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The SABL BS

Volume 2 Issue 77 April 2001

FROM COMMISSIONER SCOTT ELLIS, 2ND AMER. BASKETBALL LEAGUE

Miles beats Druids in Bettendorf, sweeps series

Tom Jargo's Miles Bulldogs have won their Round 1 playoff series vs. Mark Feeney's Bettendorf Druids, winning two games in Bettendorf to sweep the series 4-0. Now Miles moves to Round Two and yet another Feeney, Chris, coach of the North Division champion Tri City Blackhawks. Stay tuned as the annual SABL playoffs unfold again!

St. Lucie takes all three at Finney to take series

Doug Dillingham's Finney Longhorns tried hard, but came up short and lost all three games in Finney to the South Division Champion St. Lucie Aces, giving St. Lucie a return ticket to the Classic Conference finals:

1st game:
Kobe Bryant had 34 points at half and ended up with 60 for the game. However it wasnt enough as the Aces won when a last second shot by Ratliff missed. Sam Cassell had 27 for St Lucie and Shaquille O'Neal had 24. Grant Hill also had 20. Bryant was followed by Travis Best with 16. Finney was leading by 15 at the end of the 3rd, but a big (39) point 4the sealed it for the Aces.

2nd game:
Another big game for Bryant as he had 54 to lead Finney in a losing attempt. Chris Webber had 40 to lead the Aces. He was followed by Sam Cassell with 24, and Grant Hill with 23. The Aces led by 13 after the first qtr. and by 16 at the half. The Longhorns came back and actually had the lead with 17 seconds left when Gary Payton hit a basket to tie it up. Finney missed a three point attempt with 2 seconds remaining putting the game in overtime. St Lucie dominated the overtime 16-8 behind Chris Webber.

3rd game:
This game was all St Lucie. Payton led the way with 32, followed by o'Neal with and Hill with 22. Finney was led again by Bryant with 31. The Aces led the entire game.

Who's trading?

THESE DEALS TAKE EFFECT NEXT SEASON. I WILL NOT ADJUST ROSTERS ON OUR WEBSITE UNTIL AFTER THE PLAYOFFS:

2. Finney trades Posey, it's first pick and Garden City's first pick to Holcomb for R. Lewis & B. Barry.

1. Finney trades Ratliff, Oakley & Best to Holcomb for Oljauwon, Amechi & Posey & Garden City's 1st pick.

Finney and Aces split first two in St. Lucie

Scott Ellis' Aces lost Game 1 of their Second Round playoff series 121-111 to Finney, as the Longhorns made 42 free throws to St. Lucie's 10 to demolish the Aces at the charity stripe. Kobe Bryant also went nuts for Finney, scoring 46 points with 10 rebounds. Rapid Rod Strickland stuck it to his old team, getting 11 assists for Finney. Gary Payton scored 34 points, Shaquille O'Neal had 18 boards and Sudden Sam Cassell had 10 assists in a losing effort for the Aces.

In Game 2, the angry Aces came back strong, winning 124-82. In fact, the score was 25-0 in the first quarter before Finney made a three-point bucket to get on the scoreboard. The Aces stretched it to 34-5 before Finney reached its equilibrium as the first quarter score was 42-13. Payton scored 32, Shaq scored 20 with 18 rebounds and Chris Webber had 13 boards for the Aces. Sudden Sam Cassell had 11 assists and the Aces' Grant Hill had 22 points with 11 assists. Bryant shot a miserable 27% from the field and scored just 11 points for Finney. The Longhorn's high scorer was Theo Ratliff with 14.

The scene now shifts to Finney for the next three games. Stay tuned.

Finney beats McLean in an exciting 7-game series

The Finney Longhorns have advanced to Round 2 of the 2001 SABL playoffs by beating Coach Rob Storey's tough McLean National squad. Congratulations Doug!

Doug Dillingham's Longhorns now go up against the South Division champion St. Lucie Aces, who won the most games in the league this year with 72.

Miles takes Games 1 & 2 from the Druids

Point guard Mike Bibby ignited the offense as the Miles Bulldogs swept the first two games of the opening-round playoff series against the Bettendorf Druids before a fevered crowd at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn.

Bibby scored 20 points, dished out 9 assists and had 4 steals as the Bulldogs won the opener, 118-108. In the nightcap, the floor general led a red-hot Miles squad with 33 points and 8 assists as the Dogs cruised to a 126-104 victory and a 2-0 lead in the playoff series.

"Bibby was scratching where it itches," Miles Coach Hayden Fry said. (Translated: That's a good thing)

In Game 1, the Bulldogs jumped to a 10-point lead after one quarter. But the lead was quickly threatened as Miles played most of the second quarter without Antoine Walker and Dikembe Mutombo due to foul trouble. The Dogs' lead was 4 at halftime, and it fell to 2 after three quarters despite the return of Walker and Mutombo. However, Miles started the fourth quarter hot and iced the game with free throws at the end.

Walker and Jeff Hornacek pitched in 17 apiece for the Bulldogs in Game 1, while Keon Clark chipped in 12 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Bettendorf's offense was balanced to say the least in Game 1 as four players scored 12 points, one player chipped in 11 and three others added 10.

In Game 2, Miles was sizzling, shooting 58 percent from the field. Bibby was 14-21 from the floor, while Glen Rice chipped in 21 points on 8-10 from the field. Antonio Daniels poured in 14 points on 6-8 from the floor and added 3 assists for Miles.

"The only guy who didn't shoot well in Game 2 was Doug Christie, so instead of shooting, he sat," Fry said. Christie was 2-8 from the floor and 0-4 beyond the arc in only 17 minutes.

Bettendorf's offense was again balanced. Sam Perkins led the Druids with 14 points, while Johnny Newman added 12. Three players chipped in 11 each, and Terry Porter added 10 for the Druids.

"We didn't play well," Bettendorf Coach Tom Davis said. "But the next three games are before the Druid faithful, and we expect to play better."

Richmond sweeps Davenport

Frank Rowley's Raiders have won Games 3 & 4 of their Round 1 series in Davenport, eliminating the Dazzlers and advancing to Round 2 of the Royal Conference playoffs. Frank will take on East Division champ East Asia, last year's Royal Conference champion, coached by Paul Bennett. Congratulations Frank!

Game 3 - Richmond 120, Davenport 105

The Dazzlers' Steve Smith led all scorers with 29 points, but it wasn't good enough as Davenport committed 20 turnovers to Richmond's 10 in their losing effort. Richmond also sank 11 of 26 three-pointers, compared to the 4 for 11 Davenport made.

Michael Finley led Richmond with 26 points. Andre Sabonis had 10 boards for Davenport.

Game 4 - Richmond 122, Davenport 105

Finley led all scorers with 28 points and Richmond's Mark Jackson had 11 assists. Smith again led Davenport with 22 points and the Dazzlers' Avery Johnson had 12 assists.

Raiders dazzle Davenport in Richmond

Kevin Feeney's Dazzlers, the team with the best nickname in the SABL, have lost Games 1 & 2 to Frank Rowley's Raiders in their Round 1 playoff series in the Royal Conference. Here's the report from Frank:

Game #1
 
Davenport 114 - Richmond 122
 
     Richmond took a 29 -17 lead after the 1st quarter & extended it to 94 - 75 after 3 quarters & then held on in the 4th quarter to win the game!!
Davenport had 6 players in double figures led by Cliff Robinson with 20 points and 6 boards. He was followed by Maurice Taylor with 18 points in 19 minutes. Toni Kukoc contributed 18 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Avery Johnson had 13 points & 7 assists, and A. Sabonis had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Rick Smits had 10 points & 5 assists.
    Richmond was led by Michael Finley with 26 points on 12 of 16 shooting & 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points and 5 boards. Marcus Camby had 13 points, followed by Baron Davis who had 12 points and 5 assists. Jamal Mashburn rounded out the double figure scoring with 10 points. All 12 Raiders scored in the game.
 
Game #2
 
Davenport 104 - Richmond 106
 
     Richmond was constantly battling from behind throughout the game and won it on a last second shot by Michael Finley. Dirk Nowitzki picked up 2 fouls in the 1st two minutes of the game, he then sat out the rest of the 1st quarter as the Raiders were behind throughout, but pulled within 4 points by the end of the quarter 28 -24. The 2nd quarter was about the same for the Raiders as they continued to tread water until Nowitzki picked up his 3rd foul 5 minutes into the quarter (he took a seat until halftime). Richmond only trailed at halftime by a score of 56 -55. In the 3rd quarter Davenport exploded & outscored Richmond 29 - 17 in the quarter to take a 85 - 72 lead going into the 4th quarter. Richmond then battled throughout the 4th quarter and finally pulled even with 14 seconds left in the game. Davenport then called timeout to set a play to win the game (while Richmond set in their best defensive team). Davenport then took a shot with 6 seconds left, but missed it, and Richmond grabbed the rebound and immediately called timeout with 1.4 seconds to play. During the timeout Richmond substituted their best offensive team in and designed a play for Finley to come off of a double screen receive the inbounds pass and take a shot. Needless to say the play worked to perfection and the ball sailed through the nets as time expired!!
 
     Leading 6 Davenport players in double figures was Toni Kukoc with 20 points on 6 of 18 from the field, (including 0 - 8 from behind the 3-point line) and 8 of 10 from the charity stripe. He was followed by Rick Smits with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Cliff Robinson scored 14 points, Avery Johnson had 13 points (on 6 of 8 shooting from the field). Bobby Jackson contributed 11 points and Maurice Taylor had 10 points and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes. 
 
     Leading 5 Richmond players in double figures was Michael Finley with 28 points on 11 of 25 from the field (including 2 of 5 from behing the 3-point line) and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. Marcus Camby followed with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds (6 off of the offensive glass). Predag Stojakovic had 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting and both Mark Jackson and Dirk Nowitzki had 10 points each. Jackson was perfect from the field going 3 for 3 in field goals, including 2 of 2 from behind the 3-point line, and 2 of 2 from the charity stripe!!

The series now moves to Davenport for the next three games.

San Jose loses first two playoff games at Galactic

The 2001 SABL playoffs are underway and the Thunder, coached by defending SABL Champion Steve Walters, struck first, taking Games 1 & 2 over the Swish, coached by newcomer Chris Gertridge:

G1) San Jose 94
Galactic 112

Swish was lead by Pierce with 29 points on 11-15 shooting. Abdur-Rahi had only 14 points on 4-20 shooting(double teamed most of the time).

Thunder rolled to big victory with a 41-15 3rd quarter. Galactic was lead by Pippen with 26 points(12-13 shooting), 5 assists and 5 rebs. Malone added 20 points and Brandon had 10 points and 11 assists. Kemp had 18 points.


G2) San Jose 109
Galactic 137

Swish was lead by Pierce with 28 points(10-23 including 7-11 on 3s) Abdur-Rahim bounced back from a poor 1st game with 25 points(11-18 including 2-3 3s) 7rebounds and 5 assists. Snow had 18 points and 14 assists. San Jose shot 56% on 3s(10-18 for game) but only attempted 6 free throws making 5.

Thunder BOOMED big time shooting 67% from field, 85%(17-20)
on free throws and had 46 assists in game.

Leading the way for Galactic was Pippen with 31 points(15-16), Malone with 19 points, 11 rebs and 7 assists. Foster added 18 points in 21 min and Norris had 13 assists and 6 rebs in 20 min. Stockon had 15 points and 9 assists in 26 min. Galactic won the rebound war 41-23.

For the first 2 games of the series Pippen has made 27-29 FGs.

Now we'll see if Galactic knows the way to the next three games in San Jose . . .