NLE Final Four Analysis : Games too close to call

Mar 19, 2009 Sports

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By Edison Jefford
The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall will be transformed into a NBA arena tomorrow night as the Final Four teams in the Next Level Entertainment (NLE) Basketball Championships take centre court for a place in Sunday’s Grande Finale.
The four teams that remain in the competition after close to three weeks of mind blowing and lively basketball are Linden’s Amelia Ward Jets, Victory Valley Royals, Kashif and Shanghai Kings and Georgetown’s Dyna Ravens.

Royals are the only team that advanced to this penultimate round without difficulty and as a result, the team will enter the semi–final game against Linden counterparts, Jets, as overwhelming favourites tomorrow night.
The durable Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts is at the helm of Royals’ success. He has the leading individual score in the tournament so far with 35 points and is undoubtedly one of the best forwards in the sport in Guyana.
Roberts’ basketball fanaticism and knowledge is unrivalled and at one time, his regard in the country had taken him ‘Down Under’ to Australia. He will be keen, however, to bear in mind that basketball is a team sport.

‘Sugar’ has so far played well with his team and has looked to players such as junior star, Chris Williams along with Orlando Glasgow, Ron Beckles and Mark Richards for the necessary offensive and defensive support.
Jets will definitely attempt to make Roberts a defensive target tomorrow night, which is why Williams’ game must be on point. Williams, who is a shooting guard, will play a major role in Royals’ parameter shooting in the game.
Williams is one of those momentum players that helped in the devastation of Pacesetters in a fixture last year where he nailed nine of ten jump shots from beyond the three–point arc to help Royals come out with a big win.  His shooting will be needed tomorrow night to combat the most deadly parameter scoring team in the competition to date. Jets have literally destroyed teams from that range with their ‘big men’ basically picking up garbage.

Delbert Kitt is growing in confidence after taking teams apart from the three–point range in the earlier rounds of competition. Jets’ captain, Kevin ‘Two Feet’ Joseph has proven to be lethal from that range as well against minnows.
Jets had beaten Macabees with a late one–point scare while easily ousting Scorpions in a more convincing win. Their primary players are the Webster brothers along with point guards, Joseph and Kitt with forward Akeem Khanai.
Jets’ strength is basically their strong offence that Neil Simon adequately supports along with the other key players. They are more competent on offence than Royals but that in essence will not beat a defensive team.
The Royals and Jets encounter is tough to call given the recent even history of the teams but what is certain is that the ‘big game temperament’ is embedded in Roberts, who has been in this position many times before.

If that game is difficult to predict, how about another semi-final that includes the first two teams to have ever played in a NLE final? What will happen when Ravens, the 2006 finalist, meet Kings, the 2006 NLE Champions?
Kings were recently relegated in Linden for not taking part in the League there, which in the scope of this competition allowed them to enter as the number eight ranked and only second division club in the tournament.
They have ridden a Cinderella story so far after getting rid of the number one ranked City club, Courts Pacesetters and number three ranked, Pepsi Sonics and now, Kings’ biggest challenge is the number two seeded, Ravens.

Never mind Kings’ obvious lack of conditioning that allowed them to crawl to the semis, the team has been to both previous NLE finals and has an aptitude for atmospheres that demands the best of their character.
This was proven when Nets had them on the ropes in the quarterfinals and they rose to the challenge beaten, exhausted and injured. Kings does not give up easily and certainly will be looking to make it to the final again.

Kings’ guard Steve Neils Jr., forward Marvin Hartman, Omally Sampson and their centre Jason Alonzo are usually the lynch men for the team with support from the bench in the form of Orin Rose and Dale Williamson.
Those players, however, have not been as offensively productive in their previous games in the tournament as they are known to be, which is why Kings have engineered purely low–scoring games in the glitzy competition.

The mystery of Kings’ poor offence is that they have managed to keep their opposition, so far, to scores below theirs but they cannot risk a poor offensive night against Ravens, who will completely enjoy such a situation.
Ravens are undoubtedly an offensive team, which was exposed in their controversial win against Pepsi Sonics in the quarterfinals but with the propensity of Kings to tire in the second half, they presumably have an advantage.
Guards Darcel Harris and Ryan Stephney will be trouble for Kings while Seraiah Clarke and Ryan Gullen are competent from the outside going in. Kevin Lawrence will play his role in governing the basketball as well.
Damian Liverpool has his work cut out with Alonzo and Williamson but he is a difficult campaigner on the inside where he is tough. Pound for pound and head to head, Ravens have a deeper bench but it must all come together.

Ravens, like Kings, have not been winning as convincingly as they are known to win in major tournaments, which are the fundamental reason that this penultimate encounter will be excruciating, much less to predict a winner.
Despite the administrative errors, especially at the level of refereeing, the four teams that will play for a place in Sunday’s final has proven to be the best in the competition and one could safely say that they deserve their places.
The only option of determining the candidates for the Grande Finale on Sunday is to wait for tomorrow night.
The games are too close to call based on the available evidence, which suggests that the teams are evenly balanced.
The winner of the Grande Finale takes home a whopping $300,000 first place prize even as second place gets $200,000, third place $100,000 and fourth place $50,000 along with other team and individual prizes including trophies.

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