MBA Playoffs Game 1 Semifinals Dallas at Oklahoma City

Dallas 57, Oklahoma City 56
DEMONS' COMEBACK STUNS OKLAHOMA CITY
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Dallas Demons came all the way back from a 22-6 first-quarter deficit to beat the two-time defending champion Oklahoma City Lariats 57-56 before a thoroughly stunned home crowd.

After losing semifinals contests by five and one point to this same team last season, the Demons looked totally outmatched in the first quarter of this season's playoff opener. Oklahoma City's No. 1-rated defense was dominant, holding the visitors to a measly 6 points while the Lariats fired off 22 of their own. It looked like game over.

But Dallas chipped away at the lead for the next three quarters as the Lariats, who shot just 40.7 percent for the game, could not buy a bucket.

A 4-point play by Dallas guard Bingo Bango brought the Demons to within 2 in the third quarter, 40-38, and they tied the game early in the fourth quarter 43-43 on a drive by Matthew Vanden Boogart.

When Dallas' All-MBA forward Gulemon Mon-Mon hit a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 25 time units remaining, it gave his team their first lead of the contest 55-52. Mon-Mon's short jumper moments later increased the advantage to five.

The final moments went like this:
-- Sloppy Dollop of Oklahoma City blocked two consecutive "good" shots down low by Boogart, but Dallas still led 57-54 with 9 ticks left.
-- Oklahoma City point guard Ginger Vampire missed a medium shot but was fouled in the act by Bango who fouled out of the game. With 7 left, Vampire made both charity tosses and the Dallas lead was now 57-56.
-- Boogart launched a trey that was way off, Max Payne of the Lariats grabbed the rebound, and with 3 time units remaining, Oklahoma City was set up to win the game.
-- Dollop, who has been missing this shot the entire game, delivered a "good" short jumper, but Boogart force missed it with a game-saving defensive play. Mon-Mon grabbed the rebound for Dallas and the upset was complete.

Now, down 1 game to zero, Oklahoma City must win two in a row, the first coming on the Dallas home court, or be eliminated.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Despite having a bad shooting day, Oklahoma City forward SLOPPY DOLLOP gets the POG nod. The third-year man led the Lariats in scoring with 14 points, despite going just 5 for 15 from the field. Three of those five field goals were slam-dunks on tip-ins. He was 4 for 4 from the foul line. The 6-7 Dollop pulled down 6 rebounds, blocked a game-high 3 shots, dished 2 assists and registered 1 steal.

Other 20-plus GVP performer
-- Second-year shooting guard Bingo Bango scored 14 points despite fouling out, grabbed 5 rebounds, had 1 assist and 1 steal.

NEXT UP: The Charleston Mountaineers look for their 12th consecutive win as they travel to Seattle in an attempt to eliminate the Stampede. Charleston leads the best of 3 series 1-0 after winning 102-92 in Game 1 at home.

Season 42 Semifinals Game 1 Seattle at Charleston

Charleston 102, Seattle 92
MOUNTAINEERS OUT-GUN STAMPEDE IN PLAYOFF OPENER
CHARLESTON -- The top two scoring teams in the MBA put on a wild, wooly and highly entertaining offensive display before the still undefeated Mountaineers pulled away for a 102-92 win in the opening game of this best of three playoff match-up.

In the end the difference was Hall of Fame guard and league MVP Naf Naf of Charleston and the defense of the winning Mountaineers.

Trailing 76-73 going into the fourth quarter, Charleston broke the game open with an 11-0 run to start the last 70 time units, and Seattle could never quite recover.

Considering the poker-hot start of the game by the Mountaineers, it's a wonder that Seattle was even in the contest at all. Charleston's first quarter, where they scored 37 points on 15 of 17 shooting, was among the best that can be recalled in MBA history. But Seattle did not lay down and die, coming back to tie the game at halftime and take the lead going into the final frame. In truth, it's hard to imagine the Stampede playing a better game than they displayed in this one.

But in the end, led by Naf's 37-point effort, Charleston secured their 11th consecutive victory of the season.

The series now returns to Seattle for a do-or-die win for the Stampede.

SPECIAL GAME NOTE: For the first time in the entire history of the MBA, a player was booted out of the contest for accumulating two technical fouls for fighting. That player was second-year Charleston forward Wawa Wewa, who missed the entire second half of the game. His first incident came with one time unit left in the first quarter, when he got into fisticuffs with big Pap Smearz of Seattle, who won that battle. Then, again with time running out in the second quarter (this time with 2 time units remaining) Wewa took exception to Mel A. Noma rubbing his tumor-laden body all up against him and took to wailing on the smaller guard, for which he was then ejected.

Points saved by quarters
Seattle 0 - 0 - 2 - 2 Total=4
Charleston 4 - 5 - 2 - 2 Total=13

Top players, points saved
1. J.J. Gargantuan 6
2. Beezow Bop-Bop 5

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Charleston's Hall of Fame guard NAF NAF was his amazing self in securing this Game 1 win for the Mountaineers. His 37-point performance was the sixth-highest scoring playoff game in history. With this latest output, Naf has four of the seven best playoff scoring games ever, including the top three. In this game he was 13 for 19 from the floor, 10 for 13 from 3-Point Land, 1 for 2 from the foul line, responsible for 1 assist and snagged the only steal in the game. He scored 15 points in the first quarter and hit the first 6 treys he took. In the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, he scored 14 points, leaving the Stampede in his wake.

Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- The other Charleston All-MBA guard, Beezow Bop-Bop, scored 17 points, blocked a game-high 6 shots, had 1 rebound, 1 assist and was second in the game on points saved with 5.
-- Charleston center J.J. Gargantuan hit the board hard for the Mountaineers, leading all players with 8 while scoring 15 points, blocking 4 shots and saving a game-high 6 points on defense.
-- Charleston forward Mike Hunt performed wonderfully while subbing for the ejected "Bad Boy" Wawa Wewa. In a little more than half a game, Hunt scored 14 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and dished out a team-high (tied) 3 assists.
-- Point guard Mel A. Noma of Seattle could not slow down the offensive efforts of Naf Naf, but did his best to match the output. Noma tied for his team's high in points, scoring 21, while pulling down 4 boards and dishing out 2 assists.
-- Seattle two-guard Bob Kittle kept pace with his man, Bop-Bop, scoring 17 points, tying for game-high in assists with 4 and grabbing 1 rebound.
-- Stampede center Naceg Gecan hooked horns once more with nemesis Gargantuan and played him to a near standstill. Gecan scored 16 points, tied for team-high with 6 rebounds and dished 2 assists.
-- Any way you look at it, Seattle power forward Pap Smearz got the better of Pietro Destroyer. Smearz scored 17 points and tied for team-high in rebounds with 6 while handing out 3 assists.
-- Seattle small forward Jairo Capoeira tied for top scorer on his team, scoring 21 points while tying for game-hihg in assists with 4. He also pulled down 3 boards.



NEXT UP: The opener of the other semi-final with Dallas traveling to play two-time defending champion Oklahoma City.

Season 42 Post-Season preview

SEATTLE VS. CHARLESTON
SEATTLE: Only one of the four playoff teams that is not a repeater from last season, the Stampede is the surprise team of Season 42's playoffs. Getting the excellent veteran center Naceg Gecan in the off season was obviously enough to offset the loss of the previous season team MVP, guard Ginger Vampire. They are one of the MBA's three teams to have a positive point differential and their 79.2 points per game is second only to their semifinal playoff opponent, Charleston. They may be easy to count out, but don't forget that in Season 37, they were the least likely team to win it all, but they did.



CHARLESTON: The Mountaineers are heavy favorites to win it all, having gone undefeated in the regular season and setting a scoring mark of 91.8 points per game in the process. They have the top two MVP point-getters in Hall of Fame guard Naf Naf and Beezow Bop-Bop, and second team All-MBA center J.J. Gargantuan. They topped the league in field goal percentage (63.1 percent) 3-point shooting (55.6 percent with 80 made), assists (13.7) and tied for the top spot in steals with 23. Don't forget, however, that they were the favorite last season as well until Oklahoma City bested them in the finals.



DALLAS VS. OKLAHOMA CITY
DALLAS: Don't sleep on Dallas. This semifinal match-up is the same one of a season ago in which the Demons were ousted 2 games to 0, but were extremely competitive in both contests. They lost 72-67 in overtime and 79-78 to the eventual champions from Oklahoma City. Since then, Dallas lost starting center Naceg Gecan to free agency and replaced top scoring guard Wimsy Greenfoyle with an even better scorer in second-year man Bingo Bango (17.9 ppg) from Los Angeles. Dallas got the best season of his career from retiring power forward Gulemon Mon-Mon (17.5 ppg). Bango and Mon-Mon both finished in the top five in scoring in the entire league, and steady Matthew Vanden Boogart (15.5 ppg) is another excellent piece. This could be an upset pick if you are placing a bet.



OKLAHOMA CITY: The two-time defending champions enter the playoffs for the second straight season where they are not the favorites to win it all. This may be the final hurrah for the great Lariats teams, as their top two scorers, Ginger Vampire (16.6 ppg) and Hall of Famer Max Payne (16.3 ppg) are both retiring. Oklahoma City again led the league with a stultifying defense that yielded just 65.3 points per game. And the rebounding was also the best in the MBA. They replaced Hall of Famer Yipeekayee Masterfalcon, who was last season's playoff MVP, with storied guard Vampire. Will that be enough to secure a third title? We shall see.



NEXT UP: The Playoffs begin with Seattle at Charleston

Season 42 Regular Season Honors...MVP...All-MBA...Rookie of the Year...All-Rookie Team...Team MVPs...Position Rankings

Three-way Rookie of the Year race ends with Obama edging Shwayze and Mouthchair




Check out the forwards, which took over as the most dominant position from the centers. Last season just eight 20-plus GVP forwards...almost double that number this season, and three more on the brink. But four will be leaving the league.

Season 42 Final Regular Season Standings and Statistical Leaders

Charleston totally dominated...Seattle was most surprising based on predictions...the East almost perfectly predicted.




Hall of Famer Naf Naf gets his sixth consecutive scoring title while Colquitt Croix finishes second in scoring the third straight year.
Hall of Famer Max Payne, in his 17th and final season, captures his first rebounding crown (shared). Payne led his team in rebounding 10 times in his career, exceeding his league-leading number in Season 39 with Chicago when he pulled down 6 boards per game.
Payne also won his first free throw shooting title in his final campaign.

Featured Game No. 10 Season 42...Charleston at Dallas