The big break helped Warrens get one of their own.
So who’s Peter Alleyne to complain?
Seems good things do indeed come to those who wait as the finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) partially credited the long 14-day layoff between Games 3 and 4 for Warrens’ ability to close out rivals Lakers in the rec ent five-game Premier League basketball finals series.
“We needed the rest because we are the older team of the two,” said Alleyne moments after lifting the League cup.
“So I greatly appreciate the long break and, as you can see, it paid off.”
With six-foot-ten centre Pearson Griffith travelling as the coach of a junior boys’ team, the governing Barbados Amateur Basketball Association took a decision to put the finals on hold until Griffith’s return so as not to disadvantage Warrens.
This was after the Jackson-based underdogs took a stunning 2-0 finals lead on the back of successive nail-biters and were just 20 minutes away from a historic sweep after entering the second half of Game 3 tied with the three-time defending champs.
But Lakers finished the contest on a 54-29 burst, routing Warrens by 25 points to keep the series – and their hopes of another title – alive for another game.
“At that time I think we played something like four games in five nights,” said Alleyne of the awful second-half performance.
“We were really tired in the third game and it showed on the court [because] we only gave a first-half effort.”
Such wasn’t the case in Game 4 though.
Led by Alleyne’s near triple-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, Warrens finally finished off their Husbands, St James nemeses, going on two separate fourth-quarter runs before closing out the contest with a 12-4 spurt after another close first half.
This time it was Lakers who ran out of gas, with the preseason favourites falling flat on their faces following a listless effort that only got worse with Andre Lockhart’s game-ending ankle injury.
“You play the whole half without your best player, and not just your best player but your starting point guard so you really can’t get away from that,” said Lakers head coach Francis Williams.
“Plus the long layoff was already a big shift in momentum to the point where it almost didn’t feel like the same competition. They also got a lot of rest for some key people who happen to be veterans so I guess the long break did help them.”
It was helpful, considering Alleyne didn’t even think he had anything in the tank just to start the season.
Warrens’ 36-year-old point guard, the reigning three-time MVP, had announced his retirement at the end of last season following another deep postseason run that probably took further toll on his aching knees.
“I was really committed to retiring and I thought by bringing in all these young players that I could feel comfortable calling it quits,” Alleyne revealed.
“[However], at the beginning of the season I saw the guys really needed a little bit of help and I still had something left in the tank so I decided to come back for one more season.
“But I am done this time for sure. There’s no coming back.”
