Julio Balbuena sets new Westwood Rec scoring record in 59-point performance
Julio Balbuena (14) taking one of his 38 shots, with Jason LaPlanche (11) wondering where the defense is.
Julio Balbuena plays for the Ball Hogs in the Westwood Rec League, which is a fitting name based on last night’s performance. Being a ball hog comes with a negative connotation, but that was far from the case last night.
Balbuena scored 59 points, a new single-game record in the Westwood Rec League, on 22-38 shooting in an 87-82 win over Redbulls. His 38 shot attempts accounted for 52% of his team’s shots and his 59 points accounted for 68% of his team’s points.
“He shot everything from everywhere,” Westwood league coordinator, Jason LaPlance, said, who was splaying for the losing side. “Our guy who was ‘covering him’ allowed that to happen.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Ball Hogs will play for the rest of the season. They won their Week 1 game 56-52 against the Fire Balls without Balbuena, and the shot distribution was much more even. Of the five players that payed in that Week 1 game, the most shots a player took was 13 by Duvinton Durandisse, and the least shots a player took was four by Rpbert Obi-Tabot. There were three players that scored at least 13 points, including a team-high 19 from Dan Ovadia.
In last night’s game, two players were able to put up 10 shot attempts, and the only other scorer who surpassed 10 points was Durandisse, who had 11. The five players who are not named Julio Balbuena combined to shoot 11-35 from the field (31%). This is likely due to a lack of opportunities to touch the ball and hindering them any chance of getting into the rhythm of the game.
Some teams work best with a ball-dominant scorer; The Rockets over the last couple seasons and the Thunder during the 2016-17 season are two that come to mind. In UH, Baybrook (I hate that they named their team after the location that they play in) was able to win the Baybrook Draft title this past season with Zach Hamilton shooting 36.1 shots per game and scoring 52.4 of his team’s 87.5 points per game.
Will that be the case for the Ball Hogs? They’ve already proven they can win with or without Balbuena, but if he’s going to score like he did last night, the best strategy might be to get him the ball and let him cook.