CHASKA — After hoisting the COMO championship trophy and thanking his players for a wonderful season, Shorewood Show general manager Alex Smith sat alone in his office with a Short Straw in his hand and a smile on his face. “What do you know?” he asked. “Never thought I’d be sitting here celebrating a COMO title. Not this early in my career.” As if to prove his disbelief, Smith stared into the distance as if trying to conjure up an elusive thought that would never come. So, instead of some romantic musing, he instead focused on a topic that everyone seems to want to discuss: Joakim Noah. The 7-foot center, signed for $17 million in the offseason auction, came through when his team needed him most. Noah was left off the All-COMO regular season team, but was an easy selection for the All-Playoffs team (see story below). He averaged 27.88 bones in nine games to help the Show take down Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins and the vaunted Chaska Moose in the inaugural COMO Finals. 2014 All-COMO Playoffs TeamPoint Guard — Stephen Curry (Shorewood) — 31.27 (11 games)
Shooting Guard — James Harden (Shorewood) — 31.50 (10 games) Small Forward — Kevin Durant (Duval United) — 39.29 (7 games) Power Forward — DeMarcus Cousins (Chaska) — 31.71 (14 games) Center — Joakim Noah (Shorewood) — 27.88 (16 games) 6th Man — Kevin Love (Chaska) — 27.93 (15 games)
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CHASKA, Minn. — Joseph Fafinski was still in his luxury box well after the lights were turned off at Hazeltine Court.
The grueling COMO regular season had come to a close, and his Chaska Moose had snuck out the league title by a hair. Duval United made a great run at the crown, but fell short by 0.5 standings points. After everyone else had gone home, only Fafinski remained with a gaggle of reporters. His words were confident, but they belied the nervous wreck he had been hours earlier. "It was pretty obvious that we had the best team all year," Fafinski said. "We're excited to home the regular season trophy, but this is only the beginning." Fafinski has his sights set on the four-and-a-half weeks of playoff games between his team and the real prize: a world championship. After eking out the regular season 'ship, the Moose have a bit of momentum going forward. Star player DeMarcus Cousins (likely to be named to one of the All-COMO teams on Wednesday) was a last-second injury scratch, meaning other players needed to step up. Enter Kyle Lowry, the resilient point guard who plugged the gap with 38 bones. "Kyle helped calm my nerves," Fafinski said. "It served as a medication of sorts. I got nervous when DeMarcus was injured. I had to replace him with either Wes Matthews or Andre Iguodala. It was a no-brainer. I hate Iguodala." Before ushering everyone out of his private suite, Fafinski offered one last token of wisdom to the rest of his peers. "Good luck to everybody in the playoffs," he said. "You'll need it." |
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