In this edition of On The Ball, NATION basketball writer Justin Marville reviews last weekend’s Co-operators General Insurance Premier League post-season.
Insights, observations and musings of two eventful first-round series in the 2014 top flight playoffs.
• Uncertainty, huh.
Tell me again how wide-open these playoffs were supposed to be, and about the unpredictability of the matchups, as any of the four teams could beat the others and realistically lift the league trophy.
Yeah, I bought that talk wholesale, hook, line and sinker, well, until those same “contending” teams took to the floor and confirmed what we all should’ve known from the get-go.
That’s right, Cougars were never really contenders to begin with, while any Lakers-Cavs series will be a closely-contested one.
I mean, should it truly have taken a weekend of playoff hoops to verify this when the signs were there staring us in the face like we were at a Manhattan intersection?
Sure, the collection of talent in Hothersal is tantalising, but Cougars never proved they were anything more than that, especially in a season full of dysfunction featuring one source of contention after another.
Again, this is a “team” that lost its head coach, starting point guard and long-serving centre while going on a four-game skid started by a defeat to the now-demoted Challengers, who incidentally failed to win any other games.
And these Cougars entered the playoffs directly on the heels of a 61-point rout, yet we expected them to somehow challenge the same opponents that just also happen to double as the league’s best unit.
Uh huh.
Not sure why we figured LSC could roll over a certain age-old rival either, considering the nature of the epic matchups that went down in the past.
That, and the fact the champs never previously beat Station Hill in a series which featured Kelvin Patterson, having gone 0-2 between 2009 and 2010.
All this and still there was the talk about uncertainty?
Next thing we’ll be hearing people say they don’t know who Pinelands would rather see in the finals, too.
• Maybe the Pine shouldn’t care who really comes out of that series anyway.
If they weren’t already title favourites, then the top seeds certainly start as the odds-on pick now to win all, given a certain added dimension brought on by Ramon Simmons’ hot hand.
Not that you haven’t heard already, but that’s 22 treys in three nights for the suddenly torrid swingman, who must’ve broken all sorts of local records during the video game-like performance.
Of course it helps that all 22 came against a Cougars side that put up even less resistance than a subway turnstile while watching the clearly-scorching Simmons shoot with the type of real estate that would leave even Sir Charles Williams jealous.
But he still had to make good on those open looks, and boy did he ever, having connected on better than 45 per cent of those shots despite taking a mammoth 48 of them.
And that most definitely shores up an area of weakness for an offence which needs to spread the floor as much as possible to best utilise its favoured high-low between Charles Vanderpool and Junior Moore.
Then again Simmons could come back down to earth by the time the finals start. Or maybe his shooting touch continues with an eye on that other team Francis Williams is in charge of.
• You can talk about how lopsided the games have been all you want, but there’s just something about watching in-series adjustments that make the post-season special.
Forget the play on the floor, it’s been one hell of a chess match on the sidelines, where rival coaches Francis Williams and Adrian Craigwell have been waging strategic wars worthy of electronic battleship.
And there’s still one big Game 3 left to look forward to.
First, it was Lakers changing up their defensive game plans from the regular season, greeting Kelvin Patterson with double-teams before the prolific big man could even put a bounce in the ball.
Station Hill then countered by putting Patterson on the move more frequently, making it hard for the champs to bring extra defenders for a target that was in constant motion.
It leaves the ball squarely in Williams’ court now with the relatively small issue of a series on the line.
No pressure, right?