On Thursday, 7 July 2016, the Kingdom Ballers and Heat gave us a preview of where teams are as they prepare to battle their opponents in the upcoming NOSBL XVI Playoffs.  These two team captains, Willie Haynes and Tim Elder, have fought many of their friendly battles as the lower seeds winning games between each other, but that is not the case this season.  The Kingdom Ballers and Heat have legitimate teams with legitimate wins.  Their biggest challenge, going into the playoffs, is embracing a winning strategy and winning spirit from each player.

The starting lineup for the Kingdom Ballers were:  #24 Tony Campbell, #11 Wason Davis, #0 Willie Tennyson, #22 Anthony Chatman, and #96 Shederal Hughes.

The starting lineup for the Heat were:  #3 Mike Brown, #11 Norman King, #31 Felton Scott, #15 Johnny Sanchez, and #13 Donald Brophy.

The first possession, of the game, went to the Kingdom Ballers along with a 9 - 0 run before the Heat called their first timeout at 16:23.  Willie Tennyson led the charge with a flurry of turnaround jumpers that gave the Kingdom Ballers great inside presence.  While Tennyson was collecting points from short range, Tony Campbell was lighting it up from mid to long range with three 3-pointers.  The Heat found a way to get on-track with five combined 3-pointers coming from Felton Scott (3), Donald Brophy (1), and Michael Brown (1).  Those were significant points to keep the game within reach.  Though the teams never tied, the Heat were able to score 26 points in the first half.  The Kingdom Ballers did a good job responding to the Heat to maintain a comfortable lead of 35 - 26 at halftime.  Both teams committed four team fouls.  Tony Campbell and Willie Tennyson led the Kingdom Ballers with 26 combined points.  Michael Brown and Felton Scott led the Heat with 20 combined points.

The second half turned out to be the consummate battle because the Heat started flexing their muscles to take the lead at 46 with a 20 - 11 run against the Kingdom Ballers.  The would switch leads at 47, 48, 49, and 50 until the Kingdom Ballers decided that it was too stressful to continue the back-and-forth lead changes and went on a 17 - 6 run to defeat the Heat 67 - 56.  The Kingdom Ballers scored 32 second half points and the Heat stayed on them with 30.  The Heat committed 12 team fouls in the second half that allowed the Kingdom Ballers to score their last seven points from the free throw line.  Both teams distributed the ball well - getting six players in the scoring column.  The Kingdom Ballers scored on four 3-pointers and the Heat matched them with five 3-pointers.  Three team fouls, from the Kingdom Ballers, produced three points from free throws - for the Heat. 

Both teams played well and slumped to making bad decisions on occasions.  The Heat has to pay attention to substitutions and the Kingdom Ballers must pay attention to keeping all "scorers" actively involved in scoring.  I have always heard that "You feed the hot hand", but you have to be careful not to misconstrue the meaning of that adage when you have multiple scorers.  Be extra careful not to remove a "hot hand" for a substitution.

The scorers for the Kingdom Ballers were:  #24 Tony Campbell with 21 points, #0 Willie Tennyson with 18 points, #22 Anthony Harris with 9 points, #11 Wason Davis with 9 points, #96 Shederal Hughes with 8 points, #3 Christopher Mathis with 1 point, and #2 Darrell Sumbry with 1 point.

The scores for the Heat were:  #31 Felton Scott with 20 points, #3 Michael Brown with 10 points, #11 Norman King with 10 points, #13 Donald Brophy with 6 points, #24 Sidney Dowlen with 6 points, #15 Johnny Sanchez with 4 points.