a day ago
‘They get to play on TSN at a world-class NHL arena in front of 10,000-plus people'
The CEBL championship trophy has officially arrived in Winnipeg and is patiently waiting to see who will hoist it on Sunday.
Just a few feet away from the 27 pounds of gold — which fittingly resembles a peach basket, a nod to the ones Canadian James Naismith used when he invented the sport in 1891 — sat the remaining head coaches vying for the title, gathered for a press conference Wednesday morning at Canada Life Centre.
Unlike Kaleb Canales (Calgary Surge), Victor Raso (Niagara River Lions) and Mike De Giorgio (Scarborough Shooting Stars), Mike Taylor and the Winnipeg Sea Bears have known for over a year that they'd have a seat at the CEBL Championship Weekend table — thanks to the automatic berth granted to them as the host team.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
The remaining CEBL head coaches in the post-season talked playoffs at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday beside the championship trophy. (From left) Winnipeg Sea Bears head coach Mike Taylor, Calgary Surge head coach Kaleb Canales, Niagara River Lions head coach Victor Raso and Scarborough Shooting Stars head coach Mike De Giorgio.
That doesn't mean the 24-game regular season was a cakewalk, though.
The last three event hosts had a combined regular season record of 22-38. The Sea Bears finished in fourth place in the West with an 11-13 mark after starting 1-5.
'The big thing was complacency… If guys would mess up a coverage, or if we had an assignment mistake or breakdown, I'd hear, 'Coach, it's OK, it's OK, it doesn't matter.' No, everything matters,' Taylor said at Wednesday's press conference.
'We tried to separate ourselves from that complacency as early as we could… We were running our own race. And if you compare us to the other host teams from the past, I felt like we were in a much better position competitively. We beat everybody that we needed to beat, we were just a little bit inconsistent.'
While the Sea Bears have been able to rest since Aug. 10, the Surge (17-7) have battled through a pair of playoff slugfests to reach Friday's Western Conference final (7:30 p.m. CT tip-off). They first beat the 15-9 Edmonton Stingers 103-95 in the play-in round, then edged out the league-leading Vancouver Bandits (19-5) 105-103 in a controversial road win last Saturday.
In the CEBL playoffs, any foul call that could lead to game-winning free throws is automatically reviewed by an independent official not employed by the league. With Vancouver holding a 103-102 advantage and needing just two more points in Target Score Time to win, three consecutive fouls against them were overturned. Then, Calgary point guard Evan Gilyard II was awarded three free throws after light contact on a long-range attempt. He sank all three, sealing the Surge's trip to Winnipeg.
After the game, Vancouver star Mitch Creek — a finalist for the CEBL MVP award — blasted the league, saying he would never play in it again and that it has 'taken an enormous step back in respect on the world stage.'
'Basketball happens. That's the best way I could describe it,' said Canales.
'Listen, it was a playoff type of game. It was intense, it was passionate, it was high level from both teams. I have a lot of respect for the players on Vancouver, but I absolutely love our group, and we stand on the season series we had against them (4-0). But our focus isn't on that, it's on Winnipeg on Friday.'
Regardless of how they escaped Vancouver, the Surge present a major challenge to the Sea Bears, especially star guard Jameer Nelson Jr. who exploded for a CEBL playoff record 39 points in B.C.
Winnipeg went 1-3 against the Surge this summer, but did manage to prevail in their most recent meeting — a 79-78 squeaker in Calgary on July 27.
'What's unique about what Caleb and their team does is it's not just one player doing one thing. There's a lot of versatility and interchangeable parts there,' said Taylor.
'They target matchups really well, use their personnel extremely well, and they got a lot of talent. This is a team that we know, and it's about how we can perform, play to our best, and take some of those things away. Like I say to the guys, play our game, not their game, and Calgary is really good at getting you to play their game.'
The Eastern Conference final (5 p.m. CT Friday) featuring Niagara and Scarborough is not only a showdown between the previous two league winners, but also two Canadian head coaches. When they're not leading the charge for their respective CEBL clubs, Raso and De Giorgio coach prep basketball in Ontario.
'As a young Canadian, this is a dream, and it is for all our Canadian guys, too,' said Raso, Niagara's head coach since the inaugural season back in 2019.
'They get to play on TSN at a world-class NHL arena in front of 10,000-plus people. You just can't really compare this thing to anything. Honestly, it's a bit like, 'Wow, we're here.''
The reigning champs, Niagara (14-10), clinched the top spot in the East early before capping the regular season off with a five-game losing streak. Scarborough (11-13) settled for third but have figured things out lately as they took down the Montreal Alliance 92-86 before stomping the Ottawa BlackJacks 114-81 to qualify for this week.
Niagara and Scarborough split the season series 2-2.
'I feel like we're battle-tested coming into the game on Friday,' said De Giorgio.
AKOT RETURNS TO WINNIPEG
The Sea Bears are getting some last-minute help.
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Forward Emmanuel Akot returned to Winnipeg late Wednesday two weeks after leaving his hometown club to suit up for South Sudan at FIBA's AfroBasket tournament in Angola.
Akot's contract with the Sea Bears required him to stay for the entire CEBL season but the 26-year-old made the decision to leave anyway. South Sudan had expectations of going far at AfroBasket, which runs through the weekend, but were knocked out of the competition after a 78-65 loss to Senegal early Monday.
Akot contacted the Sea Bears expressing his interest in coming home and playing Friday night. He will practice and address media on Thursday.
Akot struggled in four appearances in Angola, averaging 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in just under 20 minutes per game. In 19 games this summer with Winnipeg, Akot produced 11.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists while averaging 29.8 minutes.
Taylor AllenReporter
Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.
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