Eight Days, Four Games, Three Full Houses…Oh BABY!

It all started on Sunday 12th January 2013. This was the day of the 2013/24 BBL Cup Final. It being on a Sunday, it’s a really early start for me. The clock goes off at 4:00am and I am out of the house by about 4:20 heading for BBC Radio Manchester at Media City, Salford.

Sunday Breakfast goes well and by 9:15 I am out of the building and in the car heading for the NIA Birmingham. I have to make 1 stop and that is at McDonald’s for a breakfast of Sausage & Egg muffin meal with a cappuccino. I am now set for the day.

The drive to Birmingham is uneventful  and I arrive at the NIA to find that the builders have moved in. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product as the new Production office is FAB.

This is BBL Cup Final Day and it is always an exciting day for me. Today I’ll be commentating on the Cup Final between Leicester Riders and Newcastle Eagles. I have to say I have no idea who is going to win this but more on that later.

Before the Final there is the little encounter between an England Select team and an Ireland select Team. Last year this game was an absolute joy and this year would turn out to be no different. Like last year the England team under Head Coach Paul James would get off to a great start and would lead for most of the game.

But like last year, it would be the Irish would take the lead in the 4th and would stay ahead through to the final buzzer.

That game would be followed by the Dunk competition and congratulations to Irish Player Delwan Graham who would beat all before him to take the 2013 Crown.

The Dunk competition would be followed by the All Star Dunkers who would really lift the roof off this place with their spectacular dunks. I won’t tell you about their ‘Time of my life’ sequence, which has to be seen to be believed.

And so on to the big event of the day the 2013/14 BBL Cup Final.

And what a game this was! Space precludes me from going through this blow by blow but it was an absolute joy to behold. The performances by the Eagles was sensational with Charles Smith and Scott Martin leading the way. I have to say that for long periods of this game the Eagles were in the driving seat but come the 4th Quarter and the Riders would work their way back into this one and it would be the Riders fans who would find their voice.

Eventual MVP Andrew Sullivan would take control of the game and lead his Riders to victory. Rob Paternostro and his boys would retain the BBL Cup and the red army from Leicester would enjoy their day out in Birmingham.

A full house of 9,000 at the NIA enjoyed a full days action culminating in a sensational BBL Cup Final.

On Friday the 17th of Jan it would be another sensation event for me. For the last 5 ish years I have been commentating for Leeds Carnegie in EB D1. As usual the BBL had invited a number of EB D1 teams to take part in this year’s BBL Trophy. One of those teams was Leeds Carnegie. Now Carnegie had already been accepted into the BBL for the 2014/15 season and when it was announce it seemed a long way away but that is now less than 9 months.

Carnegie were drawn to play Glasgow Rocks at home and today was the day. I arrived nice and early and my mate Phil Hall had volunteered to give me a hand. Everything was nicely laid out and a full house was expected.

And boy did they turn out?

It was a full house and more. Unfortunately for Carnegie the visitors were just too strong and after an initial flurry by the home team, Sterling Davis and his boys would steam roller Carnegie and that would be that.

This might have been a disappointing game and result for Leeds Carnegie, but the full house and the noise they made when Carnegie did score is something that I will remember for a long time.

Hopefully when Carnegie take their place in the BBL the fans will turn out in numbers like this.

The following night and it is back on the M62 heading for Leeds again as Carnegie would be taking on the top of the table Hemel Storm and although this game would go to the wire it would be the visiting Storm who would take the victory.

However what made this special for me was the quality of the game.

It was sensational!

The star for Hemel was point guard Bode Adeluola who would finish with 36 points, including the game winning triple with the score tied on 64 a piece.

The beauty of this game was that Carnegie put up the kind of performance that I knew they were capable of. It was a joy to see and although both teams were missing star players, this was a truly enjoyable game and one that EB D1 could be proud of.

And so to my final game of an incredible eight days.

It is the BBL Trophy encounter between the Cheshire Phoenix and the Cup winning Leicester Riders. Both teams were coming in on the back of defeats with the Phoenix going down to the Eagles on the road while the Riders suffered one of their rare defeats at home this time to the London Lions.

Well on paper this one had all the makings of a classic and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

A full house at the Northgate Arena were served up an absolute feast by both teams. Again space precludes me from going into this blow by blow but be assured it was awesome.

At the end of the 1st the score was 20 to the Phoenix and 18 to the Riders. The second quarter was all about the Riders as they would outscore the home team to lead 36-47 at the break.

We are now into the 3rd and the ‘NIX’ would go to work.  After a minute Reggie would drop a deuce and it would be 38-47.

But now it was tough to score for either team as defence was the order of the day. But halfway through the 3rd and the ‘NIX’ had cut the deficit to 4 – 45-49. By the end of the 3rd they would lead 61-59.

And so we are in to the 4th and boy what a quarter this was?

With 4 minutes gone Devan Bailey, who was having a solid game, dropped a two to take the ‘NIX’ back out to a 9 point lead. And now we come to the sheer beauty of the game of basketball.

Black and Calvo return to the floor for the Riders and with 4:54 left on the clock Black drops a three ball and it is a 6 point game. 30 seconds later and Washington nails a triple and the Riders are now down only 3. With 3:44 left on the clock Sullivan nails one from beyond the arc and we are tied.

Riders fans thought it was all over.

They were wrong!

The score would remain tied on 72 right through to 2:23 left on the clock and now Reggie would go to work.

He simply owned the final 2 minutes of this game and the massive crowd at the Northgate would go home happy with the win under their belts.

My favourite play of the game was Reggie driving the lane and as the defence collapsed on him he passes the ball to Victor Moses coming in along the baseline who then reverses it for 2.

This game was an absolute joy with an amazing atmosphere and a home win to top it all.

What a way to round off an incredible 8 days and 4 games of basketball?

Later
Mike S
21/01/2014