It has been long in coming for Caledonia Clippers but finally, their chance has arrived to grab hold of the Men's First Division in the North Zone Basketball League.
Standing in the towering, experienced outfit's way though is the just as talented Straker Nets. The teams will meet on Friday night to battle in game one of the best in three series final at the Jean Pierre Complex in Mucurapo. Jump-off is at 8 pm.
Excited for the moment is one Clippers leading players Miguel Williams, who believes his unit is focused on drawing first blood in what is expected to be an intense first match against the Barry Stewart-coached Nets.
"We have a group of guys who is up for the challenge. We have a 90 per cent chance of beating Straker. Everyone supposed to be ready to fire. We are coming in with plenty of confidence," said Williams, who shared that his team will do its final walk-through and shootaround today ahead of tomorrow's opener.
"We have a nice, deep bench so we will match up well against Straker. We have big guys who can play two to five positions (guard, forward, post) and have great ball-handling skills."
Clippers reached the final after eliminating the defending champion Defence Force in the best-in-three semifinal series, 2-1. They will take on a challenger, who has played unbeaten thus far in the league.
Straker enters the title series after sweeping Brian Chase Academy, 2-0 in their semifinal series last week.
Coach Stewart is quite familiar with the ability of the Caledonia-based side that his team will be facing up against but he thinks his Nets will be hungry for victory.
"We have been doing this for quite a while and I think that with the competitive spirit of Straker, we are very confident that we are going to play and play hard," he said during a break at a training session at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena in Chaguanas on Tuesday evening.
"We know our opponents are very talented. They have a lot of talented shooters and they have some very tall guys also but our confidence is high because we are just coming off a lot of victories and we feel that we could come home victorious in this final," said Stewart, referring to his team's successful run in the Barry Stewart Basketball League late last year where they were crowned champion.
But he is not letting that success make him or his team overconfident as he knows the opposition that awaits.
"Hats off to them they reached a final. I know the Clippers organisation has been knocking at the door for a good while to be in the final and win the final. I say to the Clippers best of luck to your organisation but we're coming to play hard.
"Just bring your best game forward but coming to play to win."
Matches
Tonight's
Men's Second Div: Shak Attack vs Spartans, game one, 6.30 pm
Men's First Div: Straker Nets vs Clippers, game one, 8.30 pm
Tomorrow
Third place play off (1 game )
Men's Second Div: Straker Nets vs Defence Force, 6.30 pm
Men's First Div: Defence Force vs Brian Chase, 8.30 pm