Recap: Week 18

Inter-Conference Games
5-4, Buffy vs Phanatics
5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Squirtle Squad
5-3, Chunky Monkeys vs Sour Snails

Conference Games
5-4, MoRRie's Pogiboys vs Poobic Heirs
5-4, Funk Coalition vs Pooh Bears
6-3, Fat Jubas vs Human Amoebas
(statistics)

5-4, MoRRie's Pogiboys vs Poobic Heirs
It's over! Alvin's thirteen game losing streak is over! And not a moment too soon as the Pogiboys were lagging in morale and the fan attendance was at an all time low. How'd they do it? Well, a last second three by the much maligned Stephon Marbury gave Pogiboys the edge in 3PT (40 to 39) and got them the win. Stephon Marbury was back to Star status this week with an average of 30 PTS, 5.5 AST, 1.5 STL, and 4.25 3PT -- a total of 17 3PT. This victory was certainly Star-powered but the surging Gerald Wallace helped out too with his stellar shooting and 2.5 STL per game. Outfitted with two young bigs, the Pogiboys might even win another game soon!

The Heirs are top contenders but they walk away from this matchup with a loss, one that might have been prevented if Rasheed Wallace had suited up. Oh well, at least Yao is back for the stretch run, so there's not too much to complain about here. A healthy Heir team is still my pick to win the East.

5-4, Funk Coalition vs Pooh Bears
Both teams badly needed a victory, well, maybe the Pooh Bears needed one more. With hotly contested matchups in PTS, AST, and STL, the week culminated in a blow up face off between Michael Redd and Ben Gordon. The two combined for 100 points Sunday night and Jon walked away with a tight victory in STL (by 1) to effectively close the door on the Pooh Bears playoff hopes. With only three games left in the regular season, the Bears are three games behind the pack. Time to prepare for the Toilet Bowl?

The Funk dropped in an eye-gouging 64 3PT on the week, behind Redd's 16, Matt Carroll's 9, and everyone else dialing in from distance.

5-4, Buffy vs Phanatics
Can it get worse for Roger on the injury front? With JR Smith still ailing, Baron doing his time on the bench, and Luke Walton not looking to return soon, the Buffy depth will be sorely tested as Jamal Crawford exits stage right for the season. Jamal has been an explosive component to the Buffy attack and now they're forced to all but forego competing in 3PT. The good news is that Rashard Lewis fully recovered, as evidenced by his 27.25 PTS, 7.25 REB, 1.5 STL, and 2.75 3PT this week. On top of that, the Daddy is back (24.7 PTS, 9.3 REB, 1.7 BLK) but can it be enough to offset all these injuries?

The Phanatics lost by only 6 in REB, 5 in AST, and 30 in PTS so they almost had a chance this week. The thing to do now is just prepare for the Toilet Bowl as the are clearly out of playoff contention. Toward that end, Lamar Odom's 2-3 week injury won't exactly help matters; even if Richard Jefferson and Marcus Camby are back in action.

5-4, Rhythm Drive vs Squirtle Squad
The Drive have the lowest Points For (75) of any playoff team but they keep winning -- two in a row -- and are sitting pretty at second in the East. This week, they easy handled Brian's East leading Squirtle Squad despite the absence of Emeka Okafor. Luol Deng is a fantasy star (21.75 PTS, 5.25 REB, 4.5 AST, 2 STL and 58.1%) but he's often overlooked. His big week, along with Kyle Korver and Mike Miller's combined 39.75 PTS and 17 3PT, were enough to topple the Squad with no real problems.

The Squirtles are 2.5 games ahead of the competition so they can relax a bit and wait for Ray Allen to recover. Ray-Ray was on the verge of ending his season but it looks like he'll be returning to action on a bum ankle. With rebounding phenom David Lee ailing, and only stalwarts Carlos Boozer and Kevin Garnett contributing, the Squad took a quick loss.

5-3, Chunky Monkeys vs Sour Snails
The return of Jason Richardson to fantasy prominence (16.5 PTS, 7.25 REB, 5 AST, 1.5 BLK, 1 STL, 1.75 3PT) will help Trieu a lot, but not this week. Richardson played a lot of minutes, partly due to Stephen Jackson's bust of a week and the Snails couldn't use Nash-Iverson-Richardson to make up any ground on the Monkeys.

Once challenging for the lead in the West, they Monkeys have been uneven of late and are now duking it out with Roger for the #2 seed. Joe Johnson was an animal last week (27 PTS, 5.75 AST, 1.75 STL, 2.5 3PT on 53.2 FG%) and his fellow Hawk, Josh Smith, blocked 16 shots in four games. Wow. The horrific injury to Shaun Livingston aside, the Monkeys are prepping for a playoff run now that they're healthy and clicking -- except for Agent Zero, who is slumping badly due to a collarbone issue.

6-3, Fat Jubas vs Human Amoebas
Despite losing Dwayne Wade and Tony Parker's services to injuries, the Jubas easily dispatched the Amoebas behind the stunning work of Andre Igoudala (23.5 PTS, 7.25 REB, 6.5 AST, 3 STL) and Al Jefferson (23.5 PTS, 14.5 REB, 1.5 BLK). The Amoebas tried to take control behind their terrific duo of Dirk and Amare but without a third option, they faltered and will now have to fight it out with Reno and Oliver for playoff seeding -- all three teams are tied at 10-7-1 records. Can the Amoebas head into the post-season having not made any waiver moves all season? Time will tell as this dangerous team has been up and down all season but clearly still capable of winning quite a few games.