Week 7 is approaching us sooner than later and before we know it, BBAL Playoffs will be here… The BBAL to me will always feel like March Madness. Teams could be rolling and have a bad night suddenly or even teams who have underperformed all season could have a change of attitude when there's something to play for. Let’s get this show on the road!
Beginning our regular season finale, we have the CherryPickers and Woodpeckers. The CherryPickers after losing last week are looking to avoid their 2nd straight loss. They traded their long tenured guard Matt “Belly” Mccleary for solid picks to the Bullies that could help them down the road. In fact, the CherryPickers now hold the Bullies 1st, 2nd, and 5th round picks next year with only the two KJ’s(Myers and Brownlee) left from last year's championship roster. CherryPickers rebuild is live and excited to see what assets they add around Tyler Crespo! On the other hand, the Woodpeckers have been the total opposite this season. They haven’t found a need for trades and their day 1 squad has done the job as they look for their 6th straight win. Danny Bomberger’s availability is scary but they've been without him the majority of the season and still earn a top spot in the league. If I was the CherryPickers, I’d be hungry to knock off arguably the toughest team right now. If they're going to succeed, Tyler will need to have a week 5 replica performance and threes will have to be knocked down. Last week, they shot 23% as a team from beyond the arc and that is unacceptable to beat a team this dominant currently. We’ll see if they can be really the only team to shut down Devin Atkinson this week. The Woodpeckers will just have to stick to their game plan and do what's won them games all season. When in doubt, the ball should be in Devin Atkinson’s hands with intention to get Aiden Sands, Aleer Gonzalez, and other threats from deep, confident.
Titans and 8 Balls serve our follow-up game. The Titans after losing their 3rd straight game look to enter the playoffs with some confidence. Since the losses of Ant Pinkkard and Chase Yarberough, The Titans have quite frankly just hit rock bottom. With their returns still in question, The Titans haven’t given reasons to expect much without these two. Don’t get me wrong, this team is very talented but, just like any team would probably tumble down with the losses of two stars. You’d hope to see them this week to try to spoil the 8 Balls from rolling into the Playoffs with confidence but without them, I’m afraid we could witness the Titans 4th straight loss. The 8 Balls however, have dominated nearly every week when healthy and have been for a few weeks now. Last week, the Dragons definitely gave them a run for their money but they showed their depth and their ability to come through and close the door. Assuming they’ll be fully healthy, sticking to transition buckets with Jason and Julian on the break is their formula for easy buckets. Hopefully, Ross will have a better game considering the loss of Ant for the Titans has affected their defense with his size out of the lineup.
Lanc Show and Huskies to start our evening. The Lanc Show I imagine would be oozing with confidence right now after their fairly convincing win over the Pickers last week. For the Lanc Show and the game as a whole last week, Ajani Simmons was the featured star. And if anyone knows anything about Ajani, he would really live up to his “energizer bunny” nickname if he and his guys entered the Playoffs on a two game win streak! This team could really make some noise come playoff time if they can get Ajani, Nas, and even Luke firing on all cylinders week in and week out. As for this week, this team can definitely compete with the Huskies whether the Huskies are fully healthy or not. They have the rebounding aspect that will put up a good fight, they have shooters that can get hot on the right night, and they have guys like Nas and Ajani that can get you a clutch bucket when needed. The Huskies in fact have these abilities as well but losing David Kamwanga will hurt. They have more than enough talent to compete for the 3pt battle, I think it’ll really come down to who makes the most and who can contain opposing stars more effectively and force others to beat them.
Tropics and Gremlins up next with not really much to play for on either side. They both look like no threat to the top teams in the playoffs I’d imagine and we’ll see if the Gremlins can pull off their first win in the season finale this year. The Tropics could win this game and become a team that could pull off an upset come playoff time but around the league, there is just too much talent for these guys to compete with. I still expect this to be a good game considering how well both teams played last week despite their reputations. They both showed they can just go out and play their own style of basketball without letting outsiders in their head and getting blown out despite both teams losing. Tropics are continuing to experiment their fairly new John-John era of basketball and Gremlins have us all wondering about their off-season plans and how they plan to rebuild despite their season still alive. Personally, I’d like to see John-John and Brad close the season promising with obvious intent on finding where to rebuild. From the Gremlins, I’d like to see a much better shooting night especially from Nevin Roman who just couldn’t find his shot at all.
Finally, the Bullies and Dragons under prime time lights… The Bullies continue to add pieces as they traded for Matt “Belly” Mccleary by giving the CherryPickers their 1st and 5th round pick. The Bullies have undoubtedly told the league with all these trades that they are going all in and there's a good chance Belly goes back to back! The Dragons however have had a rocky season. Availability issues punched them in the teeth early on. Also, the loss of Dre Davis due to injury recently. This team has potential to not only beat this team but get up to this level. In my eyes, they are just missing one more piece to send them over the hump. Their attitude and mentality to not give up should keep them in this game but, at some point the amount of talent this Bullies roster has will probably come back to bite the Dragons. From the outside looking in, how do you stop this Bullies team? Dragons have a tough task on their hands and defense isn’t necessarily their strong suit so we’ll see how they can hold up. Maybe this game will come down to who has more fight and the Dragons have plenty of that.
See you all come Playoff time… LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!

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