It could and should be argued that the once undefeated 4 Penn Plaza had a very easy schedule to open up the season. After going 5-0, Penn Plaza now finds themselves amid a two-game losing streak with another formidable opponent on the schedule next week.
As one of the top teams in the league, 4 Penn Plaza threw everything they could at the only undefeated team left, Free KD, who is now 7-0. In case you are confused, Free KD changed their team name halfway through the matchup and carried on to victory like nothing had ever happened.
Despite back-to-back losses for the first time, Penn Plaza remained in the third seed, although they now have a company with Caldwell-Pope Mobile tied with identical 5-2 records.
We thought our toughest matchup was in week six, which resulted in our first loss of the season. It was a personal grudge match against a friend, with bragging rights on the line. In reality, our first real test of the season game against Ricardo’s team, I mean Free KD, and we failed to rise to the occasion.
Our team failed to meet their original projections for the third straight week. We came up 116.31 points short, which was the difference between our predictions and the final deficit we lost. Free KD also failed to meet their projections (112.74), which would have turned this tightly contested match into a landslide victory.
4 Penn Plaza amazingly took a 5.10 lead after Monday night and gave us a sliver of hope in the matchup. Unfortunately, things turned nasty pretty quickly, and we were on the wrong end of a beat down on Tuesday, falling behind 533.10-352.00, a deficit of 181.10. The point swing was 186.10 in our opponent’s favour.
Lucky for us, that Tuesday night was the worse it got as we chipped away at their lead all week, bringing it down to just 44 points after Saturday night. After a fury of moves on Sunday morning didn’t yield the results we had hoped for, we ultimately fell by 110.80 points, 1636.30-1525.30.
This basketball season has had plenty of quirks. Despite winning five and then dropping consecutive games, none of our team statistics have changed in three weeks. We remain the seventh-best team in points scored, first in rebounds and blocks, second in turnovers and steals and eighth in assists.
When the season opened, we found ourselves in the third seed. It’s been seven weeks, and the top four teams have yet to shift, whether it is up or down.
It appears Free KD and Ka’Wine & Dine have the best chances to claim the top spots, and their week nine matchup may be a preview of the championship. Yes, many things can change between now and then; however, these guys just seem to be a step ahead of everyone in terms of records and points scored.
With those two teams’ exception, the remaining eight teams are tied in one form or another. The third and fourth place teams are 5-2, five and six are 4-3, while seven and eight at 2-5. Sadly nine and ten are winless at 0-7.
Two teams cracked the 10k mark this past week, with five teams on the cusp. Two other groups, BBQ Chicken and Shooters Shoot, need a couple more weeks, while Ooga Booga needs another month at the pace they are rolling with.
In a week that featured many roster adjustments, Donte DiVencenzo (Milwaukee) found himself the odd man out on a busy Wednesday night. It was clear we made a mistake keeping the guard on the bench since his nightly total of 28.30 outscored six starters. In the end, his points wouldn’t have altered the final outcome, but every moment comes when there’s a tie in the standings.
 145.90 points |
 19.60 points |
Thaddeus Young (Chicago) joined our team on February 1 and went on to win his first best player award before the end of the week. The power forward collected 58 points, 22 rebounds, 19 assists, four steals, four blocks, and six turnovers.
Jalen Brunson (Dallas) was on the team for a total of one game, and we were not impressed with his 19.60 points that he was cut the next day. The Mavericks guard only scored seven points with eight rebounds and two assists.
If you were keeping count at home, we made only four adjustments during our first five weeks. Then, in an attempt to stay competitive and give our opponents a run for their money, we started to alter our roster daily, which resulted in no wins.
During our week seven matchup, we used our maximum five roster moves allowed, and this was the trainwreck that followed.
After adding another starter, OG Annuonby, we had a roster spot to fill, and Thaddeus Young (Chicago) was available and currently riding a hot streak.
Next was Reggis Jackson (Los Angeles), who was a week six pick up on the chopping block next. He got substituted with Royce O’Neale (Utah). O’Neale was disappointed in his one game (19.00 points) and was cut in favour of Jalen Brunson (Dallas).
Brunson also let us down with 19.60 points and was cut the next day for Kendrick Nunn (Miami).
The week’s final transaction occurred early Sunday morning when we dropped one of our draft choices, Donte DiVincenzo (Milwaukee), for Justin Holiday (Indianapolis).
Altering your lineup every day in hopes of finding lightning in a bottle is not the best way to manage your team. Our plan is to recoup our losses and only adjust when a player’s points call for it.
Weekly Move Total: 5/5
Season Move Total: 12/50
Follow 4 Pennsylvania Plaza all season long @keepingthestats or facebook.com/keepingthestats.
Keeping the Stats 