Who will get back on Track in Week 2?
GARDEN CITY: Week 2 Predictions
By Anthony Leo | Garden City Co-League Coordinator
Monstars (0-1) vs Red Storm (1-0)
The Monstars enter Week 2 needing a win to avoid the dreaded 0-2 start to the season. In Week 1 the Monstars didn’t play their best at all allowing 82 points in their loss to Savage Storm. Now they will face off with the Red Storm who are coming off a strong performance in Week 1 themselves. Red Storm put up 80 points in Week 1 with Steven Medard dominating the game. This game will feature a great matchup between Medard and Kevin Archbold. Both are two of the better big men in the league who can score and rebound the ball very well. The Monstars need to have a bounce back game after their Week 1 loss, and I expect them to come out strong in this game, but it won’t be easy against a really good Red Storm team. The Red Storm definitely are the more talented team and if they play the way they did in Week 1 they could be on their way to a 2-0 start.
PICK: Red Storm
CST Elite (0-1) vs Ref Elites (0-1)
Both teams enter week two coming off tough losses in week one and will try and avoid the 0-2 start that no team wants. When you look at both of these teams there is a lot of talent and size on both teams. CST Elite lead by Rob Sargeant and Maxx Rosenbloom are the biggest team in the league, but they play at a slower pace than most teams. If they want to win this game they need to continue to play at a slow pace and beat Ref Elites up in the paint. Ref Elites is a guard heavy team with Jon Ager and Ming Wang leading the way. They have some size, but nothing like CST Elite has. If Ref Elites can rebound the ball well enough to just speed the game up and hit their open threes they should be able to win this game.
PICK: Ref Elites
Gale Force (1-0) vs Savage Storm (1-0)
Gale Force enters Week 2 coming off a tough win over a good Ref Elites team and Savage Storm enters Week 2 with a win over the Monstars. Savage Storm put up 82 points in Week 1, but don’t expect that to be the case in this matchup. Gale Force is a much more talented team than the Monstars and Savage Storm will realize that quickly in this one. The storyline of this game is Mark Thomas taking on his old teammate Richie Byrd. Both won a championship together for Unshakable, but now will face off on opposite sides. The key matchup to watch in this game is rookie Sky Khaleel against Matt Mehler. Both are two of the better big men in the league. Mehler is crafty around the basket just like Khaleel and both should make for a great matchup. The difference maker in this game will be how well the role players on each team shoot from behind the arc. Both teams like to put up a lot of threes and whoever hits more may just win this game.
PICK: Gale Force
Threat Level Midnight (0-0) vs Jeurys Familia (1-0)
Jeurys Familia looked great in their Week 1 game against CST Elite and they will look to make it two in a row with a win over Threat Level Midnight. Threat Level Midnight has yet to play a game this season, but we will quickly find out what they are all about when they are thrown right into the fire against the defending champions Mike Mastro and Jordan Oringer. Right out of the gate Threat Level Midnight will be tested and I expect Donte Howell to step right up to the test and have no issues. The problem that Threat Level Midnight has to worry about is the guys around Howell and Brandon Perez and how they all mesh together for the very first time. Jeurys Familia already has one game under their belt and they will be ready to go in this one. We’ll see if Threat Level Midnight can hit the ground running in this tough matchup.
PICK: Jeurys Familia