Semifinal #1 - Warriors 97, Bulls 57
The first semifinal game was all Warriors, as they jumped out to a 53-24 lead at the half, thanks to 60% shooting from three point land in the first half. All five starters scored in double figures for the Warriors, as they connected on 23/52 from behind the long line to fuel their route of the Bulls, 97-57. Tyree Mosley had 27 points, Martavias Laster had 21 points, and Latrell Tidwell had 19 points and a whopping 16 rebounds. Otis Houston had 14 points and Sammie Hines had 13 points as the five starters combined to score 94 points. For the Bulls, they were without their captain Bobby Crivokapich, who played an extremely solid second half to the Fall 2021 Season. His absence was evident early enough, both in the Bulls' ability to defend on the perimeter, and in their lack of scoring depth outside of Seth Johnson and Benito Munoz. Johnson concluded his outstanding season by scoring 28 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Munoz wrapped up his inaugural season in the K1 League by scoring 16 points. The Bulls finish their season with a record of 9-6, finishing second in the East Division, and knocking off the Lakers and Heat a total of four times. The Bulls will look to add some depth to their roster, as well as some more explosive guard play, as they aim to return to Championship Sunday in the Spring 2022 League. The Warriors improve to 13-2 with the win and would face the winner of the Bucks (9-5) and Spurs (11-3) in the championship game at 5:00 pm.
Semifinal #2 - Spurs 74, Bucks 49
The second semifinal game was competitive for the first half, before the Spurs flexed their muscles and pulled away for a comfortable 74-49 win over the Bucks to advance to their second straight championship game. In a game that saw the Spurs shoot 19 free throws compared to just three for the Bucks, they used their size advantage on the interior, and took advantage of the Bucks having just six players. Although Trey Johnson of the Spurs was unavailable for the day, Ryan Kvasnicka and Austin Halcomb stepped up on the inside to lead a balanced attack for the Spurs. Chris Green led the way with 19 points, and Ray Lawrence had 12 points. Dennis Koger had 10 points, while both Halcomb and Matt Cunningham had nine points. In what was a consistent theme for the Bucks all season, they were without its top two players, in Kale Maupin and Lavell McIntosh, and the lack of size ultimately was their demise, as they had just 17 rebounds in the contest. Caleb Johnson scored 16 points, Jaquan Boxley had 13 points, and Christian Straw had 11 points, but no one else was able to get anything going as the Bucks were held to less than 50 points for just the second time this year. Ironically the only other time that happened was in a 75-44 loss to this same Spurs team back in Week 3. The Bucks finish their year at 10-5 and as East Division champions, defeating seven of the nine teams they played against and being just one of three teams to win 10+ games. The Bucks will look to get a bit taller in the offseason as they struggled on the interior against the bigger teams in the league. The Spurs improve to 12-3 with the win and would face the Warriors (13-2) at 5:00 pm in the championship game.
Championship - Spurs 60, Warriors 58
In perhaps the most tightly contested game of the entire Fall 2021 Season, the Spurs pulled off an incredible victory on a game-winner from Ray Lawrence as time expired, knocking off the top seeded Warriors 60-58 to win the Fall 2021 K1 League Championship. Despite being without star center Trey Johnson for both of its games, the Spurs battled for 40 minutes in a very physical affair, and found a way to stick with the explosive Warriors, who were fresh off a 97-point performance in the their semifinal win over the Bulls. Balanced play from its eight players, along with a couple key steals in the final minutes of the game, set up Lawrence's buzzer beater to clinch the Spurs' second consecutive K1 title. The Spurs inbounded the ball with 4.2 seconds to play, knotted at 58 points apiece. Ray Lawrence took the pass from the top of the key and beat the Warriors' big man Latrell Tidwell off the dribble, laying in the game winner as the horn sounded from the right side of the paint. Not only was it one of the best shots of the year, but it was a fitting time for the first ever game-winning buzzer beater in league history.
Despite both teams entering the contest averaging close to 80 points per game, it was the defense of each team that really prevailed. The Warriors jumped out to an early lead, as they so often do, before the Spurs clawed back to trail by just two points at halftime, 30-28. As expected, Tyree Mosley was on his A-game, leading all scorers with 28 points on 7/11 shooting from the field, and converting 11/12 attempts from the free throw line, in addition to having eight rebounds. It was a very different game for the rest of the Warriors though, as they would be held to just 4/12 from three point range, compared to 23 made threes in their win over the Bulls. Sammie Hines would be the only other scorer in double figures for the Warriors with 11 points, as the Warriors took 35 fewer shots than in their semifinal win. Martavias Laster chipped in eight points. For the Spurs, points were also hard to come by, as the Warriors held them to just four made 3's of their own. Ryan Kvasnicka played one of his best games of the season, scoring 18 points to lead the Spurs, and grabbing nine rebounds in a near double-double effort. Ray Lawrence had 11 points, but no two were more important than his game-winning shot. Chris Green rounded out his solid day with 10 points, and Austin Halcomb had seven points in limited action, as he fought through a very painful back injury to give the Spurs a much needed interior presence alongside Kvasnicka.
Some of the final team statistics from the box score show just how dead even the matchup was. Both teams made four three pointers, took 22 free throws, and had 24 rebounds. There was no separation between the two teams until Lawrence's game winner, and that is just what fans were asking for, after a pair of routs in the semifinals.
While the Spurs took home their second consecutive K1 championship, this one was much more difficult to come by than the Spring 2021 title was. In the Spring, this group only lost one game on the season, and rolled through the playoff tournament, as they opened up a 28-point lead midway through the second half of their 83-70 championship win. Although the Warriors' roster was almost entirely new to the league, Tyree Mosley and Lonzale Mason were on both runner-up teams that fell short in the two championship games.
Both teams finish their season with an outstanding record of 13-3, as the Spurs came away with two of their three contests against the Warriors. The Spurs won in OT back in Week 2, 70-64, while falling 72-55 to the Warriors in Week 8, thanks to Mosley's outstanding 36-point performance. While the Spring 2022 league doesn't start for another two months, we expect both teams to be active in free agency, as they look to put together rosters that can contend for a championship. In the meantime though, we will sit back and reminisce on the show that these two teams put on, in one of the most memorable games in the history of the K1 League. Congrats to both teams on an outstanding season, and congrats to the Spurs on winning back-to-back K1 titles.