Rasheed "Sheed Dollar" of 3rd Eye made it simple. "A road without potholes leads nowwhere. There can be no undefeated season. You can't advance to the title in these gates without a challenge. Every game is a battle."
Baby Shack, a legend in DC basketball and royalty in the Berry Farms Coliseum put on a Kobe Bryantesque performance and displayed he is more than an explosive athlete and led his team Shooters II to a come from behind victory in overtime 75-68 over Watts.
The temperature was beautiful with a slight breeze as the highlight game of the evening featured Shooters II versus Watts. Both teams suited quality players at all five positions with quick and explosive guards and athletic big men.
Baby Shack and the Shooters II squad got off to a slow start as the Watts team playing with energy and aggressiveness jumped out to a 25-16 lead at the 5:36 minute mark in the first half. Watts guards including University of Nebraska guard Steve Harley played fabulously in the first half while C-Smooth pulled out his repertoire with turnaround jumpers and sweet spin moves. Watts dominated on the boards and were hot from the outside while the Shooters team was building condominiums above the rim. Watts built a 34-21 lead heading into halftime.
The second half however belonged to Baby Shack and Shooters big men Cliff and Tony Durant. Baby Shack was eerily similar to Kobe Bryant in that he was reserved in the first half and didn't exert himself but led a surge in the second by hitting three 3 pointers in a matter of six minutes while getting to the line on aggressive drives to the basket and converting free throws. Shooters began to chip away at the Watts lead.
Super athletic forward Cliff was making fabulous plays while Tony Durant started getting hard earned baskets down low. Baby Shack converted two free throws with 1:14 left in the game to tie the score at 60-60. Cliff's dunk make it 62-62 Shooters. The game ended in regulation 64-64.
In overtime Baby Shack converted two free throws, delivered a sweet assist to Cliff for a dunk and managed a beautiful left hand put back. Cliff finished off the game with two dunks and the final score was 75-68.
I asked Baby Shack his thoughts on willing his team to victory and pulling out new tricks such as three point shooting and off hand finishing and he said. "I had to turn it up. The team was looking for me to lead them. If you want to compare that to Kobe, I'll accept that."
"In regards to my skills, I work on something different on my game constantly from shooting to defense."
In the first game, Get It In did just that as they used a balanced attack to defeat the Face Mob easily 52-32. "It's early in the summer season and all teams are developing the chemistry necessary to play well. Today we got some easy baskets and allowed everybody to get involved," said Doug Dormu of the Get It In team.
The Goodman League play will commence on Monday. Keep checkin back to www.dcmetrosports.com for game writeups and analysis.
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