BIG THREE COMBO DELIVERS GAME 1 WIN FOR DEMONS
LOS ANGELES -- The triple-threat of three of the league's top scorers was too much for the home team Los Angeles Big One, who took it on the chin with an 80-71 Game 1 semifinal loss to the Dallas Demons. It was the first playoff game ever in Los Angeles, played before a packed house of pimps, prostitutes and Hollywood stars.
The Demons, featuring the MBA's top scorer in Chip Battoe (18 points), its fourth-best point-getter in Gotoo Grot (19 points) and fifth-leading scorer Bingo Bango (17 points), led the offensive charge and wore down the Big One's league leading defense with 61.8 percent shooting.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles' top scorer, forward Baba Brinkman, who finished third in the league scoring race, was held to just 11 points by the blanket defense of league MVP Battoe.
The Demons need one more win to advance to the MBA Finals for the first time in three seasons, and at this point they look like the team to win it all.
When they return to Dallas for Game 2 in this best of three, Los Angeles will finally be getting back its star point guard Dr. Marcus Brody, who has not played in the second half of the season due to injury. They will need his offense, and perhaps, although somewhat blasphemous, should consider starting Tom Foolerie in place of Brinkman. The Brinkman match-up with Battoe is a brutal one for Los Angeles, in that Brinkman's continual barrage of ineffective treys act like turnovers for his team. Moving Dollop to small forward would give better shots to other L.A. players, plus he is a better defender on Battoe.
PLAYER OF GAME
It's only fitting that CHIP "THE CRIP" BATTOE, playing his first game as the league's newest Hall of Famer, should come away with Player of the Game honors to kick off the playoffs for his Dallas club. The league MVP was merely marvelous, filling up every statistical column. He scored 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including potting 2 of 3 shots from beyond the arc and 2 of 2 foul shots. He also pulled down 2 rebounds, had 1 assist, 1 steal and swatted away a game-high 5 shots, his league-leading specialty.
Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- Veteran shooting guard Bingo Bango of Dallas contributed 17 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist to the victory.
-- All-MBA center Gotoo Grot led everyone in scoring with 19 points, topped his team in rebounds with 4, had 1 assist and 1 blocked shot against the second-team All-MBA centere from Los Angeles.
-- Los Angeles point guard Norman Conquest got his team off to a rousing start in the first quarter, when he scored 13 of his team-high 18 points, including all 3 of his made treys. Conquest, who will be moving back to the two guard spot with the return of Brody, also led his team with 5 assists and pulled down 1 rebound.
-- L.A. center Chutcher Mouthchair had a productive game offensively, but could not stop the behemoth Grot from scoring. Mouthchair scored 14 points, pulled down 6 rebounds and had 1 assist.
-- Los Angeles forward Baba Brinkman managed to score 11 points against the stifling defense of Battoe, despite going 0 for 5 from deep and getting 5 of his shots blocked. Brinkman blocked a team-high 2 shots of his own defensively and was the game's top rebounder as he hauled in 9. He also had 1 assist.
NEXT UP: The Oklahoma City vs. Charleston series travels to the home of the Mountaineers, with Charleston trailing 1-0 in this best of three and facing elimination without their best player, the injured Lapiz Lapiz Boligrafo.
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