Bristol Flyers head coach Andreas Kapoulas and captain Mike Miller have spoken of the club’s desire to “take another step forward” and reach their first British Basketball League (BBL) play-off final.
The Flyers booked their tickets for the semi-final with an impressive 27-point win on aggregate over Manchester Giants. The in-form team extended a winning streak of five games, dating back to the end of the regular season, by edging out their opponents 82-21 in the second leg, in front of a jubilant home crowd at SGS College Arena on Sunday.
It’s the third time Bristol have reached the last four of the competition since they joined UK basketball’s elite division in 2014. Standing between them and a spot in the BBL’s showpiece event at the O2 in London next month are defending champions Leicester Riders.
The sides’ mouth watering two-legged match-up, which like the previous round will be decided on aggregate points, comes after the Riders narrowly pipped the Flyers to second place in the league table.
Having both finished with a regular season record of 25-11 overall and tied their head to head 2-2, Leicester claimed the two seed on points difference, courtesy of two big wins on their home floor.
To add an extra bit of spice to the mix, the Flyers fell at the final fence in the race to the 2017/18 play-off final after defeat at the hands of Leicester. Bristol also reached the semi-finals last season, when they were beaten by London Lions.
Off the back of a regular season where the team broke multiple club records, including their highest ever league finish, most wins and longest win streak of seven, Flyers point guard Miller spoke of the importance of winning the second leg against Manchester Giants, irrespective of the commanding 26-point advantage they had coming into the game.
“I was saying to our guys, regardless of the cushion we gave ourselves, it’s vital to still come in with an underdog mentality, like a 0-0, pretty much like we’re down”, the court general told BristolLive, after he put up 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists in the game.
The American, in his second year with the Flyers added: “Pretty early on from the beginning of the season we established a strong foundation, and we just built on that as the season progressed. It’s always good having a great core that returns, and just talented, dedicated, committed guys that want to come in and work every day to add to that.”
“We’ve seen everybody before, we have given everyone our best shot. We know what to expect whoever we match up against. All we have to do is take care of our bodies and mentally and physically prepare for who we face next.”
Coach Kapoulas was full of praise for Miller and the rest of his squad after the victory over Manchester, a team which had the number one rated offence in the BBL this year.
“Mike has been great throughout the course of the year, and it's not just his on court performances. Off the court his leadership, how he talks to guys - he sets the tone for everything we’re doing. In this series it was very important for Mike to be leading from the front and leading by example and I think he has done that.
“He has distributed the basketball, he’s played some really good defence, he’s scored when we have needed him to do so, he has just done whatever the teams needs him to do, and that’s Mike in a nutshell really. That’s why he is the captain.
“I’m just really pleased for him. This is our second time around in a play-off semi-final, he’s returned this season, we talked about it in the summer, we said we want to take the next step and we are in that spot right now.”
Ahead of their showdown with Leicester, Kapoulas, who has been at the helm of the Flyers and its previous iteration - Bristol Academy Flyers - for 18 years, said the team was preparing for the “most intense, competitive” games of the season so far.
“It’s great for the programme to be in three play-off semi-finals in nine years. We’re still a new programme in the BBL, so to be able to achieve this is something we have got to be very proud of. We have never been able to take that next step and be in a play-off final," he said. "Our group has set a lot of records. We want to keep on playing as long as we can, we want to be around each other for as long as we can.”
The semi-final tips off on Friday at SGS and sold out within 15 minutes of tickets going on sale on Tuesday, with the return leg at the Riders’ Morningside Arena on Sunday. The other tie will be contested by regular season champions London Lions and Cheshire Phoenix, who knocked BBL Trophy winners Caledonia Gladiators out in the last round.
The Flyers head into the games with a full roster, with season MVP candidate VJ King continuing his return from a calf injury that kept him out of the last three regular season games by once more coming off the bench against the Giants on Sunday.
Kapoulas revealed it had been a game-time decision on whether King would play any part at all on Sunday, after he picked up a “mini injury” to his knee during the first leg. The forward went on to score 11 points, grab four boards and dished three dimes in 20 minutes of work.
“It’s great to have VJ back, that has really helped us” Kapoulas said, adding: “We have got to be careful of his minutes, he hasn’t played for two or three weeks, so it’s just managing that element. Obviously we have to think of the bigger picture here and we have got to have him ready for the semi-finals.”
“VJ, as I said about Mike, has been great all year long for us, so we missed him those last two or three games [of the regular season]. Our team has that next man up mentality, and while he was not able to play, everyone else picked up the slack.
“But certainly we are at our best when he is with our team. It was great to have him over the two games and hopefully he is going to be fully fit and healthy to be able to have a great play-off semi-final series.”
