Well, here it is, 9:55pm on April 26, 2012. All the NBA games are finished for the night and for the season. All that we can do now is wait for the overnight calibration. The FG% category is so close that I'm not going 'finalize' the year until it's complete.
This was a wild and crazy night. Hildy and I spent most of the night texting back and forth. Around 7pm I was pretty much admitting defeat. The Golden team was about as horrible as a team could be tonight. Again, the hot category tonight was FG% and my guys threw up bricks all night long.
Wesley Mathews shot 4/18.
Luis Scola shot 0/7.
Goran Dragic shot 3/10.
Brandon Bass shot 2/8.
By 7pm my team was shooting 27% and I had been passed by French and Arctic in FG%. I was down to 46.1% in that category and things looked grim. More on FG% in a minute...
I had also fallen behind French in steals. Golden, which started the night at 1068, was down to 1029 and it looked like a real disaster had just occurred. Golden started the night up 10 steals on French but his guard heavy lineup mustered up 12 steals to pass me. Luckily, Mathews and Dragic (2) each had 4th quarter steals to push me 1 steal ahead of the Legends. The final tally in steals appears to be Golden 767 and French 766. This got Golden back to 1042.
The other interesting development was Golden's move in ATO. Maui was missing 5 players on the final night (4 of them being guards) and Trev's ATO fell slightly from 1.507 to 1.505. Meanwhile, Golden's ATO was on the rise thanks to Goran Dragic's 13/3 line. By the time the late game was starting (Kings vs. Lakers) -- Maui and Golden were both at 1.505 with Maui still ahead.
The JBL title would be decided by the one and only player that Golden and French Lick had playing in the final 2 games of the night. The Warriors played the Spurs and the Kings played the Lakers. The only man game left was for Golden's Isaiah Thomas. When this game started - Golden needed some good ATO to get past Maui and also to have a hot shooting night from the 60th pick in the NBA draft. When the game started I was at 46.2% and French was also at 46.2%. French was slightly ahead based on the decimal points. The only way Golden could win would be to pass French in FG%.
The Lakers started a bunch of bench players and the Kings jumped out on them early. At the end of the 1st quarter it was 35-24 for the Kings. The problem was that Isaiah wasn't playing much and had only taken 2 shot. He did make both shots and was 2/2 with 4 assists. The 4 assists (0 turnovers) moved Golden ahead of Maui in ATO. With the move up in ATO Golden was now up to 1055 points. The problem was that French was at 1057. It looked like it was going to be a French Lick win by 2 points...
By halftime in the Kings/Lakers game, Isaiah's line looked exactly the same as the 1st quarter. He was still 2/2 for 4 points. He played a total of 9 minutes in the 1st half. Golden still trailed French Lick in FG%.
22 seconds into the 2nd half Isaiah missed a bad fade away attempt. He was now 2/3.
With 10:52 to go in the 3rd quarter Isaiah hit an 18 footer. He was now 3/4.
With 9:18 to go - Isaiah made a layup and was now 4/5. This basket moved Golden percentage points ahead of French in FG%.
As the quarter played on the Kings built a bigger lead. The score at the end of the quarter was 90-74. My hope was that the Kings would play Jimmer. I was chanting his name in my kitchen watching the game. But they didn't hear me. Isaiah was on the floor to start the 4th quarter.
I was hoping that maybe Isaiah would just be a passer. Don't shoot it I kept saying. I was literally talking to the TV. Sometimes yelling at it. With 10:26 to go in the 4th I watched Isaiah pull up for a 3 at the top of the arc. I rose from my chair saying "Noooooooo" but ended up saying "YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS" as the ball swished through the net. Isaiah for 3!! He was now 5/6 and I begged Keith Smart to take him out of the game.
With 7:13 to go in the game the Kings put in Jimmer and Isaiah went to bench. The score was 99-81. The lead was safe. The starters should rest. The only starter that remained in the game for the Kings was DeMarcus Cousins. He was working on a monster game - he finished with 23pts and 19rebs. And then - the unthinkable happened. Fucking Keith Smart put Isaiah back in the game for Cousins??? What was going on? What was I witnessing? Go check it out - http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=320426023&period=4 - with 2:25 to go in the 4th quarter, with the score now 109-90 - the Kings put Thomas back in the game.
My worst nightmare was about to happen. I couldn't watch anymore. Partly because I was too nervous to watch - but also because I had to finally give Ryan his spelling words for his big test tomorrow. I don't think I've ever felt so nervous giving 15 words to an 8 year old and trying to not think about the TV on in the other room. I hurried Ryan along with his practice quiz (he got 15/15 by the way) and walked back into the kitchen. The game was over. I saw Thomas walking off the court and the announcer said he finished with 11 points and 7 assists. I quickly thought to myself - that's exactly what he had when he left the game. I thought - please God - please tell me he didn't shoot. I went to the IPAD's Score App and checked the box score. Isaiah was still showing as 5/6 from the field. I didn't trust it. I went to the office and checked at YAHOO, ESPN, and NBA.com - they all showed 5/6.
So, right now, at 10:34pm and for the last 45 minutes or so - the Golden Showers have 1068 points and the French Lick Legends have 1044 points. Both teams shot 46.2% on the season. At the moment, the Showers are fractions ahead of the Legends in this category. It's not official until the overnight calibration is done and the stats are made official by the NBA.
So, we'll see what the morning brings. It will either be an 8th title for the Golden Showers or the 1st ever for the French Lick squad. The night will be remembered for bad shooting and what could have been. Both teams had guys go cold. Golden's players have been mentioned above but French also had Mike Conley (0/5) and Greivis Vasquez (3/14) shoot poorly. It was initially reported that Vasquez wasn't even supposed to play tonight. When it's all said and done it might have been 1 make or miss that was the difference.
This strike shortened JBL season has been a wild one. The JBL title wasn't decided until the 4th quarter of the final game of the season. It could be 1 make or 1 missed shot that was the difference. I can think of only 2 other seasons where it was this close. One was years ago when I was in the Caymans with Benny. I'm pretty sure we sat up really late on the last night watching just like Hildy and I did tonight. This is probably the closest JBL title race of all time when I think back though...
And in the end it was the player who is known as Mr. Irrelevant that determined the JBL champion. The 60th pick in the NBA draft. A 5'9 kid from Tacoma, Washington. He wasn't selected by any JBL team at Auction. He was signed by Golden for $1 dollar on February 18th. He replaced Chase Budinger on the roster. Thomas ended up playing 35 games for Golden and none of them was more important than tonight's. It's no secret that Isaiah Thomas will be back in Golden to start next season. He's earned that.
So for now...I'll sign off. Thanks to all JBL owners for another great season. We don't have a league without all of you. I'll wrap things up with my usual season in review in the coming days. To whoever reads the JBL Chronicles - thanks for reading. I'll let all the teams know where to send your $100 entry fee. To the money winners - congrats. And for now...I'll say good day, good night, and good season.
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