Madison Square Garden, apparently—The Preyers went into Wednesday’s contest [matchid= 138598869] ranked higher than their opponent, the Seaside Sharks—not that rankings mean a thing—but the Preyers were clearly outclassed talentwise, and that was before three Preyers (Willet, Nobles, and Poirier) went down with injuries in the first quarter. Without question that was a franchise record for injuries even in one game, probably an entire season, and doubtless a rare occurrence in any BuzzerBeater Game, ever. One for the record books, if anyone is keeping track.
The Preyer’s scrapped in the second half and cut the Seaside lead to five in third quarter, and six in the fourth, playing almost even the entire second half, until the officials finished off what the game engine antics in the first quarter could not. The Preyer’s GM has complained, mostly in private, about the GE’s tendency to determine margins of victory by fouls and the resultant free-throws, but has never gone public with a complaint about it settling the score via injuries. Bad luck is part of the game; injuries sometimes decimate teams for an entire season, not infrequently they end playoff runs, or championship chances; however, since the Franchise’s inception in Season 7, three injuries in the first quarter have never been recorded. Bad luck, indeed.
None of that is to say the Preyer’s would have or should have won the game. You just hate to see potentially good games undermined due to injuries sustained to multiple players in key positions on the same team in one quarter, all on fouls, two by one player, and without any significant consequence to the key players causing the injuries. Punches should have been thrown at the very least 🤬🤬🤬🤣