2016 FBA Season/16.02.17/[email protected]/Capsule
Now THIS... This is the FBA at its finest.
A lot of heads were turned and eyebrows were raised once Owner of the Purple Force Anjij Qimmiq fired Dimi Kabat and established herself as a head coach, outsourcing to Japan to help her usual business endeavors. It was a recipe for disaster... that so far it isn't.
Slipups here and there, but managing to get second in the Conference in a pretty chaotic division isn't a short feat. Not only that, but proving to be the proverbial rock in the other Californian's team shoe, as the pair goes at it for the third time this season.
Decked in flashback jerseys, the game started strong, with the visitors putting a very strong show. L.V. McDyess (Black Panther, G) proving himself top of the league with his signature woods shots, but the home team didn't fret. Here we see an Alessandro Serra (Weasel, G) like we never seen him in Alaska before. Seems the team change got him to express his full potential, going hand to hand with the panther while obliterating Stephan Soro (Red Fox, G), in Point skill.
Closing the first half on a 9 point deficit, the team went guns blazing into the second. You could only see the big 5 of San Jose for most of this second half, showing they went all in in wanting this win. A straregy that worked and forced the Spectrums to work the most with what they had, even if they suffered a minor flub with Lee Jin-Sung (Black Bear, F), while the Thrust suffered an injury of their own with Riccardo Vega (Maned Wolf, F). The intense defensive skill of Dewitt Azad Ghakhar (Markhor, F/C) and Barnaby Jazz (Shark, C/F) shone in this quarter, forcing the game into overtime, both teams 97 a piece.
The Thrust's starting line got their work cut out for them, with rookie Jonathan Lawyer (Meerkat, F/G) managing to snatch a very important clutch three to debut the overtime period. The dagger of the game many thought came from a mistake from McDyess, when one of his claws accidentally found a way to the snout of co-captain Blythe Nacht (Red Fox, G), putting him out for the rest of the night, but giving the ball back to the home team, and both Serra and Lawyer made sweet use of that advantage, managing to close the night with an 8 point lead, beating the Spectrums in their second overtime game. Seems we got a rivalry to watch in this shindig!
Looking at the boxscores you can see the difference in styles. The Thrust heavily relied on their star players, who managed a Double-Double hattrick, while their lower bench was only able to score three points in total (all from one player!) and everyone in the starting line managing to clock in at 40 minutes. Santa Ana went with a more bench oriented game. The rainbows have to shake it up, as it seems the plucky purple have them figured out for the most part.
~Zane Donovan. FSPN.com
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