Featured Game No. 6...Sacramento at Seattle...with Bonus

SACRAMENTO 98, SEATTLE 62

RIVER DOGS RAVAGE SEATTLE BY 36

SEATTLE -- The Sacramento R-Dogs made dog food out of the second-place nags who are the Stampede, destroying Seattle on its own home court 98-62 in a game that was never in doubt.

This featured game pitted the top two teams in the West Division standings and a hopeful home team that was on a 3-game win streak. But the previous 81-57 drubbing Sacramento (6-0) gave young Seattle the first time out paled in comparison to this trouncing, which completed the season sweep.

Sacramento sub forward Cherry Challenge Payne had a chance to get the River Dogs to 100 points on the last time unit of the game, but he missed a short jumper. No team has reached the century mark this season.

This was the seventh game the new slaughter rule was put into effect.

Seattle is now 4-2 and still in firm possession of second place in the West.

PLAYER OF GAME

Sixth-season River Dogs forward DOO-RAG DRIPP scored a game-high 22 points in the win and pulled down a game-high (tied) 7 rebounds to capture his second POG of Season 46. All five Sacramento starters scored 12 or more points in the win, with Dripp going 9 for 12 from the floor and humiliating fellow All Star Pietro Destroyer of Seattle in the process. Dripp also registered 1 dunk and was 4 of 6 from the foul line. The 6-7 Dripp led everyone in the game in blocked shots with 3 and prevented a game-high 8 points.

Other 20-plus GVP performers

-- Third-year Sacramento point guard Great Gruncle Terry led his team in assists with 3, pulled down 5 rebounds and scored 12 points in his usual solid game.

-- Sacramento shooting guard Potus Obama scored 18 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, tied for game-high in steals with 2 to add to his league-leading total and dished 2 assists. He caused enough havoc defensively to lead everyone in caused turnovers with 4.

-- Longtime Sacramento center Tree Fiddy, going against fellow West All Star center Seven Castanza, scored 17 pointsk, had 4 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 2 assists while preventing 4 points defensively.

-- 10-season veteran Sacramento forward Pap Smearz scored 19 points for the second time this season against Seattle, grabbing 3 boards, tying for most steals in the game with 2 and finishing second in points prevented with 5 and also second in turnovers caused with 3,

-- The only Seattle player to get a mention in this space did so the hard way. Second-year point guard Don Barzini scored just 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting, but distributed a game-high 7 assists, which puts him into a league-leading tie in assists with Sacramento's Terry. The 6-2 Barzini also hustled up a total of 7 rebounds which tied for game high in that category, and added 1 steal.

POINTS PREVENTED BY QUARTER

Sacramento...4...5...8...2   Total of 19

Seattle...........0...2...2...5    Total of 9

TOPS IN POINTS PREVENTED

1. Dripp, Sacramento 8

2. Smearz, Sacramento 5

3. Fiddy, Sacramento 4

TURNOVERS CAUSED BY QUARTER

Sacramento...3...3...4...3  Total of 13

Seattle...........0...0...1...1   Total of 2

TOPS IN TURNOVERS CAUSED

1. Obama, Sacramento 4

2. Smearz, Sacramento 3

3 with 2 each

NEXT UP: San Jose (1-4), missing two starters to injury, travels to Oklahoma City (2-3) where the Lariats hope to pull within a game of second-place Seattle in the West. Oklahoma City edged them 73-69 in their first meeting with the POG being OKC's Anurag Dickshit.

BONUS

A LOOK AT RETIREMENT AGES

During the most recent spate of retirement announcements, franchise owners wondered what the most frequent age of MBA players is when they hang it up.

Well, I'm not about to go through every guy who's ever donned a notecard, but I did use the 48 members of the Hall of Fame who have either retired or announced their retirements to come up with the following information.

8 players have retired after their 6th season

13 players after their 7th

2 players after 8th

8 players after 9th

4 players after 10th

2 players after 11th

3 players after 12th

3 players after 13th

0 players after 14th

2 players after 15th

1 player after 16th

2 players after 17th

That means the mean number of seasons completed by an MBA Hall of Fame player is 9.25 seasons.

The mode for Hall of Famers is retirement after their 7th season.

Whether that sample group would reflect the rest of the league is unknown. I'm guessing yes.