It is officially crunch time in the MBA as the last fifth of the regular campaign of Season 31 gets under way. All but three of the 10 teams have a shot at the playoffs.
As of now, only San Jose has clinched a playoff spot.
Philadelphia, the two-time defending champion, looks to be in the driver's seat in the East, with Charleston (without injured superstar Mamadou Zongo) trying to hold off Milwaukee for the second spot. The Mountaineers have an easier road, with remaining games against the West's Seattle and Dallas teams, while Milwaukee needs to win out against Houston and Philly to keep their hopes alive. Charleston holds the cards in the event of a tie-breaker, having bested Milwaukee twice during the season.
In the West, San Jose has clinched its sixth playoff spot in the past seven seasons, with Sacramento, Seattle and Oklahoma City, in descending order of likelihood, jostling for the final perch. Oklahoma needs to win out to keep its hopes alive and faces a do-or-die game against Sacramento right away. A win by Oklahoma City opens up numerous possibilities in the three-way race, with Sacramento facing San Jose in the finale while Seattle plays Oklahoma City.
No matter how things shake out, Philadelphia has to be considered the favorite for the championship, yet again.
In the individual achievement department, Philadelphia's point guard Cheetos Jones is running away with the scoring title, averaging 26.9 points per game. He is currently ahead of the all-time mark of 26.7 registered by Hall of Famer Tommy Zoop, set in Season 24 for Oklahoma City.
Jones also seems to be way ahead in the MVP race. Rookie of the year seems to be between Dr. Gottum Gupta, Oklahoma City's center, and forward Bruno Pantanal of Milwaukee.
Jones, guard Hrundi V. Bakshi of Milwaukee and center Tom "the Bomb" Kondla of Dallas look like shoo-ins for their third consecutive All-League team. L.B. Damned of San Jose leads all forwards for one of the two available all-league forward spots, and any one of five others could get the coveted star.
Kondla looks like he will destroy his blocked shots record for one season, which he set two campaigns ago with 52 swats while playing for Houston. He has 50 now with two games remaining.
2 comments:
that 1-7 game in the first half of the home stretch could be a big one as well, could make the final few games quite a bit more interesting from a scenario perspective. I like Philly to win it all, but anything can happen. Its good to have one less devastatingly defensive 2 guard to go through to get the title this year
Agree on the 1-7 game. Seattle is coming on and Charleston is minus the hall of famer Zongo.
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