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 (06/07/2008)  Evolution - 2008 SkinnyDragon Men's Open Basketball League Champions   (04/26/2008) Goldhawks bounced back to their usual form after a dismal loss to the Monsters last week. After a poor display in their last game, Goldhawk came out firing beyond the arc and whatever they did or ate for that day worked. Haze fell victim to the hot and fiery Goldhawk’s determination not lose again. Player of the week, Marcus Yeun (25pts) is either on or off, and unfortunately for team Haze he was on this week … on FIRE! Yeun was 5 for 7 for 3s in the first half; lighting it up for 18 of his 25 points. Talk about a 360 turnaround performance for Goldhawk as a team game plan was in effect. Even with team leader, Ching Yeung, sidelined on the bench, the entire team out performed everyone’s expectations. Obviously, it was the superb 3pt shooting that accelerated the Goldhawks to their 4th win of the season, shooting 15 for 30 (45 pts) as a team beyond the arc. However, Haze were resilient and fired back with Alfred Law (23pts) and easy layups to the basket, but as a team they needed to score more 2 pointers just to keep up with Goldhawk’s outstanding 3 point shooting. In the end, Goldhawk answered back with a win this week and hope their hot shooting continues in the playoffs. Final score: 86-64 |boxscore||video  This season’s Sliders have not been the 2 time defending champions we are use to seeing on the court. With obvious key players MIA this season, it has proved to be an absence on the court. With all of their big players not playing this season left the middle vulnerable for attack; and  that is exactly what Evolution executed this game. Evolution dominated in the first half with an inside out game plan, as big man Francis Kim (16 pts) took on the role of playmaker in the first few minutes of the game. The tag team duo Kenny Ao and Tylor Kim scored a combined 55 pts made it difficult for Sliders to come back after being down 22-38 at the half. In comparison, Sliders were not obviously playing a team game, as they took on Evolution one-on-five. In the second half, Rembert Koon (27pts) knew he needed to have the ball in his hand and get hot real fast; and that he did. Koon hit all of his 6 3-pointers in the second half. He brought his team back within 5 with 9:00 left in regulation; after hitting 3 pointers in a row. Unfortunately, that was as close as they would come as both team had their own scoring run; Evolution with a 2-14 run and then Sliders with a 14-4 run of their own. Evolution sits confidently at #2 and awaits their next challenger. Final Score: 72-81 |boxscore||video|Monsters must have not received the memo; Big Daddy Joe (15pts) will contest anything that comes in his house. SkinnyDragon League leader shot blocker, Garrett, averages 1.7 blocks per game, but this did not discourage the Monster’s guards Andy Wong (12pts) and Eddy Sin (15pts) from driving and scoring within the key; even after big blocks from Will Fraincis (3 blk), Brian Lam (1 blk) and Joe Garrett (3 blk). Monsters off a 2 game win-streak continued where they left off last week playing aggressive and attacking the basket on every possession. Blasians started the game with a typical slow start with a 17-10 start to the game. At the half the game was a deadlock, 40-40. Monsters 13 turnovers charged Blasians comeback as they cashed in on their mistakes. With 3:30 left in the game, Blasians took over the lead but decided to play safe; too safe allowing Monsters to answer back. Luckily for Blasians, Monsters fail to execute their shot opportunities as Blasians wins their 2nd game in a row and sits comfortably in 3rd place. Final Score: 69-75 |boxscore||video| Player of the Game: Marcus Yeun (Goldhawk)   (04/19/2008) Freshman nerves no more. Monsters find themselves able to move up in the standings this week as theyhad another chance against the veteran squad Goldhawk. The last timethese teams met, Goldhawk edged out the Monsters by 6. Even though, All-Star Dalton Mak dropped 35pts in their last meeting Goldhawk managed to come out with the W. Team Goldhawk needed to shutdown Mak this time around. The start of this game had more travelling calls (9 in total) against both teams than total points on the scoreboard; let say it was a cold start. Monsters game out with their typical high pace and intensity, but team Goldhawk seemed to lack any motion on their offence and energy on both ends of the court. Monsters capitalized on their steals and Goldhawk’s turnovers, putting the freshman team up 29-15 at the half. With no Monsters scoring more than 10 pts, it was obvious team Goldhawk were beating themselves this week; waiting for someone to step up on the scoring end as time ticked away. Down 50-25, Goldhawk needed to start scoring and needed it to start now with 6:00 left in regulation. But in the end, Monsters defeated Goldhawk even with Dalton Mak restricted to 5pts this game; it was definitely a team effort win for the Monsters. We will see this week if Goldhawk can bounce back from their 2 games losing streak as Monsters extend their win-streak to 2. Final score: 56-35 |boxscore||video|  After a questionable start to the season, team Ballers have silenced their critics as they have definitely proved in their recent games they are the ones to beat this season. Warriors had another crack at the All-Star team Ballers after a 74-54 loss last Saturday. The pace at start of the game was high and fast as both team pushed the ball down the court when given the chance. Ron Mui (8 pts), Warriors, worked hard on every attempt, even when being poked in the eye, but too bad his shots did not drop for the score. Warriors had great looks at the basket, but their shots were rimming out at every chance in addition they could not keep up with the hot scoring Ballers; down 46-24 at the half. Louis Wong (19 pts) went on a scoring run in the second half as he dropped 13 of his 19 points and it looked like Warriors were coming back. However, the Warriors were unable to contain Baller guard, Jason Kim (18 pts) as he drove in easily to the basket one too many times. Ballers walked away with their 8th win of the season putting them one game away from an undefeated regular season. Final score: 77-65 |boxscore||video|Player of the Game: Jason Kim (Ballers)   (03/29/2008) The second half of the season resumed with the evenly matched Goldhawk and Warriors both fighting for their 3rd win of the season. With the Warriors’ floor general, Richard Chen, MIA this week, the question if the Warriors could continue to perform like they have this season. Cliff Yau (13 pts) was assigned to take care of the ball at the top and proved to be the substitution for the missing Richard Chen this week. Yau was close to being perfect from the floor, giving the Warriors the consistency and control they needed at the top. However, Goldhawk had their own answer to the retooled Warriors squad, Marcus Yeun (20 pts) was on target beyond the arc this week. Even though Goldhawk took high percentage shots; they were not dropping for the score. After being discourage from his outside shots, Ching Yeung changed his game plan and attacked the basket strong and scored 2 the hard way. The Warriors found themselves down by 9 pts until Cliff scored 8 straight points to cut the lead to 3 in the second half. The lead traded hands until 30 seconds left in the game. Ron Mui (19 pts) fails to secure the lead with a jumper, thus giving Goldhalk the opportunity to seal and secure their 3rd win of the season. Final score: 56-52 |boxscore||video| Our second game had the army roster of Monsters up against the All-Star missing roster of Ballers. With 3 of their key players missing this week, Ballers left the scoring to the rest of the team, more like leaving it to Kevin Ho. The Ballers played strong on both ends of the court with good shot selection and tenacious defence shutting down Elton Mak all game. Even with Dalton Mak’s outrageous range and shot from way beyond the arc, it was not enough against the scoring power of Kevin Ho (24 pts). Ballers runaway with the game in the 2nd half and extend their win-streak to 6. Final score: 39-62 |boxscore||video| Player of the Game: Kevin Ho (Ballers) 
 (03/15/2008) The last thing we would have predicted at the start of the 2008 SkinnyDragon Spring All-Star game would be the longest game in SkinnyDragon history. All-Stars Silver came out on fire and controlled the game as the crowd was entertained by the high flying alleyoop dunks by MJ (33 pts) and Will Francis (26 pts). What started out as a game of crazy moves and passes eventually changed pace once All-Stars Blue had the will to trigger a come back, 41-63 deficit at the half. After MJ's third hit to the eye, he figured the lead was in good hands, rather than risk yet another hit to his eye, it was a logical decision ... until the All-Stars Blue regained life. Pressured defence and forcing the All-Stars Silvers to settle for outside shots, All-Stars Blue led by Darren Liu (33 pts) and Kenny Ao (33 pts) controlled the game and slowly chipped away at the 22 point lead and put the game within 3 points with 2 minutes left. Germaine Wan (18 pts), the 3pt specialist hits an unbelievable 3 pointer to tie the game at 0:07. After 40 minutes of play the game needed overtime to determine a winner. But after trading baskets in the first and second overtimes, the score remained tied at 117 each. If it was not Will Francis, (Silver) who "posterize dunked" Kenny Ao at the start of the 2nd overtime, it was Kenny Ao (Blue) who responded back to extended the game. Now with the 1 minute overtime periods, both teams were determined to "hold for last shot", but neither team stuck with that plan, which just allowed the opposing team to come back and score. By the 5th and final overtime period, there was a light at the end of the tunnel as both teams wanted to walk away with the victory. After the All-Stars Blue point guard Darren Liu was called for 10s in the backcourt, it gave All-Stars Silver another chance to take the lead, but it was a lost opportunity as Lui was fouled to put him on the line for 2. But with Will Francis doing a little "encouraging" talking, Liu missed his first and but calmly sunk his 2nd giving All-Stars Blue a 1 point lead. Will Francis fires back and scores a tough jump shot to put them up with 12 secs. left . All-Stars Blue, with one chance to put the game in the books, threw in a long inbound pass to Kenny Ao who manages to tip the pass to himself over Will Francis and score easily with a layup with 1 second to spare. All-Stars Blue accomplish the comeback and the win. That put an end to the LONGEST game ever! |boxscore||video| Players of the Game: Darren Liu (All-Stars Blue) & Kenny Ao (All-Stars Blue) All-Star MVP: SkinnyDragon Crew (Great Job Ladies & Hoi)  (03/15/2008) Recap to Come! |boxscore||video|  (02/23/2008) After dropping their first game of the season, Blasians have since won their last 2 games – can they extend their streak this week? With a roster stacked with athleticism, size, and power it has been proven that this squad is not settling anything less than the championship title. Team Goldhawk just needed to continue to play great team basketball. Although a blowout lost to Evolution last Saturday could have affected their confidence level, they were determined to put last week’s game behind them. The key to Goldhawk’s success, this season, has been the poised play of players like Ching Yeung, Marcus Yuen, and San Li stepping up to the plate when called upon. Last week, Gordon Zhang (22 pts) kept Blasians in the game and he continued his hot hand this week shooting 8-10 from the field. However, Blasians executed their game plan perfectly by taking high percentage shots and slowly building a lead. Ching Yeung, with 16pts, continued to lead his team by example and with a second scorer, Marcus Yuen (19pts), dropping 19pts definitely kept Goldhawk in the game. Even though Goldhawk stepped it up on the offensive end, they also needed to step it up on the defensive end and find an answer to the “High Flyer” MJ (27 pts) of Blasians. With 5 players in double digits, it is obvious that even if Goldhawk stopped one player from scoring, another Blasians player would have stepped up. Goldhawk kept the game close but could not keep up with the intense play of Blasians – Final Score: 77-92 |boxscore||video| It is about time, the “All-Star” roster of Ballers finally played two solid halves this week. We were starting to question, could this be an issue of too much talent. Team Ballers have been outplayed by their opponents in recent weeks in the first halves, and barely pulling out wins in the final minutes of the games. All cylinders were in motion this week with 3 players, Darren Liu, Germaine Wan and Chris P, scoring at least 20 pts each. However, Evolution came into this game on a 2 game win-streak and was poised to serve team Ballers their first loss of the season, but that did not transpire in the first half. By the half, Evolution found themselves down 59-28, a 31 point deficit, which would seem impossible to come back from. Evolution’s Kenny Ao (32 pts) was willing to take on the challenge by scoring 43% of the team’s points; it was obvious that team Ballers did not have an answer for Kenny Ao. Evolution was able to cut away at the Baller’s lead, but time would prove to be a factor. If team Ballers continue to play consistently like they did this week, they may just be the team to beat this season; but only time will tell as anything can happen in March. Final Score: 90-74 |boxscore||video| The Monsters, in their freshman season, has entered the league with a surge and see themselves as contenders as well, especially after a recent victory over the 2-time Champions Sliders. Teams have yet to figure out how to stop the Maks, Dalton (24 pts) and Elton (10 pts) thus far in the season. Monsters found themselves up by a basket at the end of the half, which meant that this game could come down to the wire. The second half of the game had the lead trade hands and at 12 minutes Monsters slowly starts to pull away after Haze’s Omar (20 pts) received a technical. The momentum shifted back to Haze when the team was awarded 2 free shots from the candy stripe; due to a missed player on the roster. Haze ties the game and with one second left in regulation, Omar had a chance to win it, but missed. Nothing was settled in regulation time, nor was it in the first overtime. The veteran team Haze welcomed Monsters to the league and edged them out in the second overtime. Omar has been a key improvement to team Haze this season. Final Score: 55-52 2OT |boxscore||video| Player(s) of the Week: MJ (Blasians) & Chris P (Ballers)   (02/16/2008) - Written By Zoe CheungOur first match of the day is the 2-time champions Sliders vs. the “All-Star” team Ballers. Even though Sliders have started the season weak, they definately did not this game; even with the absence of Rembert Koon. Their new players, Hurbert Wong (22pts) and Jason Wu (18pts) were simply unstoppable. They owned Ballers' Hoi Yeung by scoring at will - even with a hand in their face. Sliders controlled the defensive boards that it was no surprise they were leading 38–29 at the half. In the second half, the “All-Star” team realized they needed to pick up their game and play like an "All-Star" team. Darren Liu (14pts) took the initiative and impressively hit two key 3 pointers to tie the game with 3:30 left (59-59). With only 2:30 left, Ballers manage to take lead with Kevin’s free throws. But Sliders responded back quickly with Edwin Wong's only basket of the day, a three of his own to take the lead. Thanks to Tim Chang, a high percentage free throw shooter, and not chocking in the end, Ballers were able to take a 1-point lead. With less than 10 seconds, Powder scores two after stealing back the ball. This was to redeem himself from his earlier “air ball” from the free throw line. Final score 63:66 Ballers defeat Sliders. |boxscore||video| Our second match, Goldhawk vs. Evolution turned out to be a blowout. Even though Ching Yeung play solid defence and offence, it was simply not enough. No one from Goldhawk seemed to be able to handle Evolution’s big man, Francis kim (26pts), his play secure the win for Evolution. Final score 84-46. |boxscore||video| Our final game of the day had the Warriors vs Blasian. After winning the last game, they start off real weak in the 1st half. On the other hand Alex Liew (21pts) and Ron Miu (13pts), Warriors were taking advantage of Blasian “crappy” defence and turnovers. Warriors were able to secure a 5 pts lead in the 1st half. In the 2nd half it was more or less of the same from the Warriors, Richard Chen (13pts) made it look easy as he drove through his defender untouched, but Blasians finally woke up and got serious. With Maxwell Fuller strong offence and Gordon Zhang amazing 3s, they managed to push the final score to 73 – 57. Blasians wins again. |boxscore||video| Player of the Week: Francis Kim (Evolution)   (02/09/2008) After a shake up to this season, we found familiar teams with new identities and key players on different teams. First week of games have already proved that the SkinnyDragon championship title is up for grabs. Coming off a season opener win last week, under a new identity, Goldhawk continued where they left off last week. Their first win eliminated any or all doubt that they would not be a contender. With the absence of Germaine Wan and Hubert Wong this season, with a combined scorng average of 27.4PPG, Goldhawk knew they would have to come out strong from the start of every game this season. This week, they had the distinct honour of facing the “All-Star” roster of team Ballers. However, Ballers showed signs of a "rookie" team with a huge amount of talent, that any or all players could step up and take over – but we have yet to see it from the start. But let's not disregard the play of Goldhawk, as they came out with poise and confidence, refusing to go down without a fight. After a hot start in the first half, Goldhawk were up by 3pts at the half. Ching Yeung had a career SkinnyDragon high this game with 21pts, which lead all scorers, and San Li (15pts) scored at will from the outside. By the second half, Ballers were refocused and a plan to put an end to Goldhawks momentum, but were unable to secure the lead and once again found themselves down 3pts with 6 seconds left in the game. Baller point guard Darren Liu (18pts) hit a crucial 3-pointer to extend the game and send it into overtime. Liu carried the hot hand into overtime stepping it up on both ends of the court. Germaine Wan (11pts) secured the win from the line with 2 free throws with 3 seconds left. Although Jason Kwan (7pts), team Goldhawk, managed to put up a buzzer beater shot with less than 3 seconds left, it was too late to make it a game. Ballers defeat Goldhawk 63-61. |boxscore||video|  Our second match up of the day had the 2-time defending champions Sliders against the rookie team Monsters. At the start of the game, it was questionable if Sliders would have their big men today due to a miscommunication – this could thus be a factor. With the loss of Will Francis to Blasians this season, Sliders would need to make up for his intensity and communication on the court. Questions of MIA Hubert Wong were answered in this game; he is now a Slider. Sliders game out strong from the tip welcoming team Monsters to the league. At the end of the half, Sliders displayed why they hold the covet title of 2-time champions with a 10pt lead. However, if this game would be like Monsters’ game last week, you cannot count them out. And that they did, Monsters slowly chipped away at the lead led by the Mak brothers, Dalton Mak (27pts) and Elton Mak (15pts). With 11 minutes left it was a new game tied at 38pts a piece, Sliders had to stop at least one of the Maks – if D-Mak hitting a turn-around-fade-away 3-pointer is not a sign, then what is? The veteran players of Sliders, Rembert Koon (19pts) and Hurbert Wong (12pts), battled hard on the offensive to hold on to the win – but would fall short. With the combined scoring of 28 of Monsters 43 second half points, the Mak brothers gave their team their first SkinnyDragon win of the season. Final Score: 64-54. |boxscore||video| By the time the third game came to a start, we were ready for some more excitement. Blasians were back to redeem themselves with a win after losing their first game to Ballers last week; which could have been their win. Hopefully Blasians would learn from their mistakes and use them to their advantage. Haze lost key players from their “Cinderella” team last season, Hoi Yeung and Kevin Ho, Alfred Law would need to accept and take on the role of franchise player of Haze. After a cold start from the outside, Blasians’ intense first half play proved to be their strong point and yet their weak point; they need to play both halves like this to be crowned champions. Jaime Garrett (9pts) was a hot shooter at the start of the game, shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc. After finding themselves down 26-40 at the half, Haze knew this was a reality check and stepped up their game led by Omar (18pts) who brought Haze back with intensity at both ends with steals, scoring, and key assists. By 13:12 left, Haze, led by Alfred Law (18pts), manages to cut the 10pts lead to within 3pts with fearless attacks to the basket. As Blasians become scoreless, Haze comes alive. Simon Chan fouls out with 5 minutes left thus taking a key rebounder away from Haze. After shooting 0-11 from the arc, Ivan Ho finally hit his big shot of the game with his 12th attempt tying the game. From that point on, the lead changed hands showing that both teams refuse to take a loss. Omar put Haze up by 1pt at 1:03 with an AND1, but the following events eventually became their enemy. Eric Lo, another Haze big man, fouls out of the game putting Will Francis (13pts) at the line to put the game into overtime. Once in overtime, someone forgot to tell Haze they still had a fighting chance and thus allowed Blasians outscore them 4-11 in extra time. Blasians runaway with their first win of the season, final score 73-80.
|boxscore||video|It is only 2 weeks into the season and there are signs of a great season, who will come out on top and who will be the “Cinderella” team of the season. Stay tuned! Player of the Week: Dalton Mak (Monsters)   (02/02/2008) It was a fresh start to a new season. There were new teams, new players, and the usual suspects … but like with everything there would be changes. Shake up would best describe what happened to this season’s rosters. Last season’s team Scarlem returned with a new team name, Goldhawk, and minus key players like Hubert Wong, Germaine Wan & Tim Chang – Wan & Chang who both joined the all-star team Ballers with power forward Hoi Yeung. Flight also returned with the same formula; new team name (Warriors) minus a few key players Ron Mui and Ambrose Wong. Blasians, former team Towers, returned with a retooled roster picking up Will Francis from the championship Sliders (season 3). Confused – yes to say the least. Can these teams shake thier past and start fresh? Stay Tuned. First game of Season 4 had Goldhawk vs. Warriors. Goldhawk led by Ching Yeung took charge of his squad by example by taking more shots when the opportunity was given. The surprise play by Alex Wei (Goldhawk) stunned both his teammates as well as the crowd by scoring a SkinnyDragon career high 17 pts. With a noticeable absence of Hubert Wong on the inside, Alex Wei controlled the boards on both ends of the court. Goldhawk has a balanced squad with addition of unselfish playing style, as all players scored a minimum of 6pts each. Warriors came out firing with their usual high intensity. However maybe a little too much this game, as both teams had more turnovers than shot attempts in the first 5 minutes of the game. Instead of trading baskets they were trading turnovers. Goldhawk slowly regained their bearings and lead 16-30 at the half. In the end, Warriors were unable to chop away at the lead Goldhawk built in the first half. Warriors go down with a final score 50-63 to Goldhawk. | boxscore || video |  Game #2 had the retooled Blasians against the new team Ballers. Ballers may be new, but the faces were too familiar. Lead by the 3 SkinnyDragon all-stars, Hoi Yeung, Germaine Wan, and Darren Liu who have lead in scoring at one point with their respective former teams. With the inside presence of Yeung, the outside presence of Wan, and the assist presence of Liu became evident this was a great formula for a solid team. But only time will tell. Blasians enter the season lead by shot blocker, Big Daddy Joe Garrett and the Sky Flyer MJ. Garrett was determined to lead his team to the championship title this year by recruiting the skills of Will Francis (21pts)from last season Sliders. The combination of Blasians’ hot shooting from the outside, pressure on the ball and in yourface deafens the Ballers to turn the ball over, which then converted into easy fast breakpoints. At the half Blasians had a 10pt lead over the Ballers, 29-39. After a frustrating first half, Ballers came out strong in the second half as the Blasians for some reason, moved away from what was working for them in the first half – they stopped pressuring the ball. Ballers slowly bit away at the 10pt lead, as they got hot from the outside as Blasians got cold. Wan and Liu took over in the second half as they scored a combined 28 of the Ballers 41 second half points. Germaine Wan took the lead from the candy stripe as he was rewarded with 3 shots after being fouled. Wan (FT 6-7) from the line took the lead with 8:30 left in regulation. But it ended up being all that was needed as team Ballers as they never looked back from that point on. Ballers take their first season game over the Blasians with a final score of 70-65.| boxscore || video |  Freshmen teams Monsters and Evolution were the spotlight teams of game 3. Team Evolution lead by former FCCM Tylor Kim filled his roster with balanced roster with size and speed. With 2 minutes left, Monsters found themselves within 2pts. Dalton Mak lead the Monsters in the final minutes with two 3-pointers and a 2-pointer to tie the game at 58-58 with 39 seconds left. Evolution had last possession to win the game, but with fouls to give Monsters fouled at every chance to limit Evolution on a good look. Monsters were able to play a discipline defence in final seconds to force Jordan Chiang to shoot it at the buzzer; it missed and Monsters were able to extend the game into overtime. Monsters could be the Cinderella team of this season as they were able to come back from a 20pt at one point of the game and force it into overtime. With the momentum on their side, Monsters came without it at the start of overtime. Evolution outscores the Monsters 2- 13 to take their first win of their inaugural SknnyDragon season. Final score: 60-71. | boxscore || video | Player of the Week: Germaine Wan (Ballers) |
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