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Subscribe to our NewsletterWeek 11 is officially in the books which means there are only 3 weeks left in the regular season to decide the final seeds for the playoffs. The races are very tight both amongst the top 3 seeds as well as at the bottom amongst the bottom 3 seeds. Speaking of bottom 3 seeds, this week it was Blue's turn to play two games in the same week but unfortunately for them it did not go as well as it has for the other recent teams faced with this difficult test. Which brings us to the first game of the week:
Green 43, Blue 36: Normally when I make my highlight videos I find myself having to cut out clips because the videos are too long. That was definitely not a problem for this game where the winning team managed to score a mere 43 points (which included 19 points on FTs). Apparently Pete Strauss was serious about playing with just 4 players because Green again started the game with just 4 guys (until there was only 8:00 left in the first half when Pete decided to show up). Green began with just Adam Bendik, Josh Goodhart, Andrew Merel and Dan Amsellem and managed to keep the game close until Pete showed up. Blue opened up a 13-6 lead to start the game but that was quickly answered by a 6-0 run bringing the score to 13-12 midway through the first half. Blue had their full squad on this night, I think for the first time all season, but it didn't make a difference because they really struggled to make shots. In fact, they shot a collective 0-17 from three-point range for the game. Blue was led offensively by their big three of Adam Driansky (9 points and 5 assists), Phil Romero (9 points) and Jon Ackerman (8 points), who shot a combined 10/19 from 2-point range but 0/16 from three. Team captain Brian Maier made all 4 of his shots en route to 8 points. Blue did manage to take a 21-17 lead into the half, something Blue has often done throughout this season, however it has been holding onto leads in the second half that has been their biggest issue. Green hung tough in the first half thanks mostly to Dan Amsellem (14 points and a paltry 18 rebounds) and Adam Bendik (20 points and 7 rebounds), who shot only 4/17 from the field but made a living at the charity stripe hitting 10/14 FTs. Dan shot 6/8 from the field while the rest of the Green team made just 5/28 shots. The game was tied 30-30 with 9:00 remaining and Blue would take their final lead at 36-35 with 5:35 left but that would also be the last point they'd score all night. Green closed the game out on an 8-0 run (all FTs) to cement the 43-36 victory and now sit at 4-9 and in solo possession of 5th place. The loss dropped Blue to 2-10 and in last place in the standings.
Green vs Blue Highlights 2/10/2025
Grey 70 - Orange 52: The Orange team has really had the Grey team's number over the past two seasons, having beaten them in 2 of their prior 3 matchups. And the way the game got started it seemed like history was bound to repeat itself. Orange got out to a very quick 8-2 lead thanks to two bank shot three-pointers (neither of which were called out) by Jake Lillie and Graham Haskell. Orange was playing without two starters in Michael Gerstein and Matt Birnbach while Grey had all 8 players in attendance. After the quick start, the game would settle in but Orange still held onto a 20-12 lead with 16:00 left in the half. That is when Grey woke up and answered with a 10-2 run to tie the game up at 22 with 11:00 remaining. Grey had a very balanced scoring effort with 4 players scoring in double digits led by Shamar Mason with 21 points (plus 5 rebounds and 4 assists) and Matt Ceccarelli with 16 points. Grey maanaged to build the lead to 38-31 at the half and cruised most of the second half en route to an 18-point victory. Rory Schulman got off to a quick start for Orange scoring most of his 13 points in the first half to go along with 10 rebounds. Ben Huber led Orange in scoring with 18 points followed by Jake Lillie with 8 and Graham Haskell with 7 points. Rounding out the scoring for Grey were Ed Seiden with 11 points, Mike Korn with 10 points and Mike Hughes adding 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks and just generally make life difficult for opponents in the paint. The win keeps Grey in first place at 9-2 with a daunting 4 games coming up over the next two weeks (thanks Josh Tannenbaum for the quirky schedule) while the loss dropped Orange to 7-6 and in 4th place.
Grey vs Orange Highlights 2/10/2025
Gold 66 - Blue 53: This game pitted two teams who had each lost their prior game to a Green team that played at least 15 minutes with just 4 players. Both teams were looking to forget about said ineptitude and get back into the win column. And the way Blue came storming out of the gates, it seemed like they were ready to make people forget about their 36-point scoring performance from 2 nights earlier. Gold started the game playing man defense and the athletic trio of Adam Driansky (11 pts), Phil Romero (13 points/11 rebs/3 steals) and Jon Ackerman (14 pts/8 rebs) were having no difficulty getting past their men and scoring at will to the tune of 39 first half points (3 more than they scored in the entire game a few days earlier). The ball was moving and Blue was connecting on their open looks. The lead probably could've been much larger than 39-31 at the half but Blue again shot a measley 2/15 from three-point range. The second half was a completely different story and was fueled by Gold's decision to switch to zone defense which seemed to give Blue fits. The first 3 possessions of the second half for Blue resulted in 2 turnovers (which led to fast breaks) and an airball on a three-pointer. And this was pretty much how the second half played out with Blue unable to break Gold's zone and Gold converting many fast break layups or three-point shots. Gold outscored Blue 35-14 in the second half leading to a convincing 13-point win. After struggling in the first half, Michael "neighbor" Huberman came alive in the second stanza finishing with a game-high 20 points. But neighbor had plenty of help from his teammates starting with Bryan Minasian who scored 12 points and added 14 rebounds while getting many of the teams fast breaks started with his outlet passes. Jason Narod trash-talked his way to 12 points and Steve Bachman and Andre Lewis added 9 points apiece. I'd be interested to know Blue's +/- for first halves this season - it wouldn't surprise me if they've actually outscored their opponenets in the first half. But something seems to happen in the second half where they tighten up and the shots stop falling. And it won't get any easier for Blue after Adam rolled his ankle in the final two minutes and seemed to be in tremendous pain (hoping for a speeedy recovery). As for Gold, this team is very talented and when they play well as a team they are capable of beating anyone. The win moved Gold to 3-9 and the loss dropped Blue to 2-11.
Gold vs Blue Highlights 2/12/2025
Red 72 - Black 67: This was the marquee matchup of the week with both teams entering the contest with identical 9-3 records. This game also featured the likely top two candidates for MVP this season in Siri Carpien and Adam Hynes. As I mentioned at the beginning of the recap, normally I am trying to edit the highlight videos because they are too long - for this game, even after I cut out several highlights, the video was still over 5 minutes long...so deal with it. There was a lot of really good offense being played in this game. Red got out to an early lead thanks to their big 4, all of whom made big contributions in this game. Ben Carr led the team in scoring with 20 points but Adam Hynes and Eric Sass were close behind with 18 points each. What really stood out when watching this game was how well the ball was moving and how no shots seemed forced. Red had 17 assists for the game which probably equals 20-25 by most statisiticains standards. Red shot 61% from 2-point range and an equally impressive 44.4% from three. As good as Red played offensively, Siri Carpien was determined to will his team to victory. Early in the contest it looked like the movie Groundhog Day as Siri repeatedly backed Colin down in the post and scored over him. Later in the game, Adam and others attempted to guard him out by the three-point line only to have him cross them over and drive right by them before they knew what was happening. It's going to be hard for anyone to beat Siri for MVP this year, last year the stats suggested he would be MVP but Black just didn't win enough games. Siri finished the game with 30 points on 13/23 shooting. Damian Jackson added his typical double-double with 14 points and 11 assists but nobody else on Black scored more than 6 points (and TJ Farrell was an uncharacteristic 0/8 from three). The only thing stopping Siri on this night was the refs missing this late bump on the baseline causing Siri to step out of bounds.
Colin Neff, in his first game back since becoming a dad for the second time, added 12 points for the Red squad. The game was a well fought battle but the collective team effort of Red was too much for the Siri-led Black team to overcome. Now I know some people have been asking about Smuly's health following this game, but apparently other than a few splinters on his ass from sitting on the bench for the entire second half, the dentist is doing well and looking forward to getting back on the court this coming week.
The win moves Red into solo possession of second place at 10-3 while Black remains a game back in third place at 9-4.
Red vs Black Highlights 2/12/2025
Week ahead:
Red vs Gold (2/18)
Grey vs Blue (2/18)
Green vs Orange (2/19)
Grey vs Black (2/19)
Stat leaders:
Points:
Siri Carpien 23.2 ppg
Adam Hynes 19.4 ppg
Adam Bendik 16 ppg
Rebounds:
Dan Amsellem 16.4 rpg
Bryan Minasian/Eric Sass 10.7 rpg
Assists:
Ben Carr - 3.8 apg
Jason Narod - 3.7 apg
Shamar Mason - 3.5 apg
Steals:
Andre Lewis - 2.7 spg
Colin Neff - 2.36 spg
4 players tied at 2.0 spg
Blocks (total):
Eric Sass - 17
Phil Romero - 16
Mike Hughes - 14
Three-points made:
TJ Farrell - 35
Siri Carpien - 32
Michael Gerstein - 29
