~ Malden Neighborhood Basketball League ‘Big Dance’ Weekend ~

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Hot Shot Contest

  Timmy Melton (Celtics) takes home the Title this year …

Game 1 – Bullets 74, Lakers 32

  Bullets jumped out to a 20+ point deficit by the half. That is a tough amount to come back from, for any team, let alone just four guys for the Lakers. But the Purple have never given up all season long & did not once again. Their top scorers were R. Laughton (11) and R. Correale (10). On the other side, the Bullets got a huge game from C. Mijar – going 8-8 from the line and ending with 34 total – as well as L. Guertin with 22 big points for the blue. Team 1, Day 1 – Moving on to the Dance.

Game 2 – Celtics 71, Kings 40

  Celts took full advantage of the undermanned Kings squad, as they should. And they took care of business to advance to the Dance on Sunday. They jumped to a 12-point lead after one and they scored 24 points just from three-pointers in the game – behind 27 from O. Ruan, 16 from J. Pomare & 15 from T. Melton. The Kings’ Z. Pierre led his team with 16, and all seven players did score, but just not at the volume of the high-powered shooting from the green.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Three-Point Contest

  Oscar Ruan (Celtics) for the second-straight season takes home Back2Back Titles …

Game 1 – Coaches 55, All-Stars 38

  Celts Coach Joe Young played the whole game, in hopes of breaking a record but fell short. “Cliff Williams still remains the Coaches Legend” with three dozen – but Joe did lead all players with a game-high of 33. Fun Fact … Only five of the 10 coaches got on the scoreboard in this one. Six of the seven players scored, but it was A. Martino of the Sixers who led the All-Stars with 17. The Coaches with this Victory now hold a 22-14 advantage in the face-to-face battles.

Game 2 – Celtics 73, Bullets 55

  As Predicted 1 vs 2 came to Fruition and the Emerald kept their Momentum from the last time they played the Boys in Blue. And it didn’t hurt that they were shooting at a high percentage this game as well. At some point during the game, it looked like they couldn’t miss?

  The Bullets who all but ran away from the pack at the start of the season, seemed to have struggled the last few weeks at times & it came back to haunt them in the Big Dance. A Great season for both squads… The Bullets, who usually have a lead at the end of each quarter, did not have a lead in any quarter in this game, even with 24 from L. Guertin & 21 from C. Mijar. It just wasn’t enough firepower. And O. Ruan did it again with his amazing shooting, ending with a game-high of 34, and J. Pomare dropped 16 for the second-straight game; T. Melton went for 14. That helped the Celts break their 11-year curse & take home the Bling & The Ball.