It's come down to only two teams, and now the Belize Basketball Association is preparing for the league finals starting on Thursday. On Thursday, the Belize city based BTL nets and the Kruzzas will meet in the first of 5 playoff games. For city fans, it's a dream matchup as all five games will be played at the city centre. But it's a dream that's come at the cost of a nightmare season for sponsors who've had to deal with sagging attendance and widespread indifference.
Now these teams are hoping that the finals can inject some life into what has been a torpid season. And to make sure the finals are the show that they always are - the teams have been working out hard. We visited the practices last night and start with a preview of the BTL Nets, is this their year to be the bride and not a bridesmaid?
Alfonso Noble Reporting
It’s one of the final practice nights for the BBA Semi Pro basketball finalists, the BTL Nets and the Kruzzas. While on this night of practice the plays were fine tuned and there were only attempted dunks the BTL Nets manager Charles Ellis says his team is ready and hungry for a championship.
Charles Ellis - manager –BTL Nets
“BTL has been bridesmaid for too long so we think it’s time that that thing be reversed. I wouldn’t want to give out all our secrets but suffice to say that we’ll be coming out very hard. We want to do it in the shortest time possible.”
‘These two teams are from the city. There is no love lost between us and there will be great excitement come this Thursday night.”
But while BTL looks for a victory with power plays by the indomitable superman Keith Acosta and the slicing speed of Kevin Siroki truth be told attendance to the games this year has been dismally low. Ellis attributes this to the lack of foreigners in the rosters.
“We didn’t include the foreigners in this year’s tournament so maybe that might be a reason why the fans haven’t been turning up this year. But they are really missing out because there is great talent.”
“Actually they have been missing out this year because the games haven’t been well attended by the public. But the two teams that are in the finals are very competitive, well coached and they are ready to do battle this Thursday night”.
Reporting for Seven News Alfonso Noble.
Tomorrow night we'll bring to you the other side of the coin with reactions from the Kruzzas.