The Road to the Championship Game Continues Tonight

SYOSSET: Semifinals Predictions

By Anthony Leo | Syosset League Coordinator

Ballerz vs Lets Do This Again

The Vets league semifinals are here and we have two great matchups. First up are the Ballerz and Let’s Do This Again. The Ballerz reached the semifinals with a win over the Dream Team in the quarterfinals. The Ballerz showed just how good they can be when they put it all together as a team. On paper they check off all the boxes you could possibly want and they are a deep team. They had a tough regular season but they are a very good team that can’t be overlooked. Let’s Do This Again finished the regular season 6-2 as the number one seed. They earned the bye week and had a full week off to rest up and prepare for this game.

The Ballerz and Let’s Do This Again faced off in week five in a close game. Let’s Do This Again won that matchup 62-56 with Adam Sutton leading the way scoring 17 points. For the Ballerz in that game Cedric Wallace dominated scoring 19 points and pulling down 20 rebounds. The issue the Ballerz had in that game was Mike Seff only scoring 6 points on six shot attempts. Tonight, Seff has to be more aggressive and look for his shot if they want to win this game. Seff is the leading scorer and he needs to play like it tonight. Defensively the Ballerz are a great team and they will have to lock in on Sutton and Jared Wulfow. Let’s Do This Again loves to get out and run in transition but if they can’t rebound the ball it will be tough to do that. In the end I think this is another really close game and someone will have to step up in a big spot.

PICK: Ballerz 

Hooligans vs Walking Dead

The Hooligans will take on the number two seed Walking Dead tonight. Both teams feature two of the best players in the league who can take over a game. Jay Harris leads the Hooligans and Tom Dimicelli leads the Walking Dead. The Hooligans reached the semifinals with a win over the Shooting Stars in the quarterfinals and they came out with a defensive game plan that was perfect and shut down the Shooting Stars offense. Tonight, they will look to do the same against Dimicelli who the is the league’s leading scorer and MVP candidate.

The Hooligans and Walking Dead faced off in Week 4 and that was a big game for both teams. In that game the Hooligans were on a role and looked like the best team in the league at the time. They had a huge lead of 20-plus points and then fell apart in the second half. They allowed 41 points in the second half of that game and lost 61-55. It was the turning point for the Walking Dead as they entered that game 0-3. Since then, both teams have got a lot better and found ways to play together as a team. The Walking Dead has a simple formula to win games: it’s letting Dimicelli get up tons of shots with the guys around him setting him up.

In the playoffs games are always a defensive battle so I expect the Hooligans to find a way to contain Dimicelli and not allow him to score 30-plus like he did in their first meeting. The key to this game for the Walking Dead is Richie Yorke. Yorke needs to play big minutes tonight and keep the team together. He is the ultimate glue guy who can do it all. For the Hooligans they need Stephen Sombrotto to play well. If he rebounds, plays defense and attacks the basket it will change the game.

PICK: Hooligans