Game Preview - May 25: Alliance Host BlackJacks in Historic Outdoor Game

This evening, the Ottawa BlackJacks will play the Montreal Alliance in the first ever Canadian 5x5 Outdoor Pro Basketball Game. 

Held at IGA Stadium in Montreal, this event is a fantastic example of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL)’s creativity and curiosity when it comes to sport entertainment. The league already boasts unique “Elam” target score endings to its games, as well as limits on roster capacities in order to encourage teams to sign Canadian athletes.

The BlackJacks players and staff were understandably thrilled to be a part of another one of the league’s unique ideas: “I’m excited because I get to be a part of history,” said Ottawa Head Coach David DeAveiro, “Some of us may never get the opportunity again to be a part of something like this, so I’m excited.”

After originally being scheduled for two days earlier on Friday, May 23, weather issues required the CEBL to postpone the game due to safety concerns. One of the biggest changes when playing in an outdoor environment is rain, which on a wooden court could create a slipping hazard for the players.

Playing outside also brings the potential for weather to affect the game. Variables like wind speed, temperature, and sun glare all of a sudden become factors to consider when preparing for an outdoor game.

“Whatever the weather is like [tomorrow], we’re going to have to prepare for it as best we can,” said DeAveiro. "No Canadian team has ever played in an environment like this one, so the blueprint for success is simply up to Mother Nature."

DeAveiro’s plan for success? To not stick to one plan: “We’re really going to have to use the first four or five minutes to figure [the weather] out,” said DeAveiro, “we’ve got plan A, plan B, and plan C for this outdoor basketball game.”

Something the BlackJacks can prepare for, though, is having the right mindset coming into the matchup. After a tough loss in the first game of the season against the Niagara River Lions, Ottawa bounced back with a 22-point win over the Brampton Honey Badgers in game two.

According to DeAveiro, the team let the loss to Niagara get to their heads. “We didn’t really react well to [the loss],” he admitted, “so it was important to talk about how we’re going to react to situations like that.”

The BlackJacks’ leading scorer this season, Deng Adel, has averaged a team-high 26.0 points per game against Montreal over the last two seasons. He made similar remarks to his coach when asked about the team’s mentality.

“Last game, we beat ourselves,” said Adel, “the biggest thing we got out of it was that locker room talks and energy are where the game is won…the detail stuff.”

Ottawa found themselves down double digits early in the next game against Brampton, but they weren’t going to let the deficit get in their heads this time: they stormed back during the third quarter to take the win, 105-83.

That winning momentum will play a massive part in this matchup–the Alliance come into the game fresh off of a win in their only game of the season, also against the Honey Badgers. With both teams feeling confident and looking to start a winning streak, the energy is bound to be electric early in this historic bout.

Another similarity between these two teams is their high three-point shooting frequency. The Alliance are averaging the most three-point attempts per game in the CEBL this season, with a whopping 38 in their first game. The BlackJacks sit in third, with 30.

This high volume of three-point shots could very easily lead to a lot of misses with the wind playing a factor outdoors. 

“I’m hoping it’s great conditions,” said Adel, “but regardless, they do a good job of shooting and so do we. So we’ll try to focus on running them off of the line.”

If a lot of long-distance attempts do end up missing due to the weather, the Alliance are also great at rebounding the ball, specifically on the offensive end. The team sits second in the CEBL in both offensive rebounds per-game, and total rebounds per-game.

Against Brampton, two players for Montreal finished the game with 10+ rebounds: Dontay Bassett with 11 and Quincy Guerrier with 10.

Especially with the potential of more missed shots from the wind, the Alliance could prove to be a problem on the glass. 

DeAveiro and the rest of the coaching staff have been making sure that Ottawa focuses on boxing out and preventing Montreal from getting second chance points: “We talked about it a lot in practice…when we get to the game, [rebounding] has to be a part of who we are.”

The team’s second-leading rebounder per game this year, Isaih Moore, is currently a question mark for the game Sunday. “We’ll see how he’s feeling as things progress,” says DeAveiro, “but right now he’s day-to-day.” 

Losing Moore, who led the BlackJacks in rebounds against the Honey Badgers with eight, would be a gargantuan blow for the team’s interior presence. With him or without him, though, rebounding will be the key to this historic outdoor game in Montreal.