A WINNER-TAKES-ALL Lakers-Cavs showdown?
It’s about to go down.
Nothing speaks playoff basketball quite like a match-up of the sport’s most ardent adversaries, and Lumber Company LSC and Station Hill Cavaliers will renew that rivalry tonight at the Wildey Gym in the decisive Game 3 of their first-round Co-operators General Insurance Premier League series.
The game is tipped to be the biggest of the season yet, with a spot in the finals on the line for a pair of perennial champion clubs that are more than accustomed to appearing in the big dance.
But before anyone can think of those finals, there’s that little issue of a certain Game 3 to deal with first.
It’s just the latest in a long line of well-documented battles between the two, who’ve faced off in four straight postseasons from 2007 to 2010, including a trio of finals matchups (2007, 2008, 2010).
Oddly enough, the series defined by its close encounters has shockingly gone the distance on just one previous occasion, and not in any of those three finals either, as the 2009 meeting went down to the wire in the only other time Lakers and Cavs faced off in the first round.
If that series is anything to go by then the fans are sure in for a doozy.
For all his overseas accolades, former Station Hill great Andrew Alleyne may never have hit a bigger shot in his life than the one to end Lakers’ 2009 season, with the local legend hitting a buzzer-beating jumper for the fitting finish to Game 3 and the series.
And that may rank second in all-time great Lakers-Cavs contests.
It really didn’t take long for the two to one-up that epic 2009 showdown, because just a season later their finals started with a triple overtime Game 1 thriller – arguably the greatest play-off game in Premier League history.
From tip slams, to buzzer-beating treys and one memorable breakout performance from a role player, the historic finals opener had it all for 55 gripping minutes.
So great was the game that each side had more than opportunity to win the contest outright.
Not that the drama ended there.
Just two nights later and Cavs won another last-second heart-stopper, this time a one-point nail-biter that opposing forward Ian Alexander could have won at the buzzer had he not missed his potential game winner.
As if that wasn’t enough, the two rivals went into extras again before Corey Williams capped off his title-winning 30-point performance in overtime of Game 4.
Yet somehow they’re expected to top this.
They certainly didn’t start that way though, not after trading blowout wins to open this first postseason matchup since that same epic 2010 finals.
But bragging rights are on the line with the series score level at two apiece.
Everything is at stake. And a finals appearance awaits the victors.
It’s Lakers-Cavs again, and it’s about to go down.
