Top 5 players from Phase-1 of the UBA
The UBA, Indias first basketball league had its Phase-1 of the tournament end with thePune Peshwas and Hyderabad Sky finishing off with wins on the final day at Pune. The tournament now heads over to Hyderabad for Phase-2 which will include four days of regular season games and then the playoffs; which include the semi-finals and the finals.For the first time, the playoffs will have a best of three games and teams will battle for the UBA title in true NBA style.The second season of the UBA has seen some quick transition basketball, better rotation of players and some high flying dunks to say the least. The crowd has been coming in to watch basketball in numbers and although the home team Pune Peshwas witnessed most of the crowd support, basketball as a whole is slowly finding its audience in cricket-crazy India.The Delhi Capitals and Chennai Slam started the league with some eye-catching basketball and remained undefeated until the last few days where teams broke their resistance to hand them their first defeats. The Mumbai Challengers and Pune Peshwas were also one of the better teams of season two. With a topsy-turvy start to their campaign, they ended strongly and they will look to challenge for the play-offs position when they head over to Hyderabad. Bengaluru Beast showed great promise early on, but slowly faded away as the tournament progressed. However, the Beast are still in a strong position to make the last four.The Hyderabad Sky andPunjab Steelers lost all their opening games but ended the UBA with two wins from their last two games. Their tactics have improved, and with more self-belief they are still right up there to take down any team with Phase-2 looming. The story of the Haryana Gold is a sorry one, who have lost all their games and it looks increasingly unlikely they will be competing in the playoffs this year.So after 10 days of eye-catching basketball, the UBA has witnessed some standout performances from the eight teams. Here is a look at the Top 5 players who have enthralled the crowd with blocks, assists, drives, jumpers and some drop dead three-pointers in the league:
#1 Vinay Kaushik
The former International player kicked off his campaign with 19 points in the opening game against the Punjab Steelers and he was consistent for the Capitals with double digits in most of their victories. His shooting was impressive and together with his breakneck drives inside the paint, he tortured most of his rival defenders.
Vinay was responsible for Delhi’s rise to the top with two man-of-the-match awards and he remains their most important player for the Capitals together with Sachin Sharma and Smithin Settu.