Recap

This seems to be a recurring theme this session in Grinders. Team A jumps out to a big lead. Team A half-asses it and allows Team B to come storming back. Team B misses a big shot towards the end. Team A holds on for the victory.

That”s the story of this game as well. Team Richie struggled early as Curt “decided” to allow his teammates to take shots and attempt to get in rhythm. That did not go well. Matt and Jon finished the game a combined 4 of 20 from the field and most of the makes came in the second half. Crazy Al dropped 20 but on 31 shots. Curt “decided to go to work” in the second half as the game was getting out of hand. He banged jumper after jumper over the much smaller in stature (but not in championships) Todd Nixon. Curt finished the game with 29 pts and 18 rebounds getting his team back in the game. Richie was MIA at some leprechaun convention in Ireland or something.

Team Ford showed their true moxie playing against a undermanned squad. They played straight man to man and didn’t sluff any gimickie coverages.  Without Richie, Team Ford used a triangle and 1 defense and played ball denial hoping that no one else could get theirs. It worked and they won. Ford flirted with a triple-double (18/12/7) including 2 late 3”s to “ice it”. Jeff May was tremendous on offense, scoring 29 and GAPING at 31. Mike Malicki struggled from the field going 5/26 but was a force on the interior. Todd “3 in your eye socket” Nixon spent most of the game chasing Curt, but chipped in with a 4/3/3/2 line.

Over-reaction Thursday

Team Ford is the smartest team in the league.  Team Richie is garbage without Richie.