SUMMERLIN DRAFT:  Championship Game Prediction

By L.C. Comine

6: 30 p.m. - Las Vegas Bones (5-4) vs. Las Vegas RatPack (6-3) 

Just as I predicted a few month back it will be the Las Vegas Bones taking on the Las Vegas Ratpack for the draft league title.  These two teams have spilt both meetings this season and the third and final meeting will be for all the marbles.  The Bones come in on fire winners of five straight after starting the season 0-4 and the RatPack did win last week but they have lost two of their last three.  As long as both team have perfect attendance in this one this game should be a close one.  Let’s take a look at what to expect in this one.

The Bones are a completely different team since Week 5 in which their winning streak started over the RatPack.  GM Jonathan Mawhinney was able to get his team to show up and they really started to gel and come together in the weeks following.  What is refreshing to see is this team has done it with defense.  They really righted the ship after starting 0-4 and led the league in defense giving up only 67.9 PPG.  They are lead on defense by the duo of Max Hooks and defensive player of the season Grant Lewis.  Max averages 3 steals per game and we all know about Grant and his ability in the paint.  Their defense turned into offense and they will need to do that again this week against the likes of Bobby Mears and Nathaniel Burgess.  The Bones know they will have to play hard nosed defense but they will need Max-Miller Hooks IV to average his 26 PPG and they will also need the newcomers to the league to do their part as well.  Both Landon Cooper and Nate Lurie have been huge bright spots down the stretch for the Bones and look for one of them to possibly be the difference maker in this game.

The RatPack come in as the No. 1 seed for the playoffs and they are also the highest-scoring team in the league averaging 95.1 PPG.  They are led by the dynamic duo of Bobby Mears and Nathaniel Burgess.  Mears is Mr. All Everything for the RatPack averaging 24 PPG, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists.  Burgess is the pure scorer of the two, averaging 37.2 PPG, hitting on 52 percent of his shots.  Mears and Burgess account for 64 percent of the points scored for the RatPack and if they want to stake claim to the title tomorrow night they are going to need to do it one more time.  In the Week 5 loss to the Bones the RatPack were out rebounded 42-30 and Max Miller Hooks IV and Grant Lewis has 27 of the Bone’s rebounds.  The RatPack will need to keep those two off the glass tomorrow night especially the offensive glass.  Anthony Khotsikian is going to have to play a large role in this one.  

So who is going to win?  Well I picked the Bones in the preseason rankings and I am going to stick with that prediction.  They are just playing too good right now.  The combination of Grant and Max IV down low and Max-Miller Hooks running the show is going to be too much for the RatPack.  I think Nathaniel Burgess is going to get his and Bobby Mears will have a good game as well but I just don’t think the RatPack will have an answer for Landon or Nate and they will be the big difference between the two team.  The Las Vegas Bones win their sixth straight game and win the draft league title for the Fall ’18 season.

Prediction: Las Vegas Bones- 87, Las Vegas RatPack- 76

MVP: Max Miller-Hooks