Season 53...Featured Game No. 4...Oklahoma City at Philadelphia...plus, Hall of Fame bonus

 Oklahoma City 78, Philadelphia 70

LARIATS STAY UNBEATEN

PHILADELPHIA -- Oklahoma City has always had a tough time winning against the Phobia, coming into this game with a 46-13 disadvantage lifetime against Philly.

But the visiting Lariats (now 4-0) won an important game against the team that has dominated them through the years, triumphing 78-70.

Oklahoma City got good contributions from four of its starters plus second-year substitute center Chat Bot, while Philadelphia saw only one starter score in double digits.

Philly (now 2-2) stayed close throughout, thanks largely to bench players Dick Papers and Juji Mufu, who contributed 14 and 20 points respectively.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

32 GVP...Sixth-year shooting guard HANDSY JOE POTATOE has always had the ability to carry a team to victory, and he did just that in this win for the Lariats. The 6-5 Potatoe scored a game-high 28 points on 10 of 21 shooting from the field (2 or 3 from the foul line). He started strong, burning the smaller Flufferton Springs for 11 first-quarter points and scorched the nets for 6 3-pointers in the game in 13 attempts. He also blocked 2 shots and pulled down 2 rebounds in this, his second POG of the season.

Other 20-plus GVP performers

26 GVP...Center star-in-waiting, Chat "GPT5" Bot of Oklahoma City answered the call with authority when starting pivot Chochky Galumpkus found himself in foul trouble. Bot, who contributed heavily with 10 points off the pines in the recent win against Charleston, had the best game of his young MBA career with 17 points. The 6-9 lefty tied for team-high in rebounds with 6, blocked 2 shots and added 1 assist in the giant win.

24 GVP...Point guard supreme King Czardines of Oklahoma City delivered an 18-point game in which he pulled down 3 boards, handed out 2 assists and added 1 steal.

23 GVP...Fifth-year forward star D. Fenestration of Philadelphia had his way with Buba Lipa of Oklahoma City. Fenestration scored 18 points to 1 for Lipa, pulled down 3 rebounds and added 2 assists. 

22 GVP...The biggest difference between last year's Lariats and this season is the vastly improved defense, and rookie forward Phillip Mianus is most responsible for that turnaround. The 6-8 power forward scored 11 points, tied for team-high in rebounds with 6 and had 1 assist. But his most obvious contribution was on defense, where he dominated longtime Philly star Wawa Wewa, holding him to just 8 points. Mianus, by far the league leader with 17 blocked shots in 4 games, swatted away a game-high 4 more in this one. 

22 GVP...Oklahoma City was not the only team that got yeoman's work from its backup center. Six-year veteran Juji Mufu came off the bench to lead Philadelphia in scoring with 20 points when Taco Toosdae struggled. Mufu added 1 rebound and 1 assist.

MBA Standings … Season 53

EAST DIVISION

DALLAS………………….4-0

OKLAHOMA CITY…..4-0

PHILADELPHIA………2-2

CHARLESTON………. 1-3

MILWAUKEE……….. 0-3

 

WEST DIVISION

GILLETTE…………. 2-1

SACRAMENTO…2-1

SAN JOSE………….1-2

LOS ANGELES….. 1-2

SEATTLE…………..0-3

 

NEXT UP: Gillette puts its current first-place position on the line as they travel to San Jose. A win for the Fighting Amigos would drop the Humps to third place and move the Fighting Amigos into second. The Amigos get point guard Vinny Zazeech back from injury and are favored in this one. 

BONUS......................................

Rookie seasons of players who eventually made the Hall of Fame 

Since it takes a minimum of three seasons to acquire 10 awards, we are looking at just 17 seasons in which the rookie classes of those years did not yield at least one Hall of Fame player.

 

Aside from Season 1…where naturally the most “rookies” were made and thus, produced, there has only been two seasons in which three rookies from that season eventually made the Hall of Fame.

The first was in Season 5, when centers Alex Pal and Rip Slamjam, as well as guard Dan Mann all entered the league simultaneously.

The second and most recent was in Season 18, when the MBA gained future Famers Joey Two-Tones and Tommy Zoop, both guards, as well as center Jonny Cockaroo.

There hasn’t been a comparable rookie class since.

 

Fourteen seasons yielded a single Hall of Fame rookie.

 

Fourteen seasons yielded two Hall of Fame rookies.

 

The most recent year to yield a rookie Famer is Season 47 with the still-active Jesse Shershot.

 

Seasons 48, 49 and 50 have yet to introduce a Hall of Fame player.

 

The longest stretch of seasons between rookies who became Hall of Fame players is three, which has happened just twice. The first was Seasons 20, 21 and 22…the second was 48, 49 and 50.

 SEASON ONE

Rowdy Ron Clutch

Oscar Mudcat

Silo Chamberlain

Bub Wright

Doug Fresh

Bill Rustler

Raisin Sport

Cappy Gambol

 

SEASON THREE

Soul Duran

 

SEASON FOUR

Uncle Bob Masterson

 

 

 

 

SEASON FIVE

Alex Pal

Rip Slamjam

Dan Mann

 

SEASON SIX

Mable Reed

Stu Nod

 

SEASON SEVEN

Link Lennex

Marshall Stax

 

SEASON NINE

Tarjetas Indice

Doc Watson

 

SEASON ELEVEN

Guru Gannon

 

 

SEASON TWELVE

Dallas Diamond Paige

 

 

SEASON FIFTEEN

Momadou Zongo

Cam Bodia

 

SEASON SIXTEEN

Curly Hogbottom

 

SEASON SEVENTEEN

Bart Pitbull

Shucks Oyster

 

SEASON EIGHTEEN

Jonny Cockaroo

Joey Two-Tones

Tommy Zoop

 

SEASON NINETEEN

Benny Gumm

Shooter Flatch

 

 

SEASON TWENTY-THREE

Boone Doggle

 

SEASON TWENTY-FIVE

Saggital Occlusal

Tug Hershorts

 

SEASON TWENTY-SIX

Max Payne

Ching-Chong Chung

 

SEASON TWENTY-SEVEN

Gulemon Mon-Mon

 

 

SEASON TWENTY-EIGHT

Tom “the Bomb” Kondla

Cheetos Jones

 

SEASON TWENTY-NINE

Hrundi V. Bakshi

Ama Spikie

 

SEASON THIRTY

Lemon Jell-o

Gato Domato

 

SEASON THIRTY-FOUR

Beezow Bop-Bop

Art Vandalay

 

SEASON THIRTY-FIVE

Yipeekayee Masterfalcon

 

SEASON THIRTY-SIX

Diss Reflex

 

SEASON THIRTY-SEVEN

Naf Naf

 

 

SEASON THIRTY-EIGHT

J.J. Gargantuan (active)

Baba Brinkman

 

SEASON THIRTY-NINE

Tree Fiddy

 

SEASON FORTY

Colquitt Croix

 

 

SEASON FORTY-THREE

Chip Battoe

Dr. Marcus Brody

 

SEASON FORTY-FOUR

Great Gruncle Terry

 

SEASON FORTY-SEVEN

Jesse Shershot (active)