Eagles confident of play-off success

Apr 23 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

BRITISH Basketball League player of the month Lynard Stewart will head into the end-of-season play-offs claiming Newcastle Eagles fear none of their rivals as they look to win the tournament for a fourth successive year.

Stewart has been in excellent form as the Eagles claimed their second league title in three years and he believes the dominant force in the domestic game will take that form into the play-offs.

The Eagles take on Worcester Wolves in the play-off quarter-finals on Friday night and Stewart knows that the Eagles should be far too strong for their opponents. He said: “I’ve got a good feeling about us getting the win this Friday against Worcester, especially as we now have Charles Smith and Jeremy Hyatt coming back into the rotation. Once we get past this one, I’m not concerned about anyone of the competition in the final four, as we have beaten them all recently.

“We are looking deep again with Darius Defoe and Olu Babalola really stepping up in recent weeks whilst Jeremy and Charles have been out. As long as they continue that type of form into the play-offs we have a great chance of winning the whole thing.”

For Eagles coach Fab Flournoy, the play-offs are also the true measure of a basketball team’s talent as that is how it is measured in his native America.

He explained: “To win the league is fantastic, but in basketball I think winning the play-offs is the ultimate achievement because you are playing the best teams in one-off games in high-pressure situations.

“I think that winning the league is the major achievement when you have an English mentality, but I’m from a different background and the play-offs are the big games in America.”

Nevertheless, despite the impending arrival of the play-off series, the Eagles players were given the chance to unwind last night at their end-of-season celebration dinner at the Gateshead Hilton Hotel.

Director of basketball Paul Blake added: “We have had our end-of-season Foundation dinner on Tuesday and it was a good opportunity for the players to unwind and take in what they have achieved this year.

“We have another big home game this Friday to round out the season as we play Worcester in our BBL play-off quarter-final game.

“This is not a walkover by any means and we want to take the home run into next season. More importantly we want to keep the play-off title in Newcastle.”