In a bruising and bloody battle, the veteran, scrappy Johnson & Associates squad prevailed in the title tilt against an aggressive aggregate from the Attorney General’s Office to capture the 2008 Seattle Lawyers Basketball League crown on May 28.
The Washington Generals entered the final undefeated at 12-0 and as the tourney’s No. 1 seed. At the end, however, the 11-2 J&A hoopsters prevailed 69-59, avenging one of their two losses from the 2008 regular season.
The Generals erased an early seven-point deficit (thanks to the hot hand of Mike Lee) to tie the Johnson netters at 37-all at the half. The game remained close and with eight minutes remaining the score was knotted at 55. However, J&A closed out the game with a 14-4 run to take the title.
Unfortunately, during the final Battle of the Bulgeless, J&A’s veteran gunner, Jimmy Clark, took some shrapnel, briefly losing consciousness and leaving some blood on the court (requiring an Overlake ER visit).
Johnson & Associates team members and their respective law schools are: Bryan R. Campbell (John Marshall ’03), James H. Clark (Willamette ’87), James Haigh (Notre Dame ’99), Eric C. Hanson (Seattle U. ’96), Robert Iannucci (Boston U. ’88), Anthony C. Johnson (Boston U. ’88), Joshua M. Lipsky (Georgetown ’95), Eric S. Nelson (Pepperdine ’92), Charles T. Paglialunga (UPS ’92) and Robert J. “Jack” Slavik (Seattle U. ’96).1
1 Johnson & Associates is the name of the basketball team composed of 10 lawyers, many of whom are practicing law in small firms: it is not a law firm. Other than the author’s law partner, Eric Nelson, the team members are not legal associates in the author’s law firm.
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