Contrasting semi finals tonight, as we probably all expected but if we were expecting a repeat of the lack of excitement the quarter finals gave us, we were probably surprised by how close one of the games was.
BC Norwich, who have done D3 proud, found Phoenix Warriors just far too good, as indeed have a few EBBL teams this season, so there's no shame in that. In a performance that is typical of the Warriors the Norwich side found their offence stifled by a strong defence and their own defence was no match for tha Warriors team that can score from any position. On this occasion it was Warriors' SGs, Imray and Facto, who scored the majority of the points (53 out of 127) with Facto the backup scoring 28 of them. The Norwich cause wasn't helped by losing their two big men to foul outs, though it made no difference to the end result.
The other semi final was very different. Tide of Fire went in as big favourites against the Doncaster Hawks, and clearly they felt that way too. The Hawks employed a 2-3 zone, expecting the Tide to go inside, and indeed it restricted the Tide's inside offence but they were able to make us of their offensive flow to have 33 team assists for the whole game. The first half was a tight affair, the score at the end of the first quarter was 29-29, and by half time the Tide had eked out a 59-56 lead. Clearly the game was going to be a high scoring affair.
The third quarter was Tide's best, with them increasing the lead to 90-78 and though the Hawks were able to more than match the Tide in the fourth, they were able to hold on to an 11 pt lead, running out winners by 112-101.
As usual Innes top scored for the Tide but he was outscored on the night by Hawks' C Larsen. A quick look at the boxscore reveals that the Tide struggled when their starters weren't on the court, but they just weren't on court long enough for the Hawks to take advantage.
The two losers on the night deserve plaudits for getting this far in Norwich's case. Remember they're the first D3 team for 30 seasons to make it this far. And the Hawks did a fantastic job tonight in giving the Tide a proper fight, despite Hawks' owner Carolina28 saying after the game "I'm not ready yet."
The final is next of course, and it will be between what many will regard as the best two teams in the country this season. They're the two teams that are top of the conferences in the EBBL and may well be the finalists in the EBBL playoffs.