Season 55 Playoffs Summary

MOST TITLES

16...PHILADELPHIA PHOBIA

9.....DALLAS DEMONS

7.....LOS ANGELES BIG ONE / HOUSTON IGUANAS

7.....MILWAUKEE GREYHOUNDS

5.....CHARLESTON MOUNTAINEERS

LAST 10 CHAMPIONS

Season 55...Dallas 9-0, 5-0

Season 54...Dallas 10-0, 5-0

Season 53...Dallas 8-2, 5-2

Season 52...Dallas 8-2, 5-2

Season 51...Los Angeles 6-4, 5-0

Season 50...Los Angeles 9-1, 5-0

Season 49...San Jose 6-4, 5-1

Season 48...Sacramento 9-1, 5-3

Season 47...Dallas 10-0, 5-0

Season 46...Dallas 9-1, 5-1

Note...Dallas is the only franchise to run the table. They have done it twice. 

LAST 10 PLAYOFF MVPS

Season 55...Vicious Hick, Dallas guard (only player to win playoff MVPs in first two seasons)

Season 54...Vicious Hick, Dallas guard (rookie)

Season 53...Juzan Djinn, Dallas guard

Season 52...Juzan Djinn, Dallas guard

Season 51...Crentis Dentist, Los Angeles forward

Season 50...Great Gruncle Terry, Los Angeles guard

Season 49...Jesse Shershot, San Jose guard

Season 48...Doo-rag Dripp, Sacramento forward

Season 47...Chip Battoe, Dallas forward

Season 46...Chip Battoe, Dallas forward 

Veterans Committee names Pap Smearz to Hall

After retiring from the MBA following Season 47, veteran forward Pap Smearz waited eight seasons to get the call from the Hall of Fame. 

Following Season 55, the Veterans Committee finally named this well-traveled champion the 60th member of the MBA Hall of Fame.

The 6-8 Smearz played for eight different franchises in his 11-season career, finally settling down to play the last five for the Sacramento River Dogs.

He started his career in Chicago, where, after his first two campaigns, he became the face of free agency, playing for six different teams in six seasons. 

In addition to his identity as a vagabond, Smearz was known for attracting championships wherever he went. He was a member of four different championship teams, an unmatched distinction.

It was in Season 38, in Chicago, where he gained his first championship ring for the Gale's final title season. The next season, Season 39, he garnered his second ring in a row as a member of the Charleston

Mountaineers. He was coming off the bench for those first two championships, but in Season 41 for Oklahoma City and Season 44 for Sacramento he was a key member of the starting lineups that won it all.

Smearz could do it all as a player. He manned both forward positions with equal aplomb, could rebound with the best of them, was a fine defender and could shoot accurately from all four zones while posting superb numbers from the free throw line. Through 11 seasons he never lost his speed.

Unselfish to a fault, Smearz was an above-average, if not spectacular scorer. He led the league in rebounds once and led his team in that category twice. He also led his team in assists. At the charity stripe he was a league leader once, and led his team four times for a career percentage of 87.9 percent, putting together three seasons in which he did not miss. 

In the playoffs, "Pappy" put together an unmatched 33 for 33 perfect free-throwing mark over 38 post-season games.

His shooting percentage of 67.8 percent for his career resulted in four different team leadership campaigns. 

NEXT UP: Playoff leaders

 

Season 55 Finals ... Game 3...Charleston at Dallas

DALLAS 82, CHARLESTON 60 (Slaughter Rule Enforced)

DAZZLING DEMONS 4-PEAT

DALLAS -- The Dallas Demons, demonstrating that they are in a league of their own, captured their fourth consecutive MBA title, doing so by sweeping their way through the playoffs for the second straight season.

The crowning contest was an 82-60 victory before their home fans, during which the team was never really threatened. It was the seventh straight Finals win for what many consider the best starting lineup in the history of the league. 

Only one team, the Philadelphia Phobia of Seasons 29 through 33, with five straight titles, can challenge that distinction. Those Philly teams featured a starting lineup of five Hall of Fame players, giving this Dallas aggregation something to shoot for next season and the seasons to come. 

This latest Dallas championship saw the Demons hold Charleston, which was the second-highest scoring team in the league at 78.9ppg, to just 61.7 points per game. Meanwhile, Dallas averaged 86.7 per game in the Finals. 

As is their pattern, the Demons exploded for an 11-0 run to end the first quarter, holding Charleston to just 7 points in the first frame and setting off an early celebration. The fans in the stands were going so wild, it was like a thousand pogo sticks on a trampoline party with a side of confetti cannons and a marching band of chimpanzees playing vuvuzelas!

Points prevented by team

Dallas...14

Charleston ...4

Tops in points prevented

Biggus Dickus of Dallas with 6

6 others tied with 2

PLAYER OF THE GAME

33 GVP...Charleston guard KOPI LUWAK...The highest scorer in this game, fittingly, was the former Dallas star who the Mountaineers mortgaged their future to acquire. The fourth-year sharpshooter, who missed the previous game due to injury, knocked down 5 treys in 12 tries on the way to a 27-point performance. The 6-2 Luwak was 9 for 18 from the floor and 4 for 6 from the foul line while tying for game-high in assists with 3. He added 2 rebounds and 1 steal. When he left the floor late in the game, the Dallas crowd acknowleged his effort with warm applause (or was that apple sauce?) 

Other 20-plus GVP performers

31 GVP...Dallas center Biggus Dickus...18 points...7 rebounds...3 assists...3 blocked shots...tops in points prevented. 

23 GVP...Dallas point guard Vicious Hick...14 points (4 treys)...7 rebounds...2 assists. 

20 GVP...Dallas two guard, Hall of Famer Juzan Djinn...14 points...3 rebounds...2 assists...1 steal. 

20 GVP...Dallas power forward Satan Israel...15 points...5 rebounds.

DALLAS' 9  CHAMPIONSHIPS THROUGH THE YEARS

Only Philadelphia, with 16 titles, has more.

It took 15 seasons for Dallas to win their first title, but since Season 20, no team has won more

SEASON 55...9-1.....5-0 in playoffs

SEASON 54...10-0...5-0 in playoffs

SEASON 53...8-2.....5-2 in playoffs

SEASON 52...8-2.....5-2 in playoffs

                                                          

SEASON 47...10-0...5-0 in playoffs

SEASON 46...9-1.....5-1 in playoffs

                                                         

SEASON 28...9-1...5-3 in playoffs

                                                          

SEASON 21...7-3...5-1 in playoffs

SEASON 20...7-3...5-1 in playoffs

note...Dallas finished in first place in their division in every championship season.

NEXT UP: Announcement of Playoff MVP...listing of playoff stat leaders and summary.