Game Preview - July 23: BlackJacks Battling for Playoff Spot Against Montreal
The Ottawa BlackJacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) take on the Montreal Alliance at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Verdun Auditorium in Montreal.
The BlackJacks enter this game sitting with a .500 record, having gone 8-8 in the first two thirds of their season. They currently sit in second in the Eastern Conference, while the 6-10 Alliance sit in fourth.
With a win tonight, the BlackJacks can officially clinch a spot in this year’s playoffs.
By boosting their record to 9-8, they’ll have tied the best possible record that the Brampton Honey Badgers, who sit in last place in the East, could finish the season with (9-15). Because Ottawa has won the season series with the Honey Badgers, they own the tiebreaker between the two teams–that means that the BlackJacks would rank higher in the standings in the case of a tie.
But just because Ottawa would clinch the playoffs with a win, it doesn’t mean that they can cruise into the postseason on autopilot from here on out.
The CEBL boasts a unique playoff format where being a higher seed in a conference results in less work to make it to the championship game.
Because this year’s hosts for championship weekend, the Winnipeg Sea Bears, are in the Western Conference, two Eastern Conference teams will be able to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals through playoff wins.
The number two seed will receive a bye to the Conference Semifinals, and the number one seed will receive a bye to the Conference Finals. There will also be a first round matchup between the third and fourth seeds to see who advances to the Conference Semifinals, in which the third seed holds home court advantage.
It’s a complicated format, but it makes each team’s regular season record incredibly important–the higher seed you are, the less you have to work to win the CEBL Championship.
As of right now, the BlackJacks sit in the second seed, meaning they would receive a bye into the Conference Semifinals–they jumped into that spot after taking down the Brampton Honey Badgers on Monday night.
The team they bumped down to third are the Scarborough Shooting Stars, who now sit just 0.5 games behind the BlackJacks with a record of 8-9. With the gap still so close, these final eight games will be crucial for Ottawa to maintain their spot in the standings.
Ahead of the BlackJacks in first place in the East are the 12-5 Niagara River Lions, who hold a 3.5 game lead on Ottawa. Although a difficult achievement, it’s also possible for the BlackJacks to finish strong and take the number one seed, receiving a bye directly into the Eastern Conference Finals in Winnipeg for CW25.
But as of right now, the focus for Ottawa is less about pushing into first place, and more about holding their spot in second place. With the Shooting Stars right on their tails, they’ll want to ensure they avoid having to win an extra game come playoff time.
So leaving Montreal with a win tonight is especially important–but that’s a feat easier said than done.
Despite the Alliance’s unadmirable record, they’re a loaded team full of talented players. Their roster is also built to hone in on the BlackJacks’ weaknesses.
As a team, Montreal make their presence known around the rim. They lead the league in offensive rebounds per game (12.7). Contrarily, rebounding is one of Ottawa’s weak points–they rank third-worst in the CEBL, with just 38.9 total rebounds per night.
That difference in rebounding makes an impact when these two teams play each other. The last time they faced off, on June 27, Montreal won the rebounding battle by a wide margin–53 to 41.
More rebounds for the Alliance means more extra chances to score on the offensive end and they took advantage of those extra possessions, finishing with 14 second-chance points.
Ottawa was still able to escape that matchup with a 13-point win, but Montreal’s interior superiority was able to bring them out to a seven-point lead over the BlackJacks early in the first half.
While basketball is a game of runs, the BlackJacks don’t want to have to rely on such comebacks to win every game that they play.
BlackJacks Head Coach David DeAveiro has been incredibly vocal about his want for the team to improve their consistency. “I’ve challenged my guys…We can’t go through this ‘half a game, half a game’ thing.”
That inconsistency reared its head against the Honey Badgers as well as Ottawa gave up a whopping 31 points to Brampton in the first quarter despite the fact they score the least points per-game in the CEBL.
Although they were able to overcome their rough patches in those examples, Ottawa won’t be able to get away with an inconsistent defense in every game they play. The thing to be consistent with in tonight’s matchup will most definitely be rebounding.
Another important player for the Alliance is Brandon Porter. The forward scored 14 points in his debut game of the season against Ottawa in June, and will likely look to stay aggressive tonight.
And, of course, it’s hard to mention the Alliance without their lead guard in Tavian Dunn-Martin. The 5'8" West Virginia native sits sixth in the CEBL in assists per-game with 6.6, and 15th in points per game with18.6.
In his last game against Ottawa, Dunn-Martin struggled from the field–he scored just nine points on 19% shooting from the field. This poor performance was mostly due to Ottawa’s Shakur Daniel and his incredible individual defense.
Daniel has done a fantastic job of slowing down some of the top guards in the league this season–whether or not he does so once more to Dunn-Martin tonight will be one of the biggest keys to the game.
But the biggest key of all for Ottawa in this one is to play consistent for all four quarters. If they can manage to do that, they’ll be able to rack up another win and officially clinch a playoff spot as they creep closer to the end of their sixth season in the CEBL.
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