The Ruff Ryders will head into the Westwood Draft playoffs as the hottest team in the league

David “MAK” Thompson pf the Ruff Ryders

The Ruff Ryders opened up their season with an 87-65 blowout loss to Ballaz Club. They could not handle Kerry Weldon at all, as he had 20 points and tied the Westwood Draft League single-game record of 30 rebounds.

While that must have been a frustrating way to start the season, the Ruff Ryders have not lost a game since, as they defeated Bred Honchos last night 78-72 to extend their win streak to seven games. There haven’t been many stressful wins either, as they’ve won those seven games by an average of 15.6 points.

Their performance against Bred Honchos was exemplary of what has made them successful all season. They’re an extremely balanced offensive unit, as Jimmie Melton and Chris Flores both lead the team with 23.3 points per game, while the remainder of their starting five (David “MAK” Thompson, Mario Payne and Schylar Oliveira) average between 17.1-13.3 points per game.

All five of them scored 11 points or more last night, as Melton led the way with 16 on 7-8 shooting from the field. Payne, Flores and Thompson all shot 50% or better from the field as well. They’ve been doing this routinely all season, as they’re shooting 49% from the field as a team. The only team with a better shooting percentage? Ballaz Club, of course, shooting a whopping 54% this season.

Speaking of Ballaz Club, they finished the season 7-1 as well (and their only loss came in a five-on-four game), which earned them the one seed in the playoffs due to their head-to-head win in Week 1 against the Ruff Ryders. The only way we’ll see a rematch of that Week 1 blowout will be in the championship game. It’s too early to say that will happen, but the odds point to that matchup taking place in three weeks.