The Hustle & Flow West vs. Hibachi playoff game is the epitome of Arizona pace
While doing my daily scroll through all of the box scores from across UH Nation this morning, I came across an absurd game played between Hustle & Flow West and Hibachi in the Arizona State Draft Tournament.
Hibachi won the game 144-131. That’s nothing unusual; I’m used to seeing big stats and a lot of shots in Arizona games. But this one is close to the borderline between impressive and absurd. The absurdity increases considering this was a playoff game, where the intensity and competition is supposed to be increased.
Let’s break down a few of the craziest aspects of this game:
1. Gabe Sandoval put up a PPR of 70.6
I believe that’s the highest PPR of the summer season, and it single-handedly vaulted him to third on the national PPR list. Any triple-double will get you a sizable PPR, but a triple-double of 43/26/16 gets you into the 70s. Those are MyPlayer numbers when you’re playing on beginner. I’ve seen Sandoval play for Ball So Hard in national tournaments and am well aware of his skill, but I never saw anything close to 13-17 shooting from deep.
2. There were 4.9 shots taken per minute
The “:07 Seconds or Less” offense originated in Phoenix, and it looks like it was fully embraced in Tempe last night. How you get to 214 shots in a 44-minute, running-clock game, I do not know. The game was being played perimeter-to-perimeter, as 111 of those 214 shots (51.9%) came from deep. Both teams only played with five, so I assume players were looking to save the legs a bit, leading to a lack of defensive effort, or just not trying to get back at all in transition, leading to shot-after-shot-after-shot. Hibachi is an accurate team name for this affair, considering the hot shooting on both sides. I can’t think of a less relevant team name than Hustle & Flow for this game, however.
3. Chris Walker recorded a triple-double
Coming into last night’s game, Walker was averaging 3.2 points, 6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He smashed those averages yesterday, putting up 17/12/10 on 50% shooting. This upped his season points average by 1.9, his rebounds by 0.9 and his assists by 0.8.