There is still plenty to be settled on the final day of SlamBall’s regular season. Will the Lava or Ozone claim the final playoff spot? Who the Buzzsaw or Slashers join the Mob with a free pass to the semifinals? Each of the three games today with loaded with playoff-seeding implications. Sunday’s action at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas gets started at 3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET (ESPN+).
AROUND THE LEAGUE
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The final session of the regular season will determine who the final playoff team will be and who will earn the coveted second playoff bye. Either the Lava or Ozone will claim the last playoff spot and the No. 2 seed will go to either the Buzzsaw or Slashers. All four of those teams are playing today. Two seeds are locked in – No. 1 (Mob) and No. 4 (Wrath). The other four seeds will be decided in today’s session.
The Main Event today could end up deciding the No. 2 seed and the final playoff entry. In a crazy scenario, a fifth tiebreaker (Main Event point differential) could be used to determine the No. 2 seed if the Ozone beat the Slashers in today’s Main Event. That would leave the Buzzsaw and Slashers with identical 8-6 records (first tiebreaker), two Main Event wins (second tiebreaker), and 2-2 in head-to-head matchups (third tiebreaker). The fourth tiebreaker is point differential (entering today, Buzzsaw are -11 and Slashers are -21).
The Buzzsaw (8-5) have a ½-game lead on the Slashers (7-5), who must win their first game to have a chance for the free pass to the semifinals. Likewise, the Lava (2-6) own a ½-game advantage on the Ozone for the final playoff ticket.
PLAYOFF SEEDING SCENARIOS, Based on Possible Sunday Main Event Results
Buzzsaw beat Lava:
1. Mob 2. Buzzsaw 3. Slashers 4. Wrath 5. Gryphons 6. Lava
Buzzsaw beat Slashers:
1. Mob 2. Buzzsaw 3. Slashers 4. Wrath 5. Gryphons 6. Lava
Lava beat Buzzsaw:
1. Mob 2. Buzzsaw 3. Slashers 4. Wrath 5. Lava 6. Gryphons
Slashers beat Buzzsaw:
1. Mob 2. Slashers 3. Buzzsaw 4. Wrath 5. Gryphons 6. Lava
Ozone beat Lava:
1. Mob 2. Buzzsaw 3. Slashers 4. Wrath 5. Ozone 6. Gryphons
Ozone beat Slashers:
1. Mob 2. TBD* 3. TBD* 4. Wrath 5. Ozone 6. Gryphons
Lava beat Ozone:
1. Mob 2. Buzzsaw 3. Slashers 4. Wrath 5. Lava 6. Gryphons
Slashers beat Ozone:
1. Mob 2. Slashers 3. Buzzsaw 4. Wrath 5. Gryphons 6. Ozone
*No. 2 and No. 3 seed would be determined by 4th tiebreaker (point differential) or 5th tiebreaker (Main Event point differential)
PLAYOFF SEEDING TIEBREAKERS
- Win percentage
- Main Events won
- Head-to-head win percentage
- Point differential
- Main Event point differential
SlamBall Playoff Schedule:
Tuesday, August 15 – 8:00 p.m. PT (ESPN2)
Quarterfinals: No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed
Quarterfinals: No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed
Slam Dunk Contest (8 participants)
Thursday, August 17 – 8:00 p.m. PT (ESPN)
Semifinals: No. 1 seed (Mob) vs. winner of No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed quarterfinal
Semifinals: No. 2 seed vs winner of No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed quarterfinal
SlamBall Championship Game
PITCH PERFECT: It was a Sweet 16 party for the Mob on Saturday night as they crushed two more opponents to finish the regular season with a spotless 16-0 record. Neither game was ever in question. The Mob beat the Rumble by 40 points (75-35) and Gryphons by 38 (88-50) in the Main Event. The Mob won every game during the regular season by 13 or more points, including nine by 30-plus and two by at least 40. The 88 points scored by the Mob in the Main Event were the most in a game by any team this season. In that game, Darius Clark (Blue Springs, Mo.) set a Slam Ball single-game record with 44 points, breaking Ty McGee’s old mark by one.
BY THE BOOK: Dogs continue to bark. In the last eight games that Circa Sports posted odds, underdogs are 4-4 straight up and 5-3 against the spread. In the 14 games that Circa has made lines, dogs are 4-10 SU and 6-8 ATS. Today, Circa has the Buzzsaw listed at -7.5 against the Ozone and the Slashers as 3.5-point favorites over the Lava.
***
GAME 1: BUZZSAW (8-5) vs OZONE (2-7)
Z-ING DOUBLE: The Buzzsaw and Ozone met once before, back on July 21, the first day of the season. The Buzzsaw won easily, 60-34, behind 19 points from Ralph Bellamy and 10 stops from Tyquan Scott. Their seasons have gone in opposite directions since that game. The Buzzsaw have played in the Main Event in six of the seven sessions they have been a participant. The Ozone have played in just two Main Events, losing both, and have dropped six of their last seven contests. The Buzzsaw opened the season with three straight wins but have been a .500 squad since then (5-5).
AIR PAIR: The improved play of Bryan Bell-Anderson has given the Ozone a second dangerous scoring threat to go along with Keith McGee. Anderson was shelved for much of training camp with an injury and has gradually worked his way back to health. He enjoyed his finest outing of the season on Thursday, throwing down 10 of 11 rim attacks, many from several feet above the rim, for 30 points, which were 13 more than he tallied in any other game. McGee is fifth in the league with an average of 17.2 PPG. He has 38- and 34-point games this season. The Ozone are the only team that has had two different players score 30 or more points in a game this season.
BUZZ OFF: In the first game on Friday night, it looked like the Buzzsaw might have found their offensive mojo, racking up 75 points, the third-most by any team this season and 32.5 more than their league-low season average of 42.5 PPG. In the Main Event that night, the offensive doldrums returned in a 57-32 setback to the Slashers. The Buzzsaw rank last in the league in rim-attack percentage (49.2) and are next-to-last in overall field goal percentage (43.4).
GREAT SCOTT: Buzzsaw stopper Tyquan Scott will look to supplement his Defensive Player of the Year credentials today. Scott is averaging 8.2 stops per game (third in league) and 8.3 LBRs per contest (second). Scott has recorded double-digit stops in a game six times, second-fewest in the league to the Mob’s Gage Smith (eight). Scott is a big reason why the Buzzsaw have allowed just 43.4 PPG, the second-fewest in the league to the Mob (33.3).
***
GAME 2: LAVA (2-6) vs SLASHERS (7-5)
COMING IN HOT: The Lava and Slashers last saw each other on July 21, the opening night of the season. Tony Crosby II and Alonzo Scott Jr. scored late buckets to give the Slashers a 67-63 victory. Bryce Moragne chipped in 23 points for the Lava in the loss. That was the first of five straight setbacks by the Lava to open the season. The Slashers lost back-to-back games following their victory over the Lava. After those sluggish starts, these two teams have started to gel. The Slashers won Friday’s Main Event, while the Lava has their first 2-0 session on August 6.
PREMIER AMIR: The Slashers’ Amir Smith enjoyed his two most productive offensive games of the season on Friday, finishing the session with 44 points on 16-of-24 shooting. With Nathan Karsjens solidifying the back end, the Slashers have been able to tap into Smith’s explosiveness around the hoop. Smith led the team in stops in each of the first six games, but Karsjens has done so in the last six.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Tony Crosby II has a chance to end the regular season with the most hits in the league and the most dunks, which would be an amazing double feat for the league’s smallest player at 5-6. Unless something crazy happens today, Crosby will top the league in hits. He has 45, nearly double the number of the next closest players (Mob’s Brandon Simpson and Rumble’s Kaylon Tippins-Hill each have 24). Crosby (60) needs 18 dunks today to top Darius Clark, who leads the league with 77. That’s not out of the question – Crosby had a season-high 10 dunks against the Gryphons on July 29. Crosby enters today ranked sixth in PPG (15.9) and third in APG (2.8).
LAVA ROCK: The Lava’s Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat was a late arrival to training camp and was not drafted. That has not stopped him from being one of the league’s top stoppers. Shafaat leads the league in stops per game with 9.6, and that’s no small accomplishment with the Mob’s Gage Smith (9.1) terrorizing offenses. Shafaat has registered double-digit stops in four of his last five games. He is also fourth in the league with 6.5 LBRs per contest. He has held firm on defensive Face Offs, winning five of seven. That 71.4% on DFOs is the highest in the league for players who have been involved in more than five.
DROP IN THE BUCKET: These two teams regularly cash in when they charge the hoop. Only the Mob (62.7) has a better rim-attack percentage than the Lava (62.6) and Slashers (58.9). The Lava’s Jihad Shockley (70.3) and Bryce Moragne (68.9) rank 1-2 in the league in rim-attack percentage, while the Slashers’ Bradley Laubacher (67.2) and Tony Crosby II (63.3) are fifth and eighth, respectively.
***
GAME 3: Main Event (Game 1 Winner vs Game 2 Winner)