Bobcats/Jazz send PBSL back to Early Stages of Basketball
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 12:12 am
-SALT LAKE CITY
On 12/15/56, Charlotte went into Salt Lake City to beat Utah 73-67. No, this wasn't a college basketball game featuring the Charlotte 49ers and the Utah Utes. This was a PBSL game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Utah Jazz in front of less than 8,000 people, though a game between the Niners and Utes would have been more exciting. When James Naismith invented the game of basketball in the late 1800s, the earliest games probably resembled what we saw on this cold winter night in Utah. The first half was a clunker of sorts with Utah scoring 7 in the first quarter and 11 in the second quarter while facing a 34-18 deficit at halftime. It was a first half more reminiscent of two teams in the Ivy League running the Princeton offense. The 3rd quarter was a scorcher for the Jazz scoring 21 points and holding Charlotte to 12 decreasing their deficit to to 46 to 39. Neither team seemed to not want to win at that point. However, the 4th quarter finally saw real professional basketball with back and forth scoring throughout with Utah scoring 28 points and Charlotte scoring 27. The Jazz had actually cut the margin to 2 late, before Charlotte held on to win with being the first and only team to score 70 in the game. Both teams shot a combined 8/43 (19%) from 3s while shooting a combined 50/147 (34%) from the field. The Bobcats had more turnovers (19) than assists (14) while Utah wasn't too much better with a 17/15 Assist/Turnover ratio. There was only one 20-pt scorer in Paul Barry for Utah who scored 21 points on 22 shots. Charlotte had no one scoring more than 15. Even the great Gerry Folse was subjected to this farce by doing even something even more accomplished than winning 6 straight Finals MVP. He was actually named Player of the Game with only 6 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. I'm sure the 38 year-old future Hall of Famer never thought he would be involved in such a travesty of a game. The fans in the area were probably wondering if they could get their money back and some even threatened to call ticket offices the following morning. Several faces of disbelief during the game after consecutive missed shots by both teams as well as several passes thrown in the stands. Even the halftime entertainment show was not immune to this disaster as a guy trying to balance plates on his feet took a hard tumble on his back and had to be taken off the floor on a stretcher not so different than a random footballer taking a dive while pretending to get hit on the field. After all that, this was a much needed win for the Bobcats who had a great sim going 6-2 and are actually a respectable 11-12 and currently in 6th place in the much weaker Omega Conference. However don't expect to see this victory being celebrated on their season in review.
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/boxes/box60-5.htm
On 12/15/56, Charlotte went into Salt Lake City to beat Utah 73-67. No, this wasn't a college basketball game featuring the Charlotte 49ers and the Utah Utes. This was a PBSL game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Utah Jazz in front of less than 8,000 people, though a game between the Niners and Utes would have been more exciting. When James Naismith invented the game of basketball in the late 1800s, the earliest games probably resembled what we saw on this cold winter night in Utah. The first half was a clunker of sorts with Utah scoring 7 in the first quarter and 11 in the second quarter while facing a 34-18 deficit at halftime. It was a first half more reminiscent of two teams in the Ivy League running the Princeton offense. The 3rd quarter was a scorcher for the Jazz scoring 21 points and holding Charlotte to 12 decreasing their deficit to to 46 to 39. Neither team seemed to not want to win at that point. However, the 4th quarter finally saw real professional basketball with back and forth scoring throughout with Utah scoring 28 points and Charlotte scoring 27. The Jazz had actually cut the margin to 2 late, before Charlotte held on to win with being the first and only team to score 70 in the game. Both teams shot a combined 8/43 (19%) from 3s while shooting a combined 50/147 (34%) from the field. The Bobcats had more turnovers (19) than assists (14) while Utah wasn't too much better with a 17/15 Assist/Turnover ratio. There was only one 20-pt scorer in Paul Barry for Utah who scored 21 points on 22 shots. Charlotte had no one scoring more than 15. Even the great Gerry Folse was subjected to this farce by doing even something even more accomplished than winning 6 straight Finals MVP. He was actually named Player of the Game with only 6 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. I'm sure the 38 year-old future Hall of Famer never thought he would be involved in such a travesty of a game. The fans in the area were probably wondering if they could get their money back and some even threatened to call ticket offices the following morning. Several faces of disbelief during the game after consecutive missed shots by both teams as well as several passes thrown in the stands. Even the halftime entertainment show was not immune to this disaster as a guy trying to balance plates on his feet took a hard tumble on his back and had to be taken off the floor on a stretcher not so different than a random footballer taking a dive while pretending to get hit on the field. After all that, this was a much needed win for the Bobcats who had a great sim going 6-2 and are actually a respectable 11-12 and currently in 6th place in the much weaker Omega Conference. However don't expect to see this victory being celebrated on their season in review.
http://pbsl.ijbl.net/boxes/box60-5.htm