Season 45 Featured Game No. 7...Oklahoma City at Los Angeles

Los Angeles 66, Oklahoma City 58
L.A.'s defense wins battle for first in West
LOS ANGELES -- The short-handed Los Angeles Big One used defensive intensity to unseat the visiting Oklahoma City Lariats 66-58, replacing them at the top of the West Division heap.

Despite missing starters Dr. Marcus Brody and Baba Brinkman (both injured), the L.A. team demonstrated their depth by holding the visitors to 45.5 percent shooting, preventing 20 points by the Lariats in the process. The Lariats entered the contest as the top scoring team in the MBA, making L.A.'s defensive accomplishment all the more impressive.

The win by Los Angeles makes The Big One 5-2 with 4 division wins. Oklahoma City, with its 4-game winning streak snapped, is also 5-2 with 3 division wins.

Currently in its sixth season in LaLa Land, The Big One has yet to make the playoffs, but appears on track to do so. The closest they came since moving from Houston was last season's 6-4 finish, good for third place.

POINTS PREVENTED BY QUARTERS
Oklahoma City 4 - 2 - 0 - 2 Total=8
Los Angeles 6 - 2 - 4 - 8 Total=20

Turnovers created by Oklahoma City---2
Turnovers created by Los Angeles---6

TOP PLAYERS IN POINTS PREVENTED
1. Sloppy Dollop, L.A. 8
2. Chuctcher Mouthchair, L.A. 6

TOP PLAYERS IN TURNOVERS CREATED
1. Norman Conquest, L.A. 3
2. Sloppy Dollop, L.A. 2

PLAYER OF GAME
Fourth-year center CHUTCHER MOUTHCHAIR of Los Angeles had an outstanding game, leading all players in three categories, with game-highs in points (17), rebounds (8) and blocked shots (3). This is the best season Mouthchair has put together in the MBA. The 6-11 stalwart captured his third POG of the season, tying the inactive Chip Battoe for most in the league. He distinguished himself in this game despite going up against one of the best defensive centers in the league. Mouthchair was 8 for 10 from the floor, with 5 of those buckets coming from big down-low moves that ended with thundering dunks. He was 1 for 1 at the foul line and also added 2 assists. Additionally Mouthchair prevented the second-most points in the game, 6.

Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- Retiring Los Angeles forward Sloppy Dollop also had one helluva game for the victors, scoring 16 points, grabbing 4 boards, leading everyone with 4 assists and blocking a pair of shots as well as preventing the most points and finishing second in causing the most turnovers.

-- 7-footer Tom Foolerie has filled in admirably in Baba Brinkman's absence. In this game, the big forward had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots to complete the deal for The Big One's front court.

-- Oklahoma City's 7-foot center Willie Carry McCoffee scored 14 points, snared 6 rebounds and had 1 assist in the loss.

-- Anurag Dickshit returned to Los Angeles for the first time since being traded to Oklahoma City and played a spirited game which included a team-high 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot.

NEXT UP: Trying to chase down the two 5-2 teams in the West, opponents San Jose (3-3) and Sacramento (2-4) square off at the latter's home court. Neither can afford to lose, especially the defending champion R-Dogs.

Season 45 Featured Game No. 6...Seattle at Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City 81, Seattle 61
ASTOUNDING LARIATS COAST TO FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Lariats easily dispensed with the visiting Seattle Stampede 81-61, getting a measure of revenge against the only team that has stained their otherwise spotless record. Seattle won by 22 in the first meeting of these teams, but that outcome was almost completely reversed, as Oklahoma City (now 5-1) held Seattle (now 3-3) to 45.1 percent shooting while registering 7 steals and sinking 19 of 20 free throws. Only a miss on his last free throw attempt by Anurag Dickshit kept the Lariats from breaking a 38-season record of 18 for 18 charity tosses by Chicago back in Season 7.

The Lariats have now won four straight games.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Oklahoma City's ANURAG DICKSHIT, playing small forward this time out against Seattle, dominated All Star Pietro Destroyer of Seattle, scoring a game-high 26 points, pulling down 6 boards and adding 1 assist and 1 steal. Meanwhile, Destroyer fouled out, as did the man who replaced him, Reed Lemur. Dickshit, who nabbed his second POG of the season, was 8 of 15 from the floor (1 for 4 from deep) while taking advantage of all the fouls by making 9 of 10 from the line.

Other 20-plus GVP performances
-- The unselfish, defensive-minded Lariats center, Willie Carry McCoffee took just five shots, scored 9 points, pulled down 4 rebounds, dished out a game-high 5 assists, tied for game-high with 2 steals and blocked 1 shot in the win.

-- The other Oklahoma City forward, Goodbar "Muddy" Masterson scored 16 points and hauled down a game-high 7 rebounds while totally out-playing Seattle's Stu Gatz.

-- Seattle's rookie point guard AnDamian Wayne is not shy about launching treys. But although he was just 2 for 9 from deep, Wayne still led his team in scoring with 19 points, going 9 for 10 from the foul stripe. The 6-4 guard also pulled down 3 rebounds.

NEXT UP: A virtual game as Sacramento (1-4) travels to first-place Los Angeles (4-1), where The Big One, missing two top-notch starters to injury, will attempt to further submerge the defending champion River Dogs to new depths of despair. L.A. won the first meeting 63-62 with a rousing fourth quarter comeback that saw them erase a 12-point deficit. Norman Conquest of L.A. and Pap Smearz of the Lariats each scored 20 points and shared POG honors.

ONE MORE THING: Pietro Destroyer's 5 assists in the All Star Game moves him into third place all-time in that category behind Percy Faith (20) and Uncle Bob Masterson (19). He passed Bezow Bop-Bop, Mamadou Zongo, Bullet Bob Sixgun and Marcus Pettis in All Star Game assists.

Season 45 MBA All Star Game

EAST 104, WEST 86
45th All Star Game will go down as "the Great Slaughter"
LOS ANGELES -- Forget the score. Forget the winner of the game. Forget who was MVP. This will go down in MBA history as the most unhinged game in the history of the league. And I'm not just talking about All Star Games, but any of the multiple-thousands that have been played to this date.

Three...count them...three all star players who came into the game as the top scorers on their respective teams...all went down to 3-game injuries, which changes the entire complexion of the remainder of Season 45.

* First to fall was two-time MVP Chip "the Crip" Battoe of the Dallas Demons, who went down after just 24 time units had been played in the game.

* Next was second-year forward and two-time All Star Frog Morton of Charleston, who suffered his debilitating injury just 16 time units after Battoe had suffered his.

* And finally, when everything felt safe and back to normal, the last 3-game injury blow was delivered to Los Angeles forward Baba Brinkman, playing before his home crowd in his seventh and final All Star Game before his retirement. This crippling blow came with just 9 time units remaining in the game.

All three of the teams represented by these three are in contention:
--Los Angeles (4-1) is in first place in the West, and has already lost its star point guard Dr. Marcus Brody for the rest of the regular season. Brinkman, at 19.0 ppg, was the team's top scorer.

-- Charleston (3-2) is in first in the East, but only via tie-breaker. Two other teams have the same record. Frog Morton, the team's top scorer at 15.0 ppg, now joins starting point guard Lapiz Lapiz Boligrafo on the injured list. Boligrafo will miss the next two games due to injury. This is a team that has scored just 51 points in their two most recent games. And earlier this season, they were hit with a one-game injury to starter Akbar Zagobia.

-- Dallas (3-2) is one of those two teams hot on the heels of Charleston. Battoe was not only their best scorer at 20.6 ppg, but the top scorer in the entire league.

The other team breathing down the neck of Charleston is Philadelphia (3-2), which lost the services of Hall of Fame guard Colquitt Croix, who was leading the league in scoring (23.3 ppg) when he went down.

So the complexion of the East has changed remarkably. Does this clear the way for the currently injury-free Milwaukee Greyhounds (2-3) to mount a playoff push in the second half of the season? (For the record, the Greyhounds suffered a 1-game injury to starting forward Walter Sobchack, but he is now back in the fold).

Certainly Kansas City (0-5) would need a ton more injuries to occur on East rosters in order to even be mentioned. By the way, they suffered a 1-game injury to a starter too...Bougainvillea Hedge.

Truth be told, I would have to say that with all of the injuries that have occurred, the Bastard Angels are the only team I can truly count out of the playoff hunt at the moment.



PLAYER OF THE GAME
After leading the All Star Game in scoring last season as a rookie with 23 points, Milwaukee's star point guard FATTY MCBUTTERPANTS upped the ante considerably with a triple-double performance that netted him the MVP of the All Star Game. The league's tallest guard at 6-7, McButterpants scored 24 points, pulled down a game-high 6 rebounds and tied for most assists in the contest with 5. He was 7 for 8 from the floor, including 1 for 1 from downtown, and slammed one home on a drive. At the free-throw line, the second-year man was 9 of 10.

Other 20-plus GVP performers
The tallest center in the league, Dallas' Gotoo Grot, has really come into his own in this, his third season. The 7-2 pivot lit it up for 19 points in his first All Star appearance, grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing a pair of assists and getting 1 steal. He even bombed home a trey.

Speaking of being a bomber man, fifth-year Dallas sharpshooter Bingo Bango knocked down 5 treys on the way to a team-high 25 points in his third All Star contest. He added 4 assists.

Sacramento center Tree Fiddy, in his fifth Star classic, was good for 15 points, a team-high 5 rebounds and had the only blocked shot for the West team.

Seattle forward Pietro Destroyer, in his sixth Star event in as many seasons, was a perfect 5 for 5 from the floor, including a trey and a trio of slams. He added 3 rebounds and tied for game-high with 5 assists.

Before succumbing to the first injury of his 8-season career, forward Baba Brinkman was putting on a show for the home town fans with a game-high 26-point performance that included 3 long-range bombs and 2 slam dunks. He also had 3 rebounds and was high in the game with 2 steals.

NEXT UP: BRACKET NO. 5
-- Will defending champion Sacramento (1-4) finally get up off the matt and get back in the race with a giant win at first-place Los Angeles (4-1). The Big One is currently missing its top two scorers and seems ripe for a loss. L.A., behind Norman Conquest, edged the River Dogs and Pap Smearz in a defensive struggle earlier this season, 63-62.

-- FEATURED GAME: Seattle (3-2) at second-place Oklahoma City (4-1). Both teams are making their featured game debuts in this important West contest. The surprising Lariats, on a 3-game win streak, suffered their only loss to Seattle 92-70 despite a POG by rookie Flip Phelps of Oklahoma City in their first encounter.The Stampede has since changed rookie horses at the point, with AnDamian Wayne giving the team a big lift as of late. A win by Seattle puts them right in the thick of things.

-- Dallas (3-2), even without Chip Battoe, should have no trouble with win-less Kansas City (0-5).

-- Philadelphia (3-2) at Milwaukee (2-3) will be well worth watching. Philly. led by Soupy Poops, won the first meeting easily, 90-74. But that was before Colquitt Croix went down. This is the Greyhounds chance to climb into the picture.

-- The cross-over game is also intriguing, with San Jose (2-3) traveling to first-place Charleston (3-2). The Mountaineers are hanging onto first by a thread, suffering back-to-back losses in which they scored just 51 points. Now they play crippled, without their top scorer Frog Morton for the next three contests and their starting point guard Lapiz Lapiz Boligrafo for the next two.
San Jose, in a rebuilding year, with the league's youngest starting lineup, can actually get back in the hunt with what looks like a win-able game.

Season 45 All Star Rosters and facts

All Star Tidbits
-- Take a look at the East starting lineup (minus the injured Croix) and note how young it is compared to the West.
-- Just three people on All Star teams will be retiring after this season...only one starter.
-- Only one rookie, Flip Phelps of Oklahoma City, made a team.
-- Seven players earned an All Star Game berth for the first time this season.
-- The oldest All Stars are Pap Smearz of Sacramento and Walter Sobchack of Milwaukee.
-- Five players are making their first starts in the All Star Game.
-- 12 of the 21 players on this season's All Star Rosters were on last season's roster.
-- Five players, all in the West, did not make the All Star Game despite having GVPs of 20 or more. They are: Mister Methane of San Jose (20.2), Dr. Marcus Brody of Los Angeles (20.2), Cam Caldwell of San Jose (21.2), Anurag Dickshit of Oklahoma City (21.2) and Willie Carry McCoffee of Oklahoma City (20.2).

Newcomers to the list of most All Star Game appearances: Pietro Destroyer and Hall of Famer Colquitt Croix making it for the sixth time each. Only 36 players have ever made that many All Star appearances. These two are tied for 21st place in appearances.

* With his 7th (and final) appearance, Baba Brinkman is tied for 9th most appearances all time.

* With his 8th (consecutive) appearance, Hall of Fame center J.J. Gargantuan ties for the 5th most All Star Game appearances of all time. Those ahead of him are:
1. Max Payne 11
2. Uncle Bob Masterson 10
2. Mamadou Zongo 10
4. Curly Hogbottom 9

* In earning his fifth starting spot (even though injured and can't play), Colquitt Croix ties for 12th place in starts in the All Star Game. Others who have started five times are: Marcus Pettis, Link Lennex, Jonny Cockaroo, Max Payne, Ginger Vampire and Naf Naf. Most starts in an All Star Game belong to Curly Hogbottom with 9.

* The East leads the West in the All Star Game series 27-17...the last 10 All Star Games have been split 5-5.

ALL TIME SCORING LEADER: Uncle Bob Masterson...158 points
ALL TIME REBOUNDING LEADER: Diamond Dallas Paige...45
ALL TIME ASSISTS LEADER: Percy Faith...20
ALL TIME STEALS LEADER: Mamadou Zongo...8
MOST 3-POINTERS ALL TIME: Naf Naf...29
MOST BLOCKED SHOTS ALL TIME: Curly Hogbottom...16

MOST MVPS OF THE ALL STAR GAME: Uncle Bob Masterson and Tommy Zoop each had 3
Six other players tied with two MVPs of the All Star Game: Cappy Gambol, Cheetos Jones, Boone Doggle, Didger A'doo and Smokey Talisker.

Season 45 Retirement Announcements

Fourteen MBA players announced that they will be retiring following the end of Season 45, and of that number 8 are current starters in the league.

This is actually a pretty small retirement group. For example, 19 players retired last season (with 6 being starters).

Two teams, Sacramento and Oklahoma City, escaped the retirement announcements unscathed.

Dallas lost the most to retirement, with three retirees, but Los Angeles was the hardest hit, as The Big One will be losing both of their starting forwards, Baba Brinkman and Sloppy Dollop. That pair are also the two most honored players to announce their retirements, meaning that the window of opportunity for Los Angeles to make a major championship push could be closing this season. It doesn't help that they lost star point guard Dr. Marcus Brody to injury for the rest of the current regular season.

The Dave/Tyler breakdown is as follows:
Dave...3 retirees, 2 starters
Tyler...9 retirees, 6 starters




NEXT UP: Announcement of the All Star Game rosters.

Featured Game No. 5...Dallas at Los Angeles

Los Angeles 83, Dallas 80
Los Angeles edges Dallas in thriller; but Brody out for season
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Big One won a barn-burner of a cross-over 83-80, thanks to a Baba Brinkman 3-pointer, but lost the services of star point guard Dr. Marcus Brody for the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs.

Brody's injury came with 48 time units left in the second quarter, as he went down with a sickening thud later diagnosed by himself as a broken right ankle. The injury was for 7 games, which is 6 games once the All Star Game is factored in. That means Brody will miss the remaining 5 regular season games for L.A. and their first playoff contest.

The West now leads the cross-over series 4-1.

The end of this exciting contest went down like this:

10 left...L.A. up 80-78 and they have the ball...after a loose ball, L.A. forward Sloppy Dollop regains possession, launches a good trey, but that trey is denied by Egg Yolk Carpaccio of Dallas.

8 left...Dallas ball...Demons center Gotoo Grot hits a medium bucket that is blocked by L.A. pivot Chutcher Mouthchair with the ball going out of bounds

6 left...Carpaccio misses a medium jump shot on out of bounds play, Peeshie Pooshie of Los Angeles rebounds

4 left...L.A. forward Baba Brinkman launches an ill-advised trey that is blocked by Chip Battoe of Dallas...Demons regain possession still down 80-78

3 left...Dallas point guard Louie Subgum fouled on the dribble by Norman Conquest of Los Angeles (who fouls out). Subgum goes to the line with a 1 and 1 chance to tie the game, which he does by sinking both free throws. 80-80 ball game.

2 left...Brinkman again launches a 3 that swishes through and counts, despite the potential deny by Battoe. L.A. takes 83-80 lead.

1 left...Battoe takes a game-tying trey that rattles in and out at the horn and L.A. wins 83-80


PLAYER OF THE GAME
Los Angeles center CHUTCHER MOUTHCHAIR out-dueled Dallas behemoth Gotoo Grot to win his second consecutive POG this season. After winning his first POG with a 24-point effort, Mouthchair came back with a 22-point game in this one, again showing a number of sparkling moves around the bucket. He was 11 for 15 from the floor, with 5 of the good baskets being slams. He was 0 for 1 from deep and 0 for 1 at the foul line. The 6-11 Mouthchair pulled down a game-high 6 rebounds, led his team in assists with 4 and also led his team in blocked shots with 2.

Other 20-plus GVP performances
-- Fourth-year guard Peeshie Pooshie of Los Angeles, who came to the team this season via free agency, was magnificent off the bench replacing the injured Brody. The 6-1 Pooshie scored a game-high 27 points. led his team with back-to-back steals and baskets, had 2 rebounds and 1 assist. He was the calvary in this game for The Big One as he really came to the rescue.

-- Despite sitting out 58 of the 70 first quarter time units with a forced rest, Dallas center Gotoo Grot returned to put up huge numbers in a fierce battle with L.A.'s Mouthchair. The 7-2 Grot led his team in scoring with 24 points and also led the Demons in rebounds with 4. The big guy distributed 4 assists in the losing cause and is a shoo-in for his first All Star Game berth in his third season.

-- Although the league's leading scorer was held to just 14 points, Dallas forward Chip Battoe added 4 rebounds and a game-high 4 blocks (he leads the league in that category as well) to earn recognition here.




EAST STANDINGS
1st -- Charleston Mountaineers 3-2 (head-to-head tie-breaker)(unchanged)
2nd -- Philadelphia Phobia 3-2 (division wins tie-breaker) (up from 3rd place) (3-game winning streak)
3rd -- Dallas Demons 3-2 (down from 2nd place)
4th -- Milwaukee Greyhounds 2-3 (unchanged)
Last -- Kansas City Bastard Angels 0-5 (unchanged)

WEST STANDINGS (no changes since last bracket)
1st -- Los Angeles Big One 4-1 (division wins tie-breaker)
2nd -- Oklahoma City Lariats 4-1 (3-game winning streak)
3rd -- Seattle Stampede 3-2
4th -- San Jose Fighting Amigos 2-3
Last -- Sacramento River Dogs 1-4

NEXT UP: Announcement of Retirements...Announcement of All Star Game participants...All Star Game

Featured Game No.4...Charleston at Dallas

Dallas 82, Charleston 51
Demons demoralize first-place Charleston by 31 points
DALLAS--The Dallas Demons made a strong case for being the MBA's best team of Season 45 with an 82-51 decimation of the previously unbeaten Charleston Mountaineers. Charleston never scored more than 13 points in any quarter, shooting just 44.2 percent from the field, while the Demons were potting 68.5 percent of their shots and wreaking turnover havoc on the visitors.

Both teams are now 3-1, with Charleston still clinging to first place by virtue of division wins (3-2), but the Demons left little doubt who the better looking team was on this particular night. The win by Dallas means there are no unbeaten teams in the MBA.

It was the biggest beat-down suffered by any team this season.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Dallas forward CHIP "THE CRIP" BATTOE moved from his regular small forward spot to play big forward in this one, capturing his league-leading third POG this season. The league's leading scorer, Battoe put up a game-high 21 points pulled down 5 rebounds and batted away 4 enemy shots, also a game-high. He destroyed Charleston forward Frog Morton, who had been the Mountaineers' top scorer, limiting him to 11 points. After a slow start, Battoe finished with 10 of 15 from the floor and 1 of 1 from the foul line.

Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- Dallas point guard Louie Subgum fouled out for the fourth time in as many games, but while he was in the contest he directed the victors admirably, scoring 16 points, getting 3 assists, 2 rebounds and tying for game-high in steals with 2.

-- The behemoth that is 7-2 Dallas center Gotoo Grot continued his best campaign with 14 points, a game-high 9 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 1 assist and 1 steal. He's making a strong bid to play in his first All Star Game.

-- Charleston's veteran point guard Lapiz Lapiz Boligrafo led his team in scoring with 16 points, pumping in 4 treys along the way. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

NEXT UP: A cross-over game ends Bracket No. 4 with Oklahoma City (2-1) looking to improve on its early-season success with a win over the win-less new kids, the Kansas City Bastard Angels. This game is no lock, however, with the BAs competitive in all three of their losses.