President of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association, Jermaine Slater
The playoff action of the One Guyana Basketball League is set to start on Saturday, January 13, at the National Gymnasium, with jump-ball for the first playoff series set to begin at 19:00hrs.
The eight teams that advanced to the playoffs from the Harpy League Conference are: Pacesetters, Black Mambas, Ravens, Kwakwani Untouchables, and UG Trojans. From the Jaguar Conference, the teams are: Stabroek Eagles, UG Trojans, Bounty Colts, McDoom/Prospect Kobras.
In the Harpy Eagle Conference, the Playoff will see Pacesetters, who copped first place, coming up against Ravens in a three-game series. Kwakwani Untouchables, coming in second, will play Black Mambas, who came in third, in a three-game series in which the winner will move on to the Conference Finals.
The Jaguar Conference will see Stabroek Eagles, unbeaten in the group stage, coming up against UG Trojans in a three-game series; while Bounty Colts, coming in second place, will battle Kobras, who have a mixture of young and experience, in a three-game series in which the winner will move on to the Conference Finals.
President of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association, Jermaine Slater, in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport, emphasized that the level of basketball has improved, as have the teams and the expectation of the Playoffs.
He said, “All the teams that would normally play poorly have garnered some traction from this regular season that we had, thus they played far better. Trojans Basketball is one and Black Mambas is a very new team that has improved as their games went on and within the regular, so we expect much more competitive basketball in the playoff, so it’s the top teams that went through. We fully expect competitive basketball to be played, we fully expect a lot of passion to be displayed, and we fully expect to have close games and heated rivalries to be formed.”
Slater expounded on the importance of the Playoff setup, saying it gives teams more game time to develop their basketball abilities.
He emphasized, “The level of basketball has increased to play, and now they are preparing to play in the playoffs with the 2-best of 3 series which would give them even much more game time, as it is not just a one-game and knockout in this playoff. They will be able to get some time to get it together as a team.”
Winners of the playoff games will then advance to their Conference Finals, where they will play the best two-of-three series to determine who advances to the National Finals.
The tournament-winning team will receive $1 million along with trophies, while the runners-up will receive $500,000 plus trophies. (Omar McKenzie)
