By unanimous decision – Ushma Multani’s Affirmative Action knocks Laurie Ziffrin’s Supreme Court out of first place and wins the Fall 2004 LegalMatch Rooftop Garden Basketball Tournament. In the final match up of the season, before today’s start of the Garden Playoff series, Affirmative Action disrupted the Courts’ ride to an undefeated record by beating the court 10 – 3 and 10 – 7. Kurt Jerdon summed it up this way “they made their shots and we missed ours. That simple” The loss humbled the Court as the game plan they laid out was foiled by the usual solid games from AA’s Alex Karzag’s game leading 8 points and Peter Reis’ 7 points and 17 rebounds. Contributions from Teejay Clemena helped to win the second game, and a big 2 point shot from Jeff Sacramento that fell like a ‘smart bomb missile’ capsized Supreme Court to win the first game.
Augie Chun, who’ll likely draw the assignment of guarding Jeff Sacramento in Thursday’s playoff series between Rejection Sustained and Affirmative Action, commented that Jeff Sacramento “continues to surprise. Jeff is a lot bigger than he appears and his shot is deceptive.” Deceptive is an understatement. No one on the floor or anyone watching the game expected Sacramento to come in late to the game and throw up what looked like a prayer shot only to hit nothing but the bottom of the net and deflate Supreme Courts’ hopes in the first game. In the second game, it was Teejay Clemena stepping up big. Clemena, who played like an assasin, commented after the game “we sent Supreme Court to a 25 to Life sentence” To spectators viewing from the sidelines it probably appeared as though he did just that. With the Court leading the second game by 3, Clemena entered the contest and turned on his speed and guile to drive to the hoop for a score on one play and drilled a scintillating set shot from 15 feet for another score that seemed to turn the games momentum in the favor of Affirmative Action. The Court had not expected Clemena to be much of a factor in the game. Welcome to reality. Congratulations to Affirmative Action on a great season. You did what it took to come out on top. We applaude you.
If there is any consolation for the Court it’d have to be that should Burton, Jerdon and Ouyang make the outside shots, which they normally hit but missed in this game, the Court stands a good chance to come back and win should they face Affirmative Action again in the Playoff. Of course, they will all have to serve that 25 to life sentence first.
Speaking of the Playoffs, the whole thing gets started with Kill Bill Vol. 1 against Supreme Court today at 5pm. Thursday’s game pits a well rested Rejection Sustained against Affirmative Action. Both contests will determine who plays in the Championship contest next Wednesday the 20th. This reporter will be there for all the action. This is going to be exciting.
To the supporters of LegalMatch Rooftop Garden Basketball the players thank you for your enthusiasm, your interest and your excited behavior. Without your participation this would have not turned into the "fun at work – this is kind of a blast" experience its become. Thank you all.
Now, its on to the LegalMatch Rooftop Playoffs.
Lance Burton
Pictures of last night’s game can be seen listed under Affirmative vs Supreme. Courtesy of Diane Tran.