Brooklyn stand up! With a little over 2 weeks passed on the season The Brooklyn Hoops are in a very early but tight battle in the “stormy” Atlantic. The Hoops, who sit at 8-6 are fresh off of a two game winning streak that currently places them at 4th in the division which is just behind the Philadelphia Freedom, Boston Irish, and the division leading Toronto Dinos.
The biggest headline of the past week though, is the massive blow dealt to the Hoops when star point guard and playmaker Matt Metcalfe went down with an injury ten minutes into the 1st quarter of their Tuesday night matchup against the Utah Blues. Metcalfe, who is averaging 11/7/3 on 26 minutes per game was diagnosed with a broken hand and is set to miss the next month and half with a hopeful return date of 12/29/20. Without their assist leader, the Hoops will turn to Wes Mapp to be there starting PG. Star guard Keith Oliver (often nicknamed “K.O” because of his scoring prowess) and bruising big man Curtis Tarkanian will be the main players relied upon to provide the spark to already dynamic Brooklyn Hoops offense, which boast the 2nd best offensive rating in the league backed by being 3rd in the league in Points Per Game and 1st in the league in Three Point Percentage.
Team Power Ranking: 13
Rumor Mill
-Rumors have emerged that the GM Sean Marks has been in contact with multiple teams about players that may be available and can add depth to the Hoops bench. Nothing has been confirmed yet.
-The Hoops are expected to pick up the rookie option of Matt Metcalfe.
Transactions
-The Hoops have waived Center Josh Dodson.
-The Hoops have claimed free agent Center Aaron Carey.
Game Recaps:
11-2-20 – The Brooklyn Hoops opened up a tough 5 game away schedule facing off against the Portland Pioneers, where despite Keith Oliver’s “K.O” performance of 32 points in 40 minutes while grabbing 4 boards, dishing out 3 assist and racking up 3 steals, the rest of the team got off to a sluggish start completely being outscored 34-12 in the 1st quarter. That deficit would prove to be too fatal as the Hoops fell to the Pioneers 100 -118 behind a big scoring night from both Pioneer players Brendan Chambers 30 points, 4 rebounds and 11 assists and Ross Barrets 28 points.
11-5-20 – The Hoops then travelled out to the desert state to take on the Phoenix Beams in Beams Center. Matt Metcalfe earned player of the game leading the way with 20 points 6 assists and 3 steals while being helped by the rest of the starting lineup which at one point created a 22 point lead. Capitalizing off of 17 turnovers by the Beam, the starting lineup of Matt Metcalfe , Keith Oliver, Larry Brittian, Ben Davey and Curtis Tarkanian outscored the Beams starting lineup 71-61 as the Beams fell to the Hoop 96 -106. Larry Brittian with 18 points and Ben Davey with 19 also had big games as well.
11-7-20 – Two days later The Brooklyn Hoops traveled out to Utah to take on the 7-4 Blues. The big story of this game was the gruesome injury suffered by PG Matt Metcalfe in the 1st quarter, he was forced to leave the game and was later diagnosed with a broken hand which will sideline him for approximately a month and half. Ben Davey erupted for a season high 26 points while also tying a season high 7 rebounds but the Blues proved to be too much out scoring the Hoops in 3 quarters by absolutely dominating in the paint as Brooklyn fell to Utah 98-118. Bootsy Midgley took home player of the game for the Blues racking up a monstrous 25 points on 9-17 shooting, 16 rebounds and 4 assists to go along with 4 blocks and 3 steals…Yeesh!
11-9-20 – The Hoops continued their brutal road trip arriving in the Mile-High City to take on the stumbling 3-7 Denver Peaks. There’s only two words possible to describe this game. Curtis. Tarkanian. Curtis Tarkanian was absolutely unstoppable, just imposing his will on the defense as he finished the game with a season and career high 41 points on 19-22 shooting…..WOW! Curtis also grabbed a season high 15 rebounds while dishing out 1 assist as the Denver Peaks fell victim to the Curtis Tarkanian “The Barbarian” led Brooklyn Hoops 110-122. After the game when he asked about his performance by reporters, Tarkanian shrugged and said “It just happens sometimes” while smiling. Keith Oliver also had a quietly good game putting up 19 points, grabbing 3 boards and dishing out 12 assists…Can you guess to whom?
11-11-20 – The Brooklyn Hoops concluded their extensive road trip by taking on the red hot undefeated Chicago Bison who seem to be early championship favorites with stellar play so far…and they weren’t about to let the Hoops stop their momentum. Behind their star player Ben Greer who exploded for a season and career high 41 points along with grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists to go along with 4 steals, the high powered and super talented Bison team steam rolled the Hoops in a 93 – 120 win. They did all of this with little contribution from Justin Brown (10 points) who is usually the other star player along with Ben Greer that makes up one of the league’s most dynamic scoring duos. For the Hoop Larry Brittian scored 21 points and Curtis Tarkanian scored 20 while grabbing 13 rebounds.
(Notable Stat) The Hoops turned over the ball an abysmal 20 times this game.
11-13-20 – After a cruel 5 game road trip, the Hoop returned to the confines of Hoops Center to take on the 4-9 Indiana racers. From early Brooklyn seemed in control and that continued through all the way to the end as the Hoops blew away the Racers 129 -112. Multiple players had big games including Kieth Oliver who took home player of the game after scoring 26 points on 10-17 shooting while grabbing 4 boards and dishing out 14 assists which is also a season high. Ben Davey contributed a new season high 30 points as well.
11-15-20 – Two days later the Hoops took on the sputtering Charlotte Wasp team in Hoop Center, and just like their season the wasp struggled to show any life at all. Brooklyn opened up a 24 point lead and never looked back as they exterminated the wasp 125 -105. They got big contributions from their star guard Keith Oliver who had a signature “K.O” performance putting up 30 points, 8 assist and 2 rebounds along with a notable 5 steals.