The term “cinderella story” is usually reserved for the NCAA tournament, but it is thrown around when an underdog performs a dramatic upset and alters the sports universe.
4 Penn Plaza performed such an upset in their week 17 matchup against the juggernaut The Flight Attendant. The league’s top team was 14-2 before tip-off and fought down to the wire to avoid their third loss of the campaign. The two teams have met before, with the Attendants running the table with a 3-0 record.
The first two matchups featured a loss of 300 points or more, while the third encounter came down to just 18.60 points. Backed by a three-game winning streak, 4 Penn Plaza hit the court running and never looked back, securing their most significant 2021-22 season victory.
Yahoo fantasy experts looked at the history between the two clubs and how dominating the Flight Attendants have been and projected a relatively easy 206.03 point win. 4 Penn Plaza used those predictions as bulletin board material and took an early 25.40 after Monday. The boys then rolled through the week, extending their lead streak to 28 days.
The league’s top team was never out of the matchup, but they were never close to getting back into it. The deficit on Monday was the smallest of the week, with the difference ballooning to 290.70 after Wednesday. The two teams stayed close to each other, reaching 1000 points on back-to-back nights. Then on Saturday, both surpassed 2000 before each team finished the week with over 2400.
Plaza’s best day came on Saturday with 587.30 points, beating out Tuesday’s total of 499.70. They averaged 354.99 points every day and kept the league’s top team at a distance with a daily deficit of 160.87 points.
As the Plaza team slew the dragon known as The Flight Attendant, the team moved up a few rankings. Through 17 weeks, the group now ranks in the top third in all 24 categories. They are either first or second in 50% of the categories, with the other half secured in the third spot.
There are only three weeks left in the regular season, so 4 Penn Plaza should wrap up these categories and be considered one of the league’s elite.
For the first time in a long time, 4 Penn Plaza was the highest-scoring team with 2484.90 points, inching out The Flight Attendant, who scored 2425.60. Jam Y’all won again to keep a two-game league over Plaza, thanks to an absolute thrashing of Stephen A. Smith’s Great Team. The league’s worst team couldn’t even score 1000 points in their loss, coming up short at 976.30. This matchup had a difference of 1146.90, which has to be the worse beat down of the season.
New Yorkers love to hate him, but Julius Randle (New York) was a stud in Week 17, guiding his Plaza teammates to the season’s upset. As he claimed his first best player award of the season, his 245.50 points ended up being the second most of any winner. The Knicks star scored 114 points off 31/41 free throws and 5/20 from downtown. He also collected 59 rebounds, 24 assists, four steals, one block, and three double-doubles.
On a different note, Ayo Dosunmu (Chicago) put up the second worse numbers (4.00 points) for anyone who was the team’s worst player. The Bulls guard missed all four of his three-point attempts, scored two points, and had two rebounds.
The Flight Attendants are not used to losing, so it is no surprise that the team had several players score over 200 points and even more with over 120 points. Nikola Vucevic (Chicago) had the best effort of anyone with 219.80 points. The Bulls center made all six free-throw attempts but shot 2/11 from beyond the arc. He scored 88 points with 61 blocks, 15 assists, four steals, and five blocks. Vucevic finished the week with three double-doubles.
4 Penn Plaza management knew precisely was in front of them with a head-to-head matchup against the league’s best. To keep the contest in their favor, they pulled off 12 transactions, signing seven players and cutting ties with five.
To say the least, it was a busy week, so here is a quick summary of the action in the order that the deals took place. First, Evan Fournier (New York) departed for Hassan Whiteside (Utah), then Chuma Okeke (Orlando) joined the team. Mason Plumlee (Charolette) and Jalen Green (Houston) were cut before the All-Star break.
When players returned to their clubs to restart the season, Whiteside was cut along with Cameron Thomas (Brooklyn). Buddy Hield (Indiana) joined the ranks before Carmelo Anthony (Los Angeles) left for the waiver wire. Jalen Smith (Indiana) and DeMarcus Cousins (Denver) were the last free agent signings, with Cousins only lasting two days before being set free again.
Weekly Move Total: 7/25
Season Move Total: 35
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Keeping the Stats 