SEATTLE 76, LOS ANGELES 75
SEATTLE RUINS L.A. HOME OPENER
LOS ANGELES -- The Seattle Stampede ambushed the Los Angeles Big One on the latter's home court, 76-75 in a pulse-pounding victory to take early possession of first place in the West. The win for Seattle came despite a combined 49-point performance by the L.A. guard tandem of Vicious Hick and Pinky Toe.
The winning bucket came on a tip-in with 5 ticks left by 7-1, second-year Stampede center Hooza Goodboi after a frenzied fourth quarter that saw 6 lead changes and an early 9 point burst by the home team that put them back into the game.
The Seattle victory comes on the heels of its 108-point opening game win against San Jose and is a clarion call for the rest of the MBA that the Stampede is a team worth watching in Season 57.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
35 GVP...Fourth-year shooting guard PINKY TOE of Los Angeles shrugged off the tough defense of Seattle's Hilbee Juggleboy and registered a game-high 31 points in a tough loss to the visiting Stampede. Toe, who scored the first 10 points of the game for L.A., used all four scoring zones to accumulate his points, going 13 for 21 from the floor, including 3 for 8 from deep. He was 2 for 4 from the foul line. The 6-2 star added 2 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal. Two games into the season, Toe is averaging 26 points per game.
Other 20-plus GVP performers
27 GVP...Los Angeles point guard Vicious Hick...18 points (4 treys)...6 rebounds...3 assists.
25 GVP...Seattle center Hooza Goodboi...16 points (3 slams)...7 rebounds...1 steal...1 assist.
23 GVP...Seattle rookie forward J.J. "Jake" Pickle...11 points...5 blocks...4 rebounds...2 assists...1 steal
22 GVP...Seattle power forward Erik A. Crocidale...18 points (4 slams)...2 rebounds...1 steal...1 assist.
21 GVP...Seattle point guard King Czardines...13 points...6 assists...1 steal...1 rebound.
MBA Standings … Season 57
EAST DIVISION
MILWAUKEE………..1-0
PHILADELPHIA………1-0
DALLAS…………………1-0
CHARLESTON……….
0-1
OKLAHOMA
CITY…..0-1
WEST DIVISION
SEATTLE………….2-0
LOS
ANGELES….1-1
GILLETTE…………1-1
SACRAMENTO…
0-1
SAN
JOSE…………0-2
NEXT UP: Dallas goes for consecutive win
number 10 dating back to last season as it travels to Oklahoma City.
BONUS
HALL OF FAMERS WHO NEVER WON A CHAMPIONSHIP
Usually, if you get a Hall of Fame player on a roster, a
title eventually follows that player.
Almost 89 percent of the current 62 members of the MBA
Hall of Fame have won championships, meaning that just 7 were never able to
have a championship ring affixed to their cards.
Four of that number, including one active player, are
centers. Read into that what you will.
The four centers are:
Diamond Dallas
Paige
Big Bill Rustler
Tom “the Bomb”
Kondla
and the currently active Chochky Galumpkus
The other three are:
Gato Do Mato,
a forward
Soul Duran, a
guard
Silo Chamberlain,
a guard
Paige, a
six-time All MBA center In seven seasons, was a two-time scoring champ who set
the single-season rebound mark for 8 per game in his final campaign in Season
18. He presided over three 9-1 teams, an 8-2 team and a 10-0 club in his last
season. The Lariats finished first five of his seven seasons, and his teams
went to the Finals three times but never won it. Seasons 13 and 14 saw Paige
suffer injuries that took him out of the playoffs both campaigns. Snakebit.
Rustler, an
MBA original, captured three MVP awards, including MVP of the Season 10
playoffs for Seattle. But he was defeated by Houston in the Finals. His first 8
seasons were with Charleston, which went to the post-season 6 times, including
Season 8 when Big Bill won his second MVP in a row. Philly won it that season.
Kondla played
for four franchises in his six short seasons. He went to the Finals as a rookie
in Season 28 with Seattle (lost to Dallas) but never got that close to a ring
again.
Do Mato’s
Milwaukee teams finished first twice in his three seasons there, reaching the
Finals in Season 32 where they lost to Philly. Four more seasons in San Jose
netted two more playoffs but no rings.
Duran, who
played six seasons for two franchises and led his team in scoring in every one
of those campaigns, got to two Finals with Houston but was thwarted by
Milwaukee in his rookie season of Season 3 and Philadelphia in Season 5.
5-10 Chamberlain,
the first MVP in MBA history, spent all six of his seasons with Charleston,
where the team went to four playoffs but were constantly blocked by the two
powers of the time, Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, Galumpkus,
who has toiled valiantly in the post for Oklahoma City (two stints, three
seasons each), Dallas (three seasons), Seattle (two seasons), made it to the
Finals two consecutive times with the Lariats in Seasons 54 and 55 where they
were slapped down by the current Dallas dynasty. He’s now in San Jose for his
12th season, where this is next to no hope of sniffing a ring.
