Gryphon's Cup Finals

It was a match to remember. For both teams, the stakes were high: Black's 95 are chasing their 8th G-Cup win; for the Reds'03, it was the first time that they have reached the final. Both teams wanted to win,and the desire that both teams had showed from the start.

For the Reds, the key was to stop Jiaren, and they managed to do just that, not allowing Jiaren to take any open shots, and forced him to earn many of his points from the line. In terms of FG, Jiaren made only 1/7 and grabbed only 3 rebounds. The reds played some of the toughest defense on Jiaren, double-teaming him whenever he got the ball.

It was an extremely close match, and the lead changed numerous times throughout the match. Jiaren and the blacks proved to be too strong in the paint, and forced the reds to take many of their shots from the perimeter or mid-range. However, led by Gabriel Pang, the Reds refused to back down and showed their mettle by knocking down key threes down the stretch.

The above pretty much sums up the first 3 quarters of the match, where both teams were almost evenly matched up, and the lead never got more than 5 points during these periods.

It was in the last quarter that the match changed.

In the crucial last quarter, the youth of the Reds proved to be too much for the Blacks to handle. The Reds fast-breaked at every opportunity, and played tough intense defense on the Blacks. Already tired, the Blacks made several turnovers, allowing the Reds to have easy baskets on the other end. However, the Blacks never gave up and continued pushing for the win. In a time-out, Jiaren and Leon gave an inspiring talk to remind the team that they were here to fight and give it their all. And the effects were obvious. They pushed the ball up the court, and by sheer determination, found cracks in the Reds defense and made a couple of key shots.

However, would it be a case of too little too late?

With seconds to go in the match, the Blacks were down by two. The Blacks had the chance to finish the match, but the Reds felt otherwise. The Reds pressed the inbound pass, and subsequently stripped the ball away from the Blacks, leading to a quick basket on the other end. And that was in.

Eventually, the Reds won the match 53-49. It was a tough match for both teams, and their spirit, determination and fight proved to be a reminder for all that came down to watch that day.

This is dream team fight win.

Eventually, the top individual stats of the finals stand as such:
Rebounds: Xun Shi 11
Steals: Derrick Guo 3
Blocks: Jiaren 2
Assists: Derrick Guo 4

MVP: Gabriel Pang
3 assists
1 steal
field goal: 8/20 and 24points