SEATTLE 79, CHARLESTON 78
Stampede shocks Mountaineers
CHARLESTON -- Seattle forward Charles Broccoli stopped the potential game-winning shot of Charleston's Frog Morton on the last time unit of the game to give his team a stunning 79-78 victory over the highly favored home team.
The victory puts the Stampede into its first Finals since Season 40. They will face the San Jose Fighting Amigos for the right to affix the championship basketball on their team envelope.
Charleston led throughout the game, and by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, when Seattle took a 1-point advantage with 3 ticks left.
Charleston shooting guard MISTER METHANE earned his third POG of the playoffs in a row, drilling a game-high 30 points in the painful Mountaineers loss. Methane did everything imaginable to get his team the win, going 11 for 16 from the floor, including splashing home 4 treys in 6 tries. He was 4 for 5 from the foul line, pulled down 3 rebounds and assisted twice, dominating his man, Wolfie Gutenabend in the process. It wasn't quite enough.
-- Staving off his own retirement, Seattle point guard Potatoes O'Gratin delivered the second triple-double of his career, with most of the damage he did to Charleston coming in the second half of the triumph. O'Gratin dominated Don Barzini of the Mountaineers, going a perfect 4 for 4 from beyond the arc on the way to a 20-point game. The 6-4 O'Gratin crashed the boards as well, tying for game-high in that department with 7, while handing out a team-high 5 assists. He also tied for game-high in blocked shots, swatting away 2.
-- Seattle's rookie center Sky Masterson, subbing for the injured Carga Larga, made his first start a brilliant one for the victors. The 6-8 Masterson played bigger than his size, tying for game-high in rebounds with 7, scoring 12 points, adding 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot while playing differnce-making defense the entire game.
-- Second-year Seattle power forward Charles Broccoli, picked first in this season's draft by Charleston, then traded to the Stampede, came back to haunt the Mountaineers. In addition to denying the game-winning basket, the 6-10 Broccoli scored a team-high 23 points and pulled down 3 rebounds.
-- Veteran power forward Frog Morton of Charleston, nearly the game-ending hero, wound up with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in the loss.
-- Charleston forward Sheetrock Hudson dominated his position, scoring 14 points, snagging 3 boards and adding 1 blocked shot, 1 assist and 1 steal to the mix.
NEXT UP: The Finals...pitting Seattle (5-5)(2-1) vs. San Jose (6-4)(2-0) with Game 1 on the Fighting Amigos' home court. The combined regular season record of the finalists is just 11-9, but both teams are playing their best ball at the most opportune time. San Jose has won seven consecutive games, while Seattle pulled itself out of its 6-game losing streak at the end of the regular season and initial playoff loss to win two in a row.
This will mark the first time that these two franchises have ever played each other in the MBA Finals. Both teams have one championship. San Jose won its title in Season 25 behind future Hall of Famer, then a rookie, Sagittal Occlusal, and Seattle took home the big prize in Season 37 with the Three Amigos, second-season youngsters Diss Reflexia (HOF), Wimsy Greenfoyle and Sven Marquardt.
No team with a 5-win regular season has ever won the MBA championship.
Six teams with a 6-win regular season have won championships, the last coming in Season 39 by Charleston over Dallas.
No comments:
Post a Comment