2019 Finals Preview: Moncton vs St. John's
The stage is set for the biggest show of the entire NBL Canada season. The team that has played the best basketball at the end of this best-of-seven series will take home the 2018-19 NBLC title.
Competing for the championship this year will be the St. John’s Edge and the Moncton Magic – both of whom have never made it this far in the post-season before, and in the Magic’s case, they come into the finals with the best record of any team in the season.
They walked over the Saint John Riptide in the first round of the playoffs, but found their Atlantic Division finals opponents the Halifax Hurricanes harder to get by. The Hurricanes took the Magic to game 7, which Moncton won by three points.
St. John’s, meanwhile, who finished second in the Central Division, saw almost the opposite happen on their road to the finals.
The Sudbury Five took them to a deciding game in the first round, and though the KW Titans threatened to build momentum in the series following that, comfortable wins in games five and six earned the Edge their finals ticket.
Looking at the statistics, these teams seem almost completely even. St. John’s currently stand on 103.6 points, 45.8 rebounds and 18.9 assits per game, while Moncton have averaged 103.3 points, 46.0 rebounds and 18.8 assists throughout the season, though they do have the better shooting percentages.
The record between these two throughout the season, however, tells a different story – Moncton have won four of the five match-ups between the two. This, as well as their record-setting results throughout the season, would seemingly make them the early favourites, but the reality is more complicated than that.
For a start, the Edge have shown themselves a determined team that’s never to be written off, and have plenty of power on both ends of the floor. Their big three of Glen Davis, Carl English and Desmond Lee have led the team in dominant offence and defence, with Olu Asaholu also contributing big numbers, particularly on defence.
Moncton’s superior shooting has come courtesy of Trey Kell – currently on a streak of thirteen games finishing in double-digits – as well as the ever-dependable offensive work of Billy White and Corey Allmond. Throughout the playoffs the Magic have also seen good work in the field from Marcus Lewis, and if this continues he could provide a big spark for the team in these finals.
The fact that there will be a new NBL Canada champion at the end of these finals is just one of the may reasons to be excited. The Edge and the Magic have been two of this season’s most electrifying teams and have both shown great determination and have put in a lot of hard work in for the chance to claim the title for their own.
This at least should provide for a very entertaining series of games. In a post-season full of tough ties, this looks to be the most unpredictable stand-off of them all.
Picture: Joe Chase
