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Season 3 - Week 14 Recap

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As GBBL enters the final week, there was still so much to determine as the final 4 spots for All-Star Sunday was still up for grabs.  With so much on the line, everyone came out with an extra pep in their step.  First order of business was for the 4 new teams to take down the Mambas, while the Mambas were riding their latest win and looked to continue their dominance.  As is always the case, you can always expect the unexpected on any given Tuesday.  The shorthanded Wolves (who only had 4 players) went on a tear and finished the round robin without a loss and finished atop the standings.  The final game on the night had the Mambas facing off against the Wolves.  A Mambas win would send them to the finals; a loss would send the Ballers who had the tie breaker against the Soldiers.  Unfortunately, the Mambas didn’t look right at all this week, the Wolves finished them off early and sent them to the sidelines.

The Direwolves were captained by Siad Badaloo this week who wasted no time and drafted Umair Vanthaliwala.  Umair has turned into one of the biggest stars of GBBL and can beat a team all by himself.  Rounding out the Wolves this week were subs Suhaib Ibrahim and Bilal Rustom.  Unfortunately for the Wolves, the boys in grey lost big man Raheel Sadiq last minute and would need to figure out how to win (and rebound) without the big man.  On the flip side, you had Faisal Khan captaining the Ballers for the final week.  Fai ensured he drafted his own MVP in Bilal Ilyas.  Adding to this already formidable team would be Umair Sheikh (who is back from his injury), DPOY candidate Tabish Khan and the pesky Saoud Ramjaun.

With the teams set for the finals, it all but ensured that most of the players playing who were in the running for the final 4 spots would now make it.  A bigger story in the finals had Bilal trying to finish the season in 1st place in the GUT standings.  Knowing what he needed, Bilal took over the game and finished with a game high 8 points and a team high 5 boards.  Not to be outdone, captain Faisal got in on the action and took over under the basket and finished with 3 points.  Unfortunately for the Wolves, missing Raheel proved too much to overcome.  Siad rallied the troops all night and they played their hearts out, finishing atop the standings with only 4 players, but by the 7th game the boys in grey were gassed and could not keep up with the Ballers.  Umair V did what he did all he could and scored all 6 points for the Wolves, but the rest of the team could not score anything else.  Suhaib and Siad were rebounding machines and finished the night with a combined 14 boards but with no offense, rebounds meant nothing.  On the filp side, everyone got in on the action for the Ballers, with everyone finishing with at least one stat.

With the end in sight, Bilal finished the Wolves off with his 3rd basket from beyond the arc and the Ballers took home GBBL’s Season 3’s final championship, with a score of 13-6.  With the win, the top 10 All-Stars were set.  Even more than just the top 10, Bilal did what he set out to accomplish in the final game as he ended the season as the top GUT earner and led all players in points scored, 3’s made and rebounds and got GBBL’s first ever the triple crown.

All-Star Sunday is set for this coming Sunday, March 27, 2022.  With the All-Star game set, there will also be 3 additional All-Star events that will include many other participants; GBBL hopes that most of you will come out this Sunday to cheer on your teammates and take part in the festivities.  The events start promptly at 8:30pm this Sunday at the Velodrome.  Who will come out as the top 3-point shooter?  Who will come out to get first team All-Star?  It all comes down to what happens on Sunday; stay tuned Young Bloods!!