Season 39 Post-Season Preview

SEMIFINALS: Dallas (6-4) vs. Milwaukee (7-3)
The caliber of these teams makes this semi match-up as good as many finals have ever been. Kind of a toss-up, but Milwaukee gets the favorite nod.

The teams met in the regular season one time with the Greyhounds overcoming a 10-point first quarter to win 62-57. Lemon Jell-o of Dallas was Player of the Game, harassing Hall of Famer Hrundi V. Bakshi of Milwaukee into 4 steals.

The Greyhounds, still the MBA team with the second-most titles, make their first playoff appearance since Season 32, breaking the longest current post-season drought. They have captured seven championships, but the last came in Season 18, which is the longest time without a title among the Final Four.

Dallas was the overwhelming favorite to win the West before the season began, but had to struggle to make it back to the playoffs. They are the only repeater from last season's Final Four.

The Demons are the league's most dominant team on the boards in the MBA, by far. They killed Milwaukee in that department during their cross-over meeting, 27-18, but still lost the game.

Dallas has three titles to its name, the last coming in Season 28.

One tidbit to remember...no team has won an MBA championship having won less than seven regular season games since Season 9. That's 30 seasons ago.





THE OTHER SEMIFINALS: Charleston (6-4) vs. San Jose (7-3)
Charleston has the most All-MBA players in the post-season, with J.J. Gargantuan and B. Quiet, and their 6-4 record belies the addition of Beezow Bop-Bop, who returns to the starting lineup after missing 30 percent of the regular campaign due to injury.

Although San Jose won their division, they are the underdogs here, and the longest shot to win it all.

Even without Bop-Bop at season's end, the Mountaineers led the league in shooting percentage, filling it up at a 60.3 percent clip.

The Fighting Amigos held teams to 69.1 points per game, second in the MBA and best among the Final Four teams. They also led the league in free throw percentage, shooting 81.7 percent.

San Jose has won one championship, in Season 25.

Charleston has three championships, the last coming in Season 36, which is the most recent title among the four teams still in the running. Bop-Bop led the team to glory that post-season and won Playoff MVP.

Wrapping Up Season 39 prior to playoffs...2nd update

POSITION RANKING NOTES: The center position continues to house the most talent in the MBA with 60 percent of the starters registering 20-plus GVP seasons. And they will all be back next campaign.






ALL-MBA NOTES
-- Only the second time two guards from the same team have made first-team All-MBA. First time was Season 34 when Hall of Famers Hrundi V. Bakshi and Ching-Chong Chung did it in the one year they played together for the record-setting Houston team.

-- This marks the second season in a row that Naf Naf and Yipeekayee Masterfalcon have captured the two guard spots. The only other time the same guards repeated in consecutive years was in Seasons 4 and 5 when Uncle Bob Masterson of Philadelphia and Cappy Gambol of Milwaukee repeated and in Seasons 29, 30 and 31 when Hrundi V. Bakshi of Milwaukee and Cheetos Jones went back-to-back-to-back. Jones was on Sacramento in Season 29 and on Philadelphia the next two seasons.
That Season 29 Jones played for Sacramento was the only season in which a future Hall of Famer ever played for the River Dogs.

-- J.J. Gargantuan marks the seventh different center in as many seasons to be named All-MBA.

-- Rookie Bang-Bang Reiner of Oklahoma City and Reckless Abandon of Chicago had the same GVP score, but Abandon won the first-team spot and star due to the tie-breaker, which gives it to the player with the highest scoring average. Reiner, however, gets the Rookie of the Year label.

-- Charleston is the only team to have more than one first-team All-MBA player.




LEADER NOTES
Scoring: Naf Naf is the only player ever to start his career with three consecutive scoring titles. Only other guy to get three straight was the great Cappy Gambol. Most scoring titles ever was five by Uncle Bob Masterson.

3-Point Shooting: Although thought of as a killer defender, Lemon Jell-o gets his second 3-point shooting title.

Steals: Despite starting the season on the bench, Lemon Jell-o earns his seventh consecutive steals title. But, despite all those titles, he does not hold the record for most steals in one season. Jell-o's top single-season mark was 20, but Percy Faith, who had 5 steals titles to his name, twice exceeded Jell-o's top mark with 21 steals for Oklahoma City in Season 14 and a record 22 steals for Sacramento in Season 15.

Blocked Shots: Chicago Hall of Fame center Max Payne, in his 14th season, is the oldest MBA player to win the blocked shots title, his second.

Assists: It's worth noting that Louis Subgum of San Jose was the MBA assists leader despite also leading the league in most times fouled out.




NAF NAF WINS MVP AGAIN AND EARNS HALL OF FAME STATUS
Oklahoma City's third-year point guard Naf Naf captured his third consecutive regular season MVP honor, edging Charleston forward B. Quiet and Charleston center J.J. Gargantuan.

Naf Naf's achivement ties him with Cappy Gambol, Link Lennex, Curley Hogbottom, Sagittal Occlusal and Hrundi V. Bakshi for most regular season MVP awards ever. He also matches the accomplishment of Occlusal, getting three consecutive MVPs in his first three MBA seasons.

In winning his third consecutive scoring title (23.2 points per game), Naf ties Hall of
Famer Tommy Zoop for most consecutive scoring championships.

Naf Naf becomes the 42nd member of the MBA Hall of Fame and enters the hallowed hall tied for 26th best player of all time with Joey Two-Tones, Soul Duran, Bart Pitbull, Shooter Flatch, Alex Pal and Doug Fresh.

He is expected to rise rapidly in those ranks.

Bang-Bang Reiner Rookie of the Year
Oklahoma City forward Bang-Bang Reiner beat out Dayshotta Leo of San Jose and Tree Fiddy of Sacramento for Rookie of the Year honors.

Reiner started the season in the cut pile, and was called up by the Lariats following an early-season injury. He immediately made the Oklahoma City team a playoff contender in the West.

For the year, Reiner scored 18 points per game and pulled down a team-high 5.3 boards per game.

TOP SCORING, TOP DEFENSIVE TEAMS MISS
Oklahoma City scored the most points this season and Chicago had the best team defense. Neither made the playoffs.
On a similar note, Oklahoma City was not only the best scoring team, they were also the worst defensive team. Finishing 5-5 makes perfect sense in that scenario.