Friday, September 27, 2013

Game Time Updates

For the Human Highlight Reels, the game this coming Monday has been switched to 5:45 due to scheduling conflicts with other teams. The HHR will take on Wilson Group as scheduled. --- Hunter Dealing With Jammed Finger Though not reported earlier in the week, captain Jason Hunter suffered a jammed ring finger while on the defensive side of the ball during the second half of last weeks game. Though it ended up being no ordinary jammed finger, as the top third has been stuck at a slight angle since the injury occured. The team doctors have been taping the finger during the week and icing, trying to get the finger to flew back into its normal positon. Though he isn't in much pain during the normal day, any pressure towards the top of the finger does cause discomfort and Hunter is still not sure how his shot or handling will be affected. He will likely have the finger taped up for this coming Mondays game.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A Win and a Loss as Shooting Woes Haunt the HHR

17 and 18. 29 and 26. 32. The numbers above correlate as follows: - The teams three-point shooting percentages for over the past two games (W, L). - The teams total field goal percentage over the past two games. - The teams combined field goal percentage from the past two games. Those numbers rarely equal victories, though in the HHR's case, they eeked one out two Mondays ago. The good guys defeated NBN 44-35, in a game that wasn't as close early, yet ended closer than it should have; then followed that up with their hardest fought game of the season, albeit a loss, to M-Town 53-55. Brandon Hunter led both efforts, totaling 31 points and 15 rebounds over the two games, yet has yet to find the long range stroke. Sitting just under 20% for the season, he is well below his career total of nearly 33%. But the sub-par shooting bug has not only affected the teams leading scorer. The team is totaling a mere 24% from beyond the arc this season (21 of 87) and only has two players about the 40% mark (Jason Hunter 60%; Kerry Hunter 50%), yet Kerry has only taken two three pointers on the year, connecting on one. Explosive point guard Kyle Komer is below his 48% shooting percentage from last season as he is below 40% (38%) from the field this year. Komer has been getting to the basket with penetration, yet has been slightly off the mark finishing. Energetic middle man Andy Kempf, coming off a career season last year, got off to a slow start in game one, but has slowly begun to regain his 2012-13 form. Justin Woo got his first in-game action two Mondays ago, as well as playing this past Monday, but is still finding his niche in the offense, scoring only once in two games. For all the negative from the floor, there is some positive to take from it. The HHR's are shooting better from two point range (48%) than they did all of last year (43%) and are also connecting on more free throws (67%) than the previous year (63%). Once the big scorers and leaders of the offense begin to find their true ability from the field, the team will start to look like the group it intends to be. The Human Highlight Reels (2-1) face Wilson Group next Monday at 7:20. The Vegas line has the Wilson Group slated as an 11 point underdog. The Reels are currently #5 in the latest power rankings out of 12 teams.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Some New Faces Equals a Season-Starting Win

The newly named Human Highlight Reels have some new faces on their 2013 fall roster.  Yet the new faces molded quickly with the old ones to take a 1-0 start on the fall season, defeating Soda Slingers 72-39.

Better yet, Soda Slingers were a recent winner of a spring season, showing that the HHRs have come together quite well early on.

The HHRs were led by long-time leading scorer Brandon Hunter, who totaled 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field (8/9 from two point range).  He also added 11 rebounds for his first double-double on the year.

Following his lead, four year team captain Jason Hunter scored 18, going 4 of 7 from deep and also adding 5 rebounds.

Returners Kyle Komer and Andy Kempf added nine and two points, as well as six and 10 rebounds, respectively.  The new faces also filed in.

Newly added big man Alex Yablonsky totaled 10 points and was a rebound shy (9) of his own double-double and guard Chuck Caldwell hit his first three pointer of the season, then added two more during the game.

The team is also in the process of signing forward Justin Woo, but had yet to complete the contract signing, so he was unable to join the team for their first win of the season.  Finally, veteran Kerry Hunter has been brought back in a limited role, but will be available when called upon.

The Highlight Reels will face NBN this coming Monday at 5:45.  They will be without Jason Hunter and may be missing Kyle Komer for the first half.  Justin Woo may make his debut tomorrow, if his contract situation is inked out by tonight.