POST SEASON UPDATE

THE EXTRA GAME

In the first extra game in MBA history, the Seattle Stampede absolutely massacred the Oklahoma City Lariats 95-61 to earn the fourth and final playoff spot for Season 25. Zooch Managoogie was the MVP of the game for Seattle with game-high totals in points (27), rebounds (7) and assists(5) in the first triple double of his career.
We in the MBA front offices are actually glad that Oklahoma City did not make it to the post season. The Lariats were totally unworthy, especially with such a putrid effort.


ROUND 1, GAME 1 (BEST OF THREE)

San Jose Fighting Amigos 71, Philadelphia Phobia 69 (at San Jose)

A legend is born. League MVP and Rookie of the Year Saggital Occlusal of the Fighting Amigos hit the winning short jump shot with two time units remaining, then denied fellow rookie Ricket E. Rack a shot at the buzzer, giving San Jose it's first post-season win in the team's 21-season history.
The game was nip and tuck throughout with neither team leading by more than five points at any time.
Occlusal led his team in scoring with 18. The game MVP award went to Ross "Cement Head" Harris of Philadelphia, who led the three-time defending champs with 25 points off the bench in his first game back from a 5-game injury.

ROUND ONE, GAME ONE
Charleston Rebels 94, Seattle Stampede 89 (at Charleston)
The Charleston Rebels, 9-1 during the regular season, used a 32-point third quarter to propel them to their first playoff win since Season 8. Newly-elected Hall of Fame center Jonny Cockaroo, the league's all-pro pivot, led the way with 24 points while teammate Kippy Kinski ("as if we had to tell you") added 21 from his guard position.
Veteran Jim Linzy was outstanding off the bench, putting down his guitar and getting 16 points for the foul-plagued rookie Soh Cah Toa.
Zooch Managoogie was high scorer for Seattle with 21.
The Stampede pulled to within two points with 2 time units remaining, when Charleston's Newty McNewtsalot, the league's top rebounder, grabbed a key offensive rebound on teammate Benny Gumm's miss, scored and was fouled. He made the charity toss to account for the final margin.
Charleston set a playoff record in this one with 23 made free throws in 27 attempts, besting (ironically) a mark of 22 the Rebels had established in Season 8. Oklahoma City had tied that mark in Season 13.

ROUND 1, GAME 2
Philadelphia Phobia 81, San Jose Fighting Amigos 58 (at Philadelphia)
This dragon refuses to be slain. Or is that slayed?
The three-time defending champs, led by Ross "Cement Head" Harris' 21-points, turned a tight game into a blowout, outscoring San Jose 27-8 in the final quarter. Harris' running mate at guard, the longtime cut pile resuscitee "Spit Can" Sammy Sampson, the league's smallest player at 5-9, added 21. Together, the Philly guards refused to let San Jose ball handlers penetrate, either dribbling or passing, racking up five steals between them. Rafe Hollister, the back woods moonshiner from Mayberry, North Carolina, had 18 from his center position, manhandling opposing center Zlatko Korkovic of San Jose.
Guard Felipe Jazzman of San Jose continues to have a rough post-season. After averaging 16 a game during the regular season, he has shot a horrendous 4 for 18 (22.2 percent) and scored just nine points in two games.
The Amigos managed just one assist in the game, in this, only their third loss of the year. It will now come down to a final contest to see who advances to the title series.

Extra game to detrmine final playoff spot

Almost unbelievably, aside from division winners Charleston (9-1) and San Jose (8-2), getting two other teams to EARN playoff spots for Season 25 has been a near impossiblity.
Case in point -- the final game of the regular season. Seattle just needed to stay within shouting distance of San Jose in order to get the fourth and final playoff spot. So what happens? They get blown away 91-70.
So when it comes to calculating the third tie-breaker for the final West Division playoff spot (all but San Jose finished 4-6 in the West) a first occurred.
The first tie-breaker is division wins, of which Seattle and Oklahoma City each had four. The second is head to head competition, with Seattle and Oklahoma City splitting their two regular season meetings. The final tie-breaker is points differential over the entire season...the number of points per game compared with points per game yielded. The 21-point win by San Jose over Seattle, amazingly, resulted in an exact tie in points differential between Seattle and Oklahoma City, with both the Stampede and the Lariats giving up exactly 38 points more than they scored over the 10-game season.
This unprecedented situation necessitates a playoff game between the two teams to determine the fourth playoff team. The stats from the game will not count toward regular season totals, but any injuries that occur in the game will.
Unbelievable. One more point either way in the final game of the regular season and this situation would have been resolved. Instead we will have, for the first time in MBA history, an extra game prior to the playoffs.
Neither Seattle nor Oklahoma City deserves it, although the Lariats actually won their last game (89-75 over hapless Sacramento) to help set up the extra contest.