Muslim Basketball

What is there to say? They had a bit of a rough start but they’ve hit their stride. Offensively, they cannot be stopped. Defensively, refer to their offense - they score too much for the other team to have a chance. Will this formula win a championship? Stay tuned.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Ameer is the most improved player in this league and he is an absolute force to be reckoned with. He fights for every rebound, stretches the floor, and has a knockdown midrange game. Farzad has stringed a couple solid straight game. The offense is in playoff form, the defense, well, that needs to be worked on. They’re starting to really give up a lot of points, some of which seem to come easily. They do shoot a very high field goal percentage though, so that gives them some slack when it comes to defensive intensity. To win a championship, they’ll need to be more sound defensively. 

Would’ve liked to see a little bit more defense, but nobody can run with them when they have it going. Four different guys with more than 14 points…good luck.

I’ll say it again, this team is clicking. They look like they did when they made both championship runs. This go around though, Ameer has turned into arguably the best power forward in the league. They aren’t necessarily blowing teams out of the water, but they look terrific on both ends of the floor. They’re forcing turnovers, turning them into points, challenging teams of both end of the floor by making them play fast. Only knock is that they sometimes get into an iso mode and try to carry the load one v one - they are also very streaky. When they’re hot, they cannot be beaten, when they get cold, there is a level of vulnerability. They have four games left, all of which I expect them to win.

They won by 8, but they were up 14+ for the majority of the game. They answered every push Riyadh tried to make, Farzad, even though he didn’t have a statistically overwhelming game, appeared to be the most comfortable he’s been all season. Ameer continues to play at an MVP caliber level, making plays for himself, but also finding ways to distribute when the opportunity is not there for himself. Fahad continues to stretch the floor, shooting 43% from deep. Ali is putting an enormous amount of pressure on defenses to hustle back on defense and stop his transition game. Salman stays clogging underneath. Dhaka is locked, loaded, and ready to defend their title.

Farzad had his best game in a long time. Salman had a very under the radar 9 and 13. As a whole, they limited Fez's explosive offense, starting with keeping Ed to a season low of only 10 points on 3-11 shooing. First half looked a little iffy, but they got it going on offense and defensive to close the game out. Would have liked to see a more dominant start, but keeping Fez to 47 is an impressive feat. Each individual piece of their Big 4 is starting to click, once they can all play at a high level at a unit, Dhaka will be Dhaka again.

40 from Ali and Ameer on a whole lotta shots. Didn’t necessarily shoot well, but they have Salman doing his thing down low, grabbing boards on both ends. Being +20 on the shot attempt scale and shooting the same percentage as your opponent will virtually guarantee you victory. If Ali can hit the looks he gets and Ameer can capitalize on his interior touches when Farzad and Fahad are both present, Dhaka can and will be right there looking at that three-peat. They have Fez this week, in what should be a game with an over/under at 150 – the fireworks will be on display.

When two of your starting 5 is not there, it’s difficult to win. BUT…Farzad, you gotta do something, Salman, you cannot give up 18 and 15, and all of Dhaka, you cannot commit 16 turnovers. If they lost by 7 in a tight, well fought game, I can forgive them and look at it as an attendance issue. But besides Ameer, they’ve really struggled. Farzad does not look like himself, and except for a few moments, he hasn’t looked like himself for a significant stretch of games now. Besides the 27 and 21 Farzad had against Mecca last season, he hasn’t looked like the Summer 2016 Farzad that did what he wanted, when he wanted, to average 19 points per game on 50%+ from the field. I cannot see Dhaka being successful without him being a top 8 player in this league – the league is just that good now.

They survived a heavyweight rematch against a Mecca team that may be better than they were last year. What continues to impress me about this team is that they have five legitimate guys who can absolutely carry the load any given week. Farzad was hobbled, Ali struggled from the field, Salman did his double-double thing, but Ameer and Fahad combined for 35 to survive a 3-point barrage from Malik Zubi. May not have supposed to end up winning this game, but have to salute them for overcoming a second half double digit deficit. They will continue to sit atop this league until they prove otherwise.