Muslim Basketball

Best win: Outlasting Yaffa. Offense has been a grind all season for Yazur and they got a huge boost this game from Ali Mahin hitting 7 threes. They have a long list of players who are capable of attacking the basket but Ali and Abdulrafay are the best shooters on the team. It would greatly benefit the team to keep either both of them or at least one on the court as much as possible to give some diversity to their offensive attacks. Defensively, they’ve looked fine as long as the effort is high.

Unlike a lot of their other losses, this game never felt close. It was uncharacteristic of Yazur, as they let Rafah outrun them and take advantage of numbers on the break. It has been a frustrating season but they have different pieces to work with and they need to keep on looking for a way to put it together in a win.

Credit to Yazur for keeping it close for the majority of the game. Marawan made it difficult for Al-Khalil to finish at the rim and Abdulrafay went off again as a starter. The effectiveness of their zone defense seems slightly misleading as many plays Al-Khalil had options between 2 wide open shooters but missed. They might need to shift away from the long dribble drives they’re struggling to convert.

Despite all the losses, Yazur continues to fight and play with energy. They need better defensive technique, though, because a 16-2 foul difference is huge in a 8 point game. Offensively, Abdulrafay played more this week and he delivered with 14 points, 5-7 and 4-4 from 3. The drives from the perimeter are not as threatening so maybe they can try working inside-out with Marawan.

The story continues to be the same for Yazur, as they just don’t have the shotmaking to keep themselves in a lot of these games. If Alaa, Ali and Atef are going to combine for 3 baskets, it’s going to be a long night. Hicham continues to score with 16, which will be big if he can keep it up while others return more to their baseline.

A good gameplan and effort from Yazur to play a slow paced game and force poor shooting from Areeha, which kept them in a manageable distance for most of the game. However, all the extra possessions they gave through turnovers and rebounding were too much to overcome. Good bounce back game from Hicham chipping in 4 buckets.

Congrats on the first W in North for this core. It was a gritty performance and Yazur’s zone continues to give teams problems. 7 threes and 22 points for Ali Mahin was huge for this team that struggles to score consistently. They took care of business but they’ll have to keep proving themselves against better competition.

The newcomers battled hard on the boards with 39 rebounds and saw strong scoring from Hicham Elalam’s 17 points and Marawan Elbaz’s energetic 11-point, 10-rebound effort. However, the team struggled with shooting efficiency, hitting just 31% from the field and missing opportunities at the free-throw line. Despite active defense that produced 11 steals and six blocks, offensive inconsistencies kept them from matching Gaza’s scoring rhythm.