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Season 3 - Week 9 Recap

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Week 9 was the beginning of a new Dynasty as all 5 teams were brand new, with 5 brand new captains.  With the teams all well balanced, the Direwolves were dealt a harsh blow minutes before the game started with one of their players having to bow out and deal with a family member being sick.  We all pray IA they get better soon.  With the Wolves being handicapped, the other 4 teams looked to take advantage.  The Ballers took off and punched their ticket to the finals before even playing the final game.  On the flip side, the Mambas needed a win against the Ballers to make the finals, otherwise the Soldiers were playing for a new Dynasty.  With the entire Soldiers rooting for the Ballers, the Mambas tuned them all out and went on to play a heck of a final game and won 6-2.  With the win, a rematch of the final game of the night would be the finals, with the Mambas going up against the Ballers.

The Mambas were led this week under the leadership of Umar Ilyas.  Umar has quietly made his way to the top of the leaderboard and had made the finals in 4 of the past 5 weeks.  Going to the finals with him was his first-round pick Uzair who was looking for his first GBBL championship.  Rounding out the team on the Mambas was another player who is consistently at the top of the leaderboard in Zahid Merchant, Umar’s older brother Fahad Ilyas and the most underrated defensive player in the league in Tabish Khan.  The Ballers on the other hand were led this week with big man Siad Badaloo.  Siad wasted no time in grabbing Saleem Qureshi as his top pick.  Although still looking for his first championship on the year, Saleem is one of the deadliest shooters in this league.  Siad decided to go after super sub and good luck charm Suhaib Ibrahim (Suhaib has played only 3 weeks, yet he’s won a championship all 3 weeks).  Rounding out the team would be the rebounding machine himself Raheel Sadiq and the feisty and pesky (yet effective) Shahzad Razzak.

The Mambas wasted no time, bringing that momentum from their previous win against the Ballers, and a quick fadeaway bucket by Uzair, followed by big baskets from Fahad and Umar had the Mambas up 4-0.  The Ballers finally woke up and got buckets by Suhaib and Raheel, but the Mamba’s wouldn’t go away.  Right before half, Zahid hit a 3 to put the Mambas up 5-2 going into the 2nd half.  In the 2nd half, defense took over with Tabish locking down Raheel, and allowed captain Umar to get off another big bucket.  Saleem did everything he could hitting a big 3 to bring the score to a 6-4.  With the intentional foul rule coming into effect, Zahid was fouled but missed the free throw.  Another intentional foul and this time, captain Umar decided to end the game and made his free throw to bring the score to 7-4.  With time running out, Saleem tried a 3 but was covered by 3 other guys and was eventually blocked.  The Mamba’s are the newest GBBL champions (and first for the franchise this year) and will look to defend their chip next week and continue their run to the Dynasty.  With 5 more weeks left, Umar has vaulted ahead of lil’ bro Bilal in the GUT standings and becomes the first player with 5 championships on the year.  Can he continue his streak and go for a 2nd Dynasty?  Tune in next week YoungBloods!!!