning 110 - 93 and 115 - 103. Zach Randolph and Shareef Abdul-Rahim were too tough inside for Chapel Hill.

New Rule Change!!!

Over the next week or so, the exact wording of this new scheduling rule will be examined and finalized for the constitution. In the mean time, the basic effect of this rule change is to allow people an entire 3+ week time frame to complete all games for the month. This will be much more conducive to our lives where we may have weeks where we can't play and days where we can bang out 8 games.

A. Instructions are to be sent no later than the 4th of the month for the current block of games. When instructions are not sent out by the 4th, the home manager will send an e-mail to the away manager and include Steve Walters (myril@gate.net). The away manager has 2 days to respond with game plans. If, by the 7th, game plans have not been received and the proper measurements were taken to obtain them the away team will be assessed 1 penalty point and the Statistician will have discretion to allow the home team to auto play the game with computer generated rosters for the away time.

B. Games do not have to be played by their actual dates scheduled. However, all games must be played by the day following the last day of scheduled games for that block (Jan 27th, Feb 28th, and March 20th). Any games not played by that point may be auto played by the Statistician at his discretion. If the away team has sent instructions, the home team will receive 1 penalty point for every game not played on time. This will allow people between 3-4 weeks to complete all their scheduled games within the block, and not force people to play games in a certain week.

C. Any delays caused by bugs with the league disk or other issues related to sending out updated league disks at the end of the block will be considered by the executive team and further instructions that may vary from those above will be sent out.

New Orleans Destroys Tulsa

Boozer had 18 points and 16 rebounds in the win.
Seven Bucs tallied double digits in scoring.
Shawn Marion had a fine game for Tulsa.
Bucs shoot 60 % from the field.

Tulsa Takes Two From Springfield

Tulsa takes two from Springfield, a blowout and then a nail-biter.

In game one, the Bulldogs get off to the worst start conceivable. They looked like a girls 6th grade team playing an NBA team. At just over 4 miinutes into the game, Springfield had 2 points, 6 team fouls, and were down 18, 20-2. By the time they got around to playing, it was too late to overcome that horrible start and were down by 25 at halftime. The Bulldogs actually closed to within 11 points on a couple of different occasions in the second half, but Tulsa won it going away, 108-84, led by O'Neal's 25 points and 15 boards. Seven Twisters finished in double figure scoring for the game.

In game two, the Bulldogs played much better, as the game was close throughout. Tulsa was up 3 to start the 4th quarter, and eventually pulled ahead by 12 with 7:25 to play, but the Bulldogs mounted a furious run to close it to a single point with 2:06 left. But a couple of costly turnovers and missed shots did the Bulldogs in, and they lost by 3, 93-90. Parker led a balanced scoring effort by Tulsa with 16 points, while 6 other Twisters had at least 8. Harrington led Springfield with 18 on 8-11 from the field, while Bell chipped in 17, though he shot 6-17 from the floor in 24 minutes, whille Rodney "Hair Trigger" White coerced enough balls to go through the cylinder to finish with 15, on 6-17 shooting in 19 minutes played.

Tucson Takes Two From Chapel Hill

Rip Hamilton leads Tucson to a pair of hard fought wins.

Springfield Fried Again

Kobe sits the game out. Rumors run rampant that Kobe groped the maid at the team hotel and was the team suspended him one game. Said Kobe after the game "Look- it was all a misunderstanding. She spoke broken english and when she held up the ashtray to ask me if she should clean the butts, well, lets just say I mistook what she said".

Anyway, without Kobe in the lineup the Longshots build an early lead and at one point lead by 30. Springfield is led by Harrington and his 17 points. White and Crawford add 11 each, however it was on a combined 6-23 shooting. Jalen Rose earns his 2nd straight player of the game award as he scores 33 points. Dampier finishes with another solid 13pts/16 board game. In reality, Kobe at best can average 36 minutes a game for all 88 games. And, down the stretch I'd like to have the chance to play him more if I can, so I gambled that Springfield and home was winnable w/o Kobe.

Cave Creek Outmatches Springfield

After the first quarter the score was Kobe 14, Springfield 14. Unfortunately for Springfield, there were 4 other Longshots on the court as Cave Creek built a one time 40 point lead. In the end, the players of the game was Jalen Rose who was 6 of 9 with 18 points, although Jason Richardsons 18 points and 11 boards were solid. Cave Creek had a foul shot advantage of 42-9! The end of the game included many Longshots not normally getting minutes (Williams, Wallace, Ridnour, Salmons) and just for kicks I decided to leave Rodney White open on the outside. He responded with 20 points in just 17 minutes and is was heard yelling at coach Simpson after the game "Coach Dan- forget those other punks, play me 48 minutes and Ill average 60 for you".

Cave Creek prevailed 118-85 as Springfield marches on to to the beat of the "Okafor" chants.

McLean Takes Two at Home from Fort Hayes

In game one, the Gorillas got in foul trouble early and often, with eleven first quarter fouls on the way to a game total of 33. Paul Pierce, Theo Ratliff, Ron Artest, and Michael Finley all ended up with five fouls and lost significant playing time. As a result, the Nats, led by Tracy McGrady with 31, held a significant lead most of the game and prevailed by a 116-103 margin. Eddie Curry led Fort Hayes with 25. In game two, the Gorillas led by as much as 16, but collapsed against the Nat press in the fourth quarter, when they were outscored 33-14, and fell by 108-102. Ratliff, open much of the evening when his man was double teaming Pierce, led Fort Hayes with 20. McGrady again led the Nats with 31, but Brad Miller was the star of the game with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Cave Creek Kills Atlanta

This game was never close and Atlanta needed to outscore Cave Creek by 14 fourth quarter points just to lose by 27. Vashon Lenard must have lost his shot on the team bus (1-10 shooting) and not even Radmanovic and his 19 points in only 24 minutes could save Atlanta. In game one, Atlanta was out-rebounded by 28, this game they were out-rebounded by 32. Richardson led the way with 32 points and 11 boards, and Dampier added 16 points and 17 boards. In the end, Cave Creek emptied the bench with guys like Salmons, Ridnour, Williams, and Gerald Wallace seeing the most minutes of the year.

Cave Creek Completes Sweep of New Orleans

Cave Creek continues it's dominance at home with an impressive 125-114 route of New Orleans. The game was really never that close, and only the scrubs playing the last 5 minutes and Kobe not playing but 8 minutes in the 2nd half make it even look close. Kobe came out firing with 14 first quarter points and 10 free throws. In the end, Cave Creek outshot New Orleans 58%-49%, shot 10 more free throws, and had 12 more rebounds. Richardson finished with 19 points, 8 boards, Rose pumped in 20, Dampier had his typical 13 point/12 boards. New Orleans had a few good performances (Mello 22 pts, 7 boards, 7 assist), Amare 20/8, and Nash with 23 points and 8 assists. However, when the worst shooting % for any player on the opposing team who took a shot is 47%, you probably are not going to win.

New Orleans Holds Off Cave Creek

Damon Stoudamire hits 8 of 11 from the arc. Richardson scores 32. Boozer has a double-double 18-16. Cave Creek puts on a furious 4th quarter rally but falls to the Bucs 126-123.

Cave Creek Takes New Orleans

Cave Creek opened a 10 point 1st quarter lead and never looked back. In what is becoming a common theme, Bryant and Richardson led the way. Bryant poured in 26 points, had 6 boards and 5 assists, going to the line 16 times. Richardson was actually the computer's player of the game hitting on 12 of 17 shots and finishing with 26 points, 9 boards, and 5 assists. Anthony(24 points) and Stoudemire (21 points) tried to keep the score close, but in the end, a few things doomed New Orleans:

Shooting %: Cave Creek 55%, New Orleans 45%. Rebounding: Cave Creek 48, New Orleans 33. Fast Break Points: Cave Creek 24, New Orleans 10.

Chill Sweep

4 1:35 MIN J.COLLINS      2 Free Throws            3 65       0 MIN- 2
4 1:16 IND L.BARBOSA      Penetration basket      10      67   2 IND- 2
4 0:30 MIN J.COLLINS      Inside basket            5 67       0 MIN- 2
4 0:02 MIN S.MEDVEDENKO   Inside basket            4 69      -2 MIN- 4

The Indianapolis Rebels closed out this month's series with Minnesota by losing 69-67. Jason Collins and Slava Medvedenko both hit baskets at the end to give the Chill a 4-0 sweep of the Rebels who now stand at 3-20. Minnesota is now 9-15.

Holcomb And Richmond Split

Holcomb wins 101-97 and Richmond wins 104-98

Cave Creek Wins Again

Cave Creek wins again, 115-95, behind 56% shooting from the floor and sinking 15 more free throws than the Bulldogs do. At just over 2 minutes into the game, the Bulldogs led by 5, but then Cave Creek goes on a 17-2 run to go up by 14 just 3 minutes later and the game was essentially over. Cave Creek went up by as many as 22 in the second period, but the Bulldogs mounted a strong run after halftime, closing the game to just 8, 67-59, at the 7:40 mark of the third quarter. But then 5 minutes later, the visitors were back up by 23 and actually led by as much as 31 halfway through the fourth before another late Springfield run.

Richardson led the way with 22, while Stoudamire chipped in 20 with 9 assists, Bryant and Rose each had 15, and Dampier scored 14 with 13 rebounds. Devean George led the way for the Bulldogs with 16, Bell added 15, and Pavlovic chipped in 12 off the bench.

Heat Take Two From Akron

Heat take two from Akron, barely winning the first on an Eddie Jones 3 at the buzzer , 100-99, and the second by a 114-109 score

Chapel Hill Bounces Back to Split with San Fran

A high scoring affair with both teams shooting over 50% from the field. Chapel Hill controlled the game most of the way, but the Terminators stayed close enough to make the game exciting. Andre Kirilenko was the star of the game for Chapel Hill with 31 points 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Zach Randolph led SF with 28 points.

San Fran 115 Chapel Hill 95

San Francisco built up a 25 point lead at halftime and never looked back. Elton Brand and Zach Randolph both put up double-doubles (with Brand pulling down 17 boards) and Rahim scored 20 points. Andre Kirilenko led Chapel Hill with 21 points.

Cave Creek Handles Springfield

Cave Creek handles the Bulldogs fairly easily, winning 101-82. The visitors jumped out to an 18 point lead early in the second quarter and went up by as many as 23 at the 9:31 mark of the third quarter, and the best the Bulldogs could do after that was close it to 13 with over 2 minutes left in the game. Cave Creek pounded the Bulldogs on the boards by a margin of 61-42, including 19 offensive.

Kobe and Richardson led Cave Creek with 26 points apiece, with Richardson also grabbing 10 boards, and Dampier added 17 points and 14 rebounds. Harrington had 20 for the Bulldogs, while White (14) and Cheaney (10) were the only other double figure scorers for the home team.

Indy Falls to Minnesota For The Second Time

I thought this was unique: Indy had no players score in double figures. First I've ever seen of that. Bonzi Wells led Rebels with 9 points, while 4 others scored 8 apiece. Greg Ostertag, of all people, led the Chill with 12 points while Doug Christie poured in 11 in an otherwise blah, nothing-special game

Minnesota Beats Indy 83-70

Big third quarter opened up game for the Chill, who led by as much as 23 in second half. Mike James had 19 for Minnesota, while Antonio Daniels had 12 to lead Indy.

Akron Drops Two Against Holcomb

A miserable pair of home losses for Akron, which shot just 28 percent in the second game, including 1-for-17 on three-pointers in a failed comeback attempt.

Bettendorf Splits with McLean

Game 1: The Nationals led 101-100 and had the ball with 8 seconds remaining and no shot clock. Inexplicably, Tracy McGrady decided to hoist up a three and missed it. He redeemed himself, however, by intercepting a fastbreak pass that could have set up a game-winning field goal for Bettendorf. Brad Miller (6 points, 16 rebounds) was chosen as player of the game. Reggie Jefferson and McGrady shared high-point honors for the Nats with 23 apiece. Rashard Lewis led all scorers with 24.

Game 2: Bettendorf opened up a 19-point lead at halftime then held on for a 111-102 victory. Both sides turned the game into a ragged, take-no-prisoners affair. The Druids pressed the entire game, and the Nationals went to a full-court defense midway through the first period. The two teams combined to force 46 turnovers. Tracy McGrady led the Nationals with 36 points, have of which were produced by his 18 three-point attempts. Rashard Lewis had 19 for the Druids, but Kurt Thomas was voted the star of the game with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Good luck the rest of the way.

Chapel Hill Takes Two From Tulsa

Game 1 - 112-98

Game 2 - 108-101

Galactic Scores Big Again Against Tucson

Tucson lead by Sprewell and D.Anderson 17 each. Smith had 15 with 22 rebs(13 offenive), Hamilton shot only 4-18(22%) from field. As a team Sky shot only 32% from field(4-20 on 3's) but made 31-39 FTs.

Galactic lead by Cassell with 35 and 9 assists. Iverson added 30 with 8 assists. Marshall had 16 with 12 rebs.

Thunder lead in rebounds 62-52 and assists 32-19. Thunder made 29-39 FTs.

Nats Take Two From the Druids in McLean

McLean enjoyed the outcome of both hard fought games at home, taking small leads, watching the Druids make a run, and pulling away at the end of both games. In game one, Richard Jefferson had 33 points on 14 for 21 shooting, while Brad Miller chipped in with 17 points and 13 boards. Erick Strickland led Bettendorf with 14. In game two, Tracy McGrady had 30 points and eight assists, and were helped by Andre Miller with 21 points and Jefferson with 20. Rashard Lewis led the Druids with 23.

Galactic Outguns Tucson

Sky lead by Hamilton with 26. C.Robinson had23. J.Smith added 11 with 12 rebs.

Thunder lead by Iverson with 31. Cassell had 25 with 7 assists. Marshall had 18 with 19 rebs and 7 assists.

St. Lucie Beats San Fran 114-88

St. Lucie took over in the second quarter and never looked back, rolling to an easy win. Garnett and Duncan came through with double-doubles (Garnett 28 pts. 15 reb, Duncan 25 pts. 11 reb) and Zach Randolph led San Francisco with 16 points.

Akron Takes Two From Tulsa

Fort Hays found Yao Ming and Zydrunas Ilgauskas more than they could handling, running into constant foul trouble in both games.

Chapel Hill takes Two From Tulsa

The Chapel Hill Jams took 2 games from Tulsa: 97 - 87 and 110 - 93 as AK47 had essentially the same game twice -- 26 pts 13 rebs and 27 pts 12 rebs.

Galactic Thumps Chandler 92-65

Chandler lead by Welsch with 15 and 6 rebs

Galactic lead by Iverson with 24, 6 assistsand 5 steals. Cassell added 20.

Monsoon had 17 more turnovers(30-13).

Chandler Wins Squeaker against New Orleans 92-90

Minnesota 84 Indianapolis 80

Led by Doug Christie's 20 the Chill froze out Kentucky's Ice Tigers 84-80. The game was not as close as it seemed as Antonio Daniels nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer. For Indy five players scored in double figures. Blount, Davis and Daniels had ten, while Battier and Rose put in eleven. With two losses to Holcomb and this one to Minnesota the hapless Reb team marches on with a 3-23 record. Experts are begining to talk about wheather Okafor, Gordon or Deng would be a good Rebel matchup.

Cave Creek Dumps Atlanta in Weirdest Game Ever???

This will go down as one of the weirdest games I have ever played. It was strange to play and the stats are even weirder. 4 1/2 minutes into the game the score is Cave Creek 16 and Atlanta 2. From there on out, Atlanta battled hard, closing to within 5 points in the 4th quarter before finally falling 99-90. Vashon Lenard and Jackson each scored 21 for Atlanta. Cave Creek was lead by Hilario's 23 points and 9 boards, and Dampier's 14 points and 16 boards. Byrant and Richardson had relatively quiet 18 and 13 points.

Here are the weird stats: Atlanta shot 35%, Cave Creek 48%. Cave Creek had 3 more foul shots (despite committing 10 more fouls!) and 28 more rebounds (Cave Creek had 2 guys in double figures and 3 more with 9 boards each-Bryant/Staudamire/ and Hilario)! Cave Creek had 36 fast break points to 10 for Atlanta who was being pressed most of the first 3 quarters. So how in the world did Atlanta keep it relatively close: Cave Creek turned the ball over 26 times! ouch.

Amazing it was that close with shooting lines like Lenard 8-25, Gooden 5-20, and Alston 4-17.

Chandler glides to an easy 90-80 win over Atlanta

Chandler never trailed after the first few minutes as Atlanta’s poor shooting kept them out of the game. Reggie Miller had a hot hand nailing 2 three pointers late in the 4^th to make sure that the Havoc never got close

Nats Take Two From the Druids in McLean

Cave Creek Routes New Orleans

You can start sending game updates to Knox

Scott sent me all the needed passwords and such so that I could begin updating the website. I'm still working my way through all of the information, and I won't have the complete website until Scott's disk arrives to me sometime soon. But for now, you can send me game updates, trades and all other matters that need mentioning on the website. It will take me a week or two to get up to speed on the workings of the website and how everything fits together. But after that ramp up period, I will be good to go.

Royal Conference Teams	W-L	GB	Classic Conference Teams	W-L	GB
Holcomb*	62-18	-	St. Lucie	60-16	-
Richmond	57-23	-	Galactic	62-20	-
Bettendorf	52-28	-	Cave Creek	56-20	-
McLean	51-25	-	Scottsdale	49-23	-
Fort Hays	46-30	-	New Orleans	50-34	-
Akron	40-32	-	Chapel Hill	35-37	-
Tri City	41-35	2	San Francisco	35-45	4
Brooklyn	38-38	4	Tulsa	26-46	9
River City	28-44	12	Tucson	26-46	9
New York City	30-50	14

Royal Conference Teams	W-L	GB	Classic Conference Teams	W-L	GB
Holcomb	55-17	-	St. Lucie	57-15	-
Richmond	50-22	-	Cave Creek	52-20	-
Bettendorf	49-23	-	Galactic	56-16	-
McLean	48-24	-	Scottsdale	49-23	-
Fort Hays	42-30	-	New Orleans	46-26	-
Akron	40-32	Tied For Final Spot	Chapel Hill	35-37	-
Tri City	40-32	Tied For Final Spot	San Francisco	31-41	4
Brooklyn	38-34	2	Tulsa	26-46	9
New York City	28-44	12	Tucson	26-46	9
River City	28-44	12

Florida Strat World Presents The:

Second American Basketball League

SABL

League LeadersPast NewslettersRecords All-Stars Message/Chat Board/Yahoo!2004-05 SABL Minutes 2004 Draft Preview

Standings MembersRosters2003 Draftable Players Team Highs Home & Away Records

Email The Commissioner 2004-05 Constitution2004-05 Schedule Line Scores 2003-04 Team Preview 2004 Available Players

Past Draft Results Transactions2001 Draft 2002 Draft Team Stats 2003 Draft 2003 Post-Draft Analysis 2004 Regular Draft Order

League Team Totals2000 Draft Histories SomWorld Strat-O-Matic Expansion Draft Pool 2003-04 Season Preview Won-Loss Grid

Scoring Grid Expansion Draft 2004 Draft 2004-05 Season Preview 2004 Post-Draft Analysis

Florida Strat World Presents The:

Second American Basketball League

SABL

League LeadersPast NewslettersRecordsAll-StarsMessage/Chat Board/Yahoo!2004-05 SABL Minutes2004 Draft Preview

Standings MembersRosters2003 Draftable PlayersTeam HighsHome & Away Records

Email The Commissioner 2004-05 Constitution2004-05 ScheduleLine Scores2003-04 Team Preview2004 Available Players

Past Draft Results Transactions2001 Draft2002 DraftTeam Stats2003 Draft2003 Post-Draft Analysis2004 Regular Draft Order

League Team Totals2000 Draft HistoriesSomWorldStrat-O-MaticExpansion Draft Pool2003-04 Season PreviewWon-Loss Grid

Scoring GridExpansion Draft2004 Draft2004-05 Season Preview2004 Post-Draft Analysis

League LeadersPast NewslettersRecords All-Stars Message/Chat Board/Yahoo!2004-05 SABL Minutes 2004 Draft Preview

Standings MembersRosters2003 Draftable Players Team Highs Home & Away Records

Email The Commissioner 2004-05 Constitution2004-05 Schedule Line Scores 2003-04 Team Preview 2004 Available Players

Past Draft Results Transactions2001 Draft 2002 Draft Team Stats 2003 Draft 2003 Post-Draft Analysis 2004 Regular Draft Order

League Team Totals2000 Draft Histories SomWorld Strat-O-Matic Expansion Draft Pool 2003-04 Season Preview Won-Loss Grid

Scoring Grid Expansion Draft 2004 Draft 2004-05 Season Preview 2004 Post-Draft Analysis