| You Can’t Jump to the Front of the Line |
Jun 16, 2008 |
In its first season of I-Slam league play, Zilzal has been impressive, finishing the season in 2nd place and with championship aspirations. Their season had gotten off to a phenomenal start after kicking Tamjeed all over the court in their debut to the tune of 68-46. Of course, Tamjeed much like Qadr who has already secured their berth in the Finals, has been playing in league play for years without a championship to show for it (with some exceptions like Sanel) so they will be trying their best to make sure Zilzal doesn’t get a chip in their first season. Knowing Tamjeed, their trip to the finals would be that much sweeter if they were able to gain redemption against Zilzal along the way.
The game didn’t start off well for Tamjeed as they started picking up fouls, particularly one of their main gunners, Ibrahim Baig. With 16:15 still left in the first half, Ibrahim picked up his 2nd foul with his team down 6-2. Zilzal was going to work on Tamjeed’s zone which was looking porous at this point (part of the reason for the quick fouls) which they turned into 10-2 lead with 14:30 left in the half. Disaster struck when Ibrahim picked up his 3rd foul with 14:00 left and his team down 12-4 (ironically he was the only one to score for his team at this point). It was doubtful that Ibrahim would return to the game this half. So Tamjeed had to turn to Sanel to carry the load (he was 0-4 from behind the 3-pt arc at this point) while Zilzal could smell blood.
Zilzal extended their lead to 17-6 with 10:30 remaining in the half (only 1 team foul to Tamjeed’s 5 team fouls). But then Sanel went off for 3 consecutive 3-pointers to bring his team to within 17-15 with 8:20 to go. It looked like his 4th consecutive 3 would go down but he appeared to be fouled despite the no-call; wanting to make sure the refs were on their game, Sanel unleashed a tirade that earned him a technical. Tamjeed’s Kadva later tied the game at 18-18 with a 3 of his own with 7:00 to go in the half. Zilzal’s perimeter defense was being abused through this stretch and some frustration may have been showing as Jamal Douglas was whistled for a taunting technical with 5:45 left in the half despite his team getting a lead back at 23-18. Sanel tied the game later on his 4th 3-pointer of the half at 25-25 with 1:30 left in the half. Just before the buzzer, Jamal fouls Sanel and puts him at the line in a bonus situation; Sanel proceeds to calmly hit both free throws to bring his team back to a halftime score of 29-27. The score must have been refreshing for Tamjeed but frustrating for Zilzal; both team’s contrasting emotions for the same reason: Tamjeed’s Ibrahim had just sat off 13+ minutes.
This frustration showed itself early in the 2nd half as Zilzal’s Omar Badrain was called for a technical foul at the 18:30 mark, but Zilzal missed both free throws and an opportunity to again tie the game. But Ibrahim picking up his 4th foul with 17:00 to go in the game tempered this frustration. Zilzal wasn’t looking to get burned by Sanel again and picked up the defense on him; unfortunately for them Sanel is a solid ball handler and their D was a little too tight for the referee’s liking; the over-zealous on the ball defense cost Zilzal their 5th team foul with 14:30 remaining in the game, a definite advantage in Tamjeed’s favour. Unfortunately Tamjeed wasn’t capitalizing and didn’t score their first basket of the 2nd half until Ibrahim put one in with 12:00 remaining in the game and they were down 36-29.
Zilzal’s Taj got himself to the line and sank both free throws to make it 38-31 for his team with only 10:00 remaining in the game. But luckily for Tamjeed they gambled on keeping Ibrahim in the game despite his 4 fouls. After scoring the first 2 baskets of the 2nd half for his team, he got Bilal Forde to foul him on a 3-pointer and sank the following free throw for a 4-point play and to bring his team to within 39-38 with 6:30 left in the game.
Thanks to the earlier fouls by Zilzal, Tamjeed managed to be shooting bonus free throws at this point of the game. However, the Baig brothers both managed to miss the front ends of their respective bonus opportunities and failed to close their team’s 43-40 deficit. On his 2nd 3-pointer of the game, Kadva came up clutch to again tie the game from the corner at 43-43 with 2 minutes remaining. A big defensive blow to Tamjeed shortly after as Camran fouled out of the game with it still tied at 43-43 with 1:52 left. Zilzal managed to hit a free throw, but Sanel quickly followed with another 3-pointer to give his team their first lead of the game at 46-44 with 1:30 left in the game.
Understandably, tension was high in this game and the drama was riveting, but inexplicably Zilzal let the situation get the better of themselves when Bilal Forde intentionally hit Tamjeed’s Amer with his knee after both players fell to the floor hustling for a loose ball despite the whistle already being blown for a jumpball. The refs were forced to call a technical foul on Bilal, giving Tamjeed 2 free throws and possession. Sanel managed to hit 1 of 2 free throws to give his team the 47-44 lead. Shortly afterwards Ibrahim hit 2 free throws of his own to give his team the 49-44 lead, but Taj quickly hit a 3-pointer to bring his team to 49-47 with 0:20 left. After Tamjeed hit a free throw, Zilzal called a timeout down 50-47 with 0:09 left. They were unable to capitalize and Tamjeed celebrated their trip to next week’s finals against Qadr. Tamjeed was lead by Sanel’s 22 points (6 3-pointers) and Ibrahim’s 14 points. Zilzal was lead by Taj’s 17 points (the only player managing to crack double digit points for his team in their disappointing loss). |
