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Game 5: Eastern Church @ Friege
This was meant to be the amazing Agartha @ Garreg Mach game, but my footage got corrupted, and since most of the other games were already over, I settled on this game.
Why?
Because, Friege has played 35 games. In 29 of those games, at least 2 members of the starting lineup for the Thunder have been injured.
Yes, this game was the 6th total game in which Julius, Ishtar, Reinhardt, Kempf, and Travant have all been healthy and were playing together in the starting lineup. They are still 20-16 despite this because Ishtar has been playing MVP-esque basketball all season. Her PER is the league high 27.5, nearly at LeBron James levels. She is the second highest scoring guard in the league behind Felix, plays the 3rd best defense behind Flayn and Reservoir Dougs, and is the highest rebounder out of shooting guards in the league.
So of course we’re going to ruin that by showing her worst statistical game.
Friege started off quickly, with Julius knocking down an open 3:
But Ishtar immediately struggled:
And the Eastern Church fought back hard:
And Ishtar kept missing:
And EaC attacked and attacked:
Friege barely held on at the end of the 1st, only up 18-21.
Ishtar had gone 0-6 from the field before Julius and Kempf took over. Perhaps Julius did it out of sympathy, maybe he was annoyed. But he started to take more shots and distribute more to Kempf:
Instrumental to all of this new ball movement was Reinhardt, who is playing only his 8th game healthy.
Ishtar would still get some open shots, but spent most of the half just passing the ball. She would go 0-13 from the field by halftime.
Julius would hit this layup with 14 seconds left to extend the lead to 6, 33-39.
But an open jumper by the Church would cut it back down to 4:
Halftime: Friege is surviving, 35-39.
Have you ever watched a sports movie, where a team is down on their luck? Backs against the wall, the team leader gives a rousing halftime speech, and the protagonist saves the game and the town and the local animal shelter?
Someone gave Ishtar that pep talk.
Travant also started playing better defense, which allowed Friege to break the game open:
Ishtar 2 Reinhardt is the thing I’ve been waiting to see from this Thunder team, and it finally happened.
But this quarter was Ishtar’s now, as she went 7-12 from the field, scoring 17 points.
Friege would expand their lead, 53-64.
Ishtar would continue her dominance in the 4th:
Eastern Church would give it their best, and get one last block:
But it was far too late. Friege wins, 75-89.