Curtis J. Phillips (2-1) tumbles to Jefferson's (1-2) 36-45

Brick, foul, brick, foul, complain, turnover, brick, whine, turnover, foul and even more bricks. Those are the words to describe team Curtis J. Phillips loss to Jefferson's Tuesday night in Lawrence, KS. From the get go team CJP fell behind as they couldn't find any sort of rhythm offensively and struggled to play defense without being called for a foul. Despite their bad play and attitudes towards the officiating CJP luckily found themselves only down by nine points at halftime. For in the first few minutes of the second half CJP seemed to be refocused and re-energized as they stormed back into the game finding themselves only down by one point with about fourteen minutes to play. But their comeback attempt was halted as Jefferson's did what they did throughout the entire night, they simply made big shot after big shot. From that point on Jefferson's held a lead of eight to twelve points as CJP spent the rest of the night barking at the officials and  simply struggling with the game of basketball.

Quotes

On the loss: "Jefferson's has a lot of size, and they were more physical than us. Since we weren't getting calls in the lane we were forced to take outside jumpers. Pretty much none of them went in." - Josh Lawrence

On the officiating: "The officials clearly received some sort of sick pleasure watching us get hammered every time we entered the lane, swallowing their whistles on anything short of felony assault. Defensively we were whistled for being in the same general vicinity as our opponents during a shot attempt. Several of us objected loudly as call after call were missed, much to our own detriment. They punished us for our crappy attitudes." - Josh Lawrence

On his technical foul: "I believe it was a cumulative technical foul, as several of us has been complaining the whole game. Pretty weak considering I didn't swear and wasn't directing my frustration towards anyone. I owe it to my team not to get that call though, as it assured us of a loss at that point in the game." - Josh Lawrence

"Our defense has been solid as long as we have been able to be play it aggressively. But tonight we weren't allowed for that to happen which resulted in a lot of complaining and open shots for Jefferson's. Offensively, we have been bad. Real bad as we cannot find any rhythm as a team. For one we have only a few guys that are willing to take shots and make plays. Our shooting will come around but there are three or four of us, myself leading the way that aren't even looking to score. Hopefully that will change as having a full team of capable scorers is a much more dangerous one than with just a few." - Daniel Sondreal

"Someone forgot to take the lid off the rims for us. We never got any offensive rhythm going. Our three pointers didn't fall along with our jump shots, most of our offense was generated inside. Lane, Josh, and Charles fought hard down low and played well against a big, physical team. It was a rough night, which every team has every so often, we have a big game next week against the Dawgs, so we need to focus on that one." - Brett Goedeke

Game Notes

CJP established a new record low in points scored with 36. The previous low was 38 against The Miracles on 01/19/2010. In doing so team CJP is now last in the league in points per game with 43.3 ppg.

Game Preview: CJP (2-0) versus Jefferson's (0-2) at 7PM

Forget about opening night in the NBA (at least for a hour) as tonight team Curtis J. Phillips takes on the hungry and colossal Jefferson's team. CJP can expect a feisty Jefferson's squad as they are 0-2 on the season, 0-2 all-time versus CJP, and currently owning a few members of CJP a free keg party. As they lost to CJP 54-52 in the first ever Keg Cup game on June 22, 2010. With team CJP yet to collect their winnings, word is tonight's game is double or nothing as the two teams continue their friendly, gambling rivalry. It will likely be another close game as in their first ever game an undermanned CJP won by a score 48-44 and as previously mentioned they won by just two points in the Keg Cup.

Keys to Victory

• Team CJP must combat Jefferson's patent 2-3 zone with superb passing, dribble penetration, and purpose. More importantly if CJP doesn't make their outside shots it could be a long night.
• Jefferson's is likely the biggest team in the league as they have three players 6'6'' or taller and full of muscles. Therefore CJP must make a concerted effort in winning the battle of the paint and getting every rebound in hopes of igniting fast break opportunities.

Game Notes

Team videographer Jamie Wilson will miss his second straight game due to transportational deficiencies. Tonight's game forecast is windy and 59 degrees fahrenheit but since this game is indoors the outside weather shouldn't be a factor.

Curtis J. Phillips (2-0) outmuscles What She Said (1-1) 40-35

Curtis J. Phillips improved their record to 2-0 on the season after a 40-35 victory over What She Said Tuesday night. The game was hard fought, if not fun to watch, and it's apparent that with the improved quality and added size in the league this year, CJP will have to rely on grinding out ugly wins, as opposed to its '7 Seconds Or Less' offense that brought blowouts in previous seasons. Some early 3-point shooting from James Lawrence kept CJP in touch early, as the rest of the team struggled to find the bottom of the net. After falling behind by 9 midway through the first half, CJP began going down low to Josh Lawrence, Lane Leedahl, Charles Morris and Jim Hammen (making his return to the lineup following from a nagging back injury) to take advantage of mismatches and What She Said's aggressive ball-deny defense. From that point on, CJP was mostly in control, although their lead was never bigger than 8 or 9 points throughout the second half. Some trademark struggles with free throws and full-court pressure down the stretch made the final score seem a little bit closer than it truly was.

Quotes

"First off, it was great to have Jim back as he takes us to another level as a team. As for tonight's game, we struggled at first but late into the first half we seemed to have figured out What She Said. It didn't necessarily translate into any beautiful play but we won and I had fun." - Daniel Sondreal

"Sometimes you just have to grind out an ugly win and that's what we did tonight." - James Lawrence

Games Notes

Team videographer Jamie Wilson missed the game due to transportational deficiency. CJP center Charles Morris drank a Gatorade for the first time ever before a league game.

Game Preview: CJP (1-0) versus What She Said (1-0) at 8PM

Tonight at 8PM in Division 4 of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Men's Basketball League, Curtis J. Phillips takes on What She Said. In their first ever Division 4 game, What She Said sent a message to the league by throttling Shibby by a score 77-39. For it is only one game for What She Said but if you compare team CJP past two victories against Shibby to What She Said's, team CJP may likely be facing one of the top teams in the division. For in CJP's last two games against Shibby, they won by 27 points in game where they shot the lights out and won only by 15 in another where they struggled against Shibby's zone defense.

Game Notes

Team CJP forward Jim Hammen is set make his return to action tonight after battling back problems over the past month. As Hammen simply and boldly stated in a text message earlier today in regards to tonight's game, "I'll be there." Team CJP center Lane Leedahl is listed as probable for tonight's game but will be limited in minutes as he is ailing from a mysterious illness he obtained while vacationing in Wisconsin.

Curtis J Phillips (1-0) defeats Old School (0-1) 54-40

Team Curtis J. Phillips is now 1-0 on the season and 5-0 all-time in season openers as they defeated Old School by a score 54 to 40. Team CJP overcame their frustrations against Old School's 2-3 zone defense halfway through the first half as the mighty Matt Donnelly and James Lawrence busted up the zone with their superb outside shooting. With a deficit of fifteen points going into the second half, Old School switched to a 3-2 zone defense but that was quickly trounced by the interior passing of CJP's Josh Lawrence. CJP kept a comfortable lead until the seven minute mark of the second half as Old School cut the lead down to seven but their hopes were crushed when forward Daniel Sondreal found James "Lights Out" Lawrence for the game clinching three pointer.

Quotes

"Good quality win without our leading scorer (Hammen). Had everybody step up in someway.  Charles getting some big rebounds, Brett knocking down some shots and Matt getting us started early." - James Lawrence

"We looked a little rusty. The team got tired but we looked pretty good overall though." - Charles Morris

Game Notes

Team CJP forward Jim Hammen was not in attendance as he continues to struggle with severe back problems and is listed as a game decision for next Tuesday's game against What She Said. Center Lane Leedahl was limited to just a few minutes of gameplay as he was needed by his son and team CJP super fan Finn on the sidelines. However that did not keep the Leedahl boys from supporting the team as they took over as coaches and cheered the team to victory.

Fall 2010 Season Opener

On Tuesday October, 12th , 2010 at 6:00PM, Team Curtis J. Phillips will start another quest to capture their second ever league championship in Division 4 of the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Men's Basketball League. Team CJP will be facing an unknown in the division opener as they take on Old School at the new site for division games, the East Lawrence Recreation Center. Team CJP will be returning all eight players from last season and once again will be favored along with The Dawgs and Jefferson's to compete for the Fall 2010 Championship.

Game Notes

Team CJP forward Jim Hammen is listed as doubtful for the season opener as he continues to battle severe back problems but should be back into the lineup by next week. Team CJP is 4-0 all time in season openers. Lawrence teenager Jamie Wilson has been named the official videographer and photographer of the team after working as an intern for the last four seasons.