This past Monday, July 10th, the Rockets and Warriors met at PGA Park to tip off what was expected to be yet another nice evening of BGBL Basketball. The members of the League’s Board of Directors were excited to watch (and manage) the action, so they decided to tip off the night’s festivities with Happy Hour at the Thirsty Turtle. However, anyone who told you this was a friendly night of BGBL Basketball was probably just too blacked out from Thirsty Turtle to tell the difference.

Pretty quickly into the first half of the first game of Monday’s double header, rookie Allen Brown came up with a steal for the Warriors and began to dribble towards what seemed like a go-ahead layup. In an attempt to stop the easy bucket, Rockets veteran Nick Chiocca wrapped the big man up from behind in what could be considered to be a smart play by the veteran. However, Brown did not take nicely to the foul and conflict ensued. Head referee Andrew Owers had to step in to settle the situation. “It’s good for the league that we have veteran referees that feel confident stepping in when things get out of hand,” commented Commissioner Mike McClure.

Owers, who has given out a number of technical fouls in his career would distribute two in the first half of this contest alone. Brown would receive the first, and later in the first half, Rockets forward Dino St Julus would receive the second. After blowing his whistle to T up Dino, Owers yelled some expletive remarks towards the former MVP candidate. Some would say Owers crossed the line with his unnecessary comments to Dino. However, after analyzing the referee contract Owers signed at the beginning of the season, it was clear that the refs are allowed to act out of line given the heat they take from the players on a regular basis.

“This is karma,” said Casey McClure, attributing the first half chaos that occurred to the fact that the people managing the game decided to get a buzz on at Thirsty Turtle prior to the action. The league is just thankful that the fan who threw a drink at Ron Artest back in 2004 did not attend the game, or we could have witnessed a brawl at PGA Park similar to the brawl at the Palace.

On the bright side, the actual game was very well-played, mostly by the Warriors who won by 14 points, their largest margin of victory this season. The Big 3 (Colon, Burns, Brown) combined for 54 of the team's 67 points. However, the role players made solid contributions. Quentin Middleton nearly accounted for a double-double with 8 points and 7 rebounds, also converting on both his free throw attempts. Late in the second half, Rob Wonyetye would convert on a beautiful sideline three-pointer, with the ball hitting nothing but nylon on its way through the hoop. “I’m averaging more than one point per game!” Wonyetye would exclaim as he stormed down the sidelines beating his chest.

The Warriors improve to 3-1 on the year and are really looking like a solid contender. The Rockets (1-4), on the other hand, need a lot to happen for them to qualify for the playoffs. Houston first needs the Thunder to lose to the Warriors on Sunday night. If that happens, the Rockets can take care of business with a win over that very same Thunder team on Monday night to get into the playoffs.