The Saints were picked to beat the Hillsiders by double digits. The Hillsiders barely made the playoffs with two unimpressive wins (How?). In the third week of the season, the Saints beat the Hillsiders in horrific fashion. It was a 22 point beat-down that technically should have knocked the Hillsiders out of the league.... OK - I hope you get the point. This game was not even supposed to be a contest.
The Saints made their statement early. They opened up a six point lead in the first quarter behind 10 points by Ivan Ragen. The Hillsiders shocked a lot of people as they hung around throughout the second quarter. They were down by six late in the half and then hit a couple of buckets to pull within one. Kusto hit a HUGE three pointer from the corner just seconds before the halftime buzzer (24-23 Saints at halftime)
We have seen these things happen all the time. The little guys hang around for most of the game and then fall off at the end. People said all along that they couldn't - and they usually don't. Apparently, the end of the second quarter triggered a spark of belief for the Hillsiders that turned into a bonfire to start the third quarter. While the announcers and fans expected the Saints to open the lead up, the Hillsiders went to work. They hit five three pointers in a row - UNBELIEVABLE! Two of those three pointers came from Jeffrey Danes, a Power Forward, who has only hit two three pointers all season long. Bobby Young, the point guard for the Hillsiders, hadn't scored a single point in the first half, yet he dropped three three pointers as well. All of the things that the Saints weren't supposed to let happen - HAPPENED. The Hillsiders amassed 23 points to double their first half output.
The Saints took a beating in the third quarter and could never recover. They cut the lead to five with five minutes to go, yet forced too many threes that wouldn't drop.
The Hillsiders shook up the playoff world pretty big with their 55-48 upset over the Saints. Are the Hillsiders really that bad? A look through their season would show that they only lost to the top ranked Liahonas by 2 as well as the third ranked Iron Rods by the same total. This team has it in them to beat the best teams, yet they have also dropped a handful of headscratchers.
Do they have enough magic to become the ZBA champions? The ZBA commissioner has an opinion on that.... This earthquake may shake up future playoff systems. To Be Continued!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
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2 comments:
Wow those Hillsiders must have had something golden buried within them in order to play as well as they did in such a big game. I think the saints, and all the saint's fans, got a little too prideful. You know what they say, pride cometh before the fall. Too bad.
Well, it just goes to prove that any team can win on any given night.
I also noticed that the Angels are the only Modern-Day division team left. They lost two of their games by 2 and 3 points respectively. Their biggest loss came to the Pioneers by 8 points. Since the Pioneers weren't that good, I think it was a fluke. I'm picking the Angels to make it to the Championship game and then lose to the Liahonas or the Nephites.
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