The Garden City Draft League championship game is set after two nights of semifinal games.

To no one’s surprise, Dinkin Flicka, boasting an 8-0 record heading into the playoffs, took care of business on Monday night, defeating Nicole’s Friendship 67-53. Gale Force followed suit last night, taking down Jeurys Familia 82-69 to set up a matchup against the seemingly unstoppable force.

While there are multiple storylines that can be talked about, the headline from this matchup is Donte Howell facing off against Richie Byrd. Those two are two of the best players in UH New York, and they will once again face off in the playoffs to see who will not only win the Garden City title, but who will have bragging rights as the best guard in UH New York.

Here’s a look at both of their numbers in Garden City this season.

Howell: 30.5/3.9/6.5 with shooting splits of 59/41/85

Byrd: 36.4/7.8/4.8 with shooting splits of 46/34/89

Howell currently has the upper hand, as he was named MVP for the second season in a row this past weekend, he’s the defending champ in Garden City and he hasn’t lost a game since September. While recent history favors Howell, this matchup has been more favorable to Byrd.

These two have faced off in the playoffs three separate times, twice in draft leagues and once in an open league, and Byrd has won all three games. In fact, the last time Howell lost a game in Garden City was on September 10, 2019, which was a 71-64 loss to Byrd and Gale Force. Not only did Gale Force take down Howell, they followed that up with winning the title, as they took down Shore Shack, who were looking to win their fourth straight title; so taking down dynasties is nothing new to Byrd and Gale Force.

In those three games against Howell in the playoffs, Byrd averaged 32.7 points, eight rebounds and five assists while Howell averaged 25.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and six assists.

We do have a one-game sample size of these two teams facing off this season, where Dinkin Flicka was able to win 96-81 over Gale Force. Howell was dominant in the win, going off for 44/7/6, while Byrd was not in attendance. Not having Byrd there puts a bit of an asterisk on the win, and Sky Khaleel made it clear after last night’s win where Gale Force’s mindset was this season.

“We know what we are. We were kind of in cruise control during the regular season, but Byrd comes to play, and if we step up and give him a nice supporting cast, it’s going to be ‘and new,” Khaleel said in a post-game interview.

Gale Force finished the regular season 2-6, but they have been on a tear through the playoff thus far, and that has been unsurprisingly led by Byrd. He tied his season-high of 45 points in both playoff games, accounting for 58% of his team’s points in the quarterfinals and 55% of his team’s points in the semifinals.

Dinkin Flicka will certainly come in as the favorite considering they haven’t lost since before the NBA season started, but Gale Force won’t be intimidated by their opponents.

“Gale Force came for House Frey when they had their little run going, so now it’s time for us to go for Dinka Fitzminkah, whatever their team name is,” Khaleel said.