Bristol Flyers narrowly missed out on their first British Basketball League (BBL) play-off final after almost completing an extraordinary comeback over defending champions Leicester Riders.
In a thrilling two-legged semi-final, which was decided on aggregate points scored over both games, the Flyers found themselves down by as many as 26 points early in the first game at home on Friday night in Bristol.
Amid an electric atmosphere at SGS College Arena, generated by a ‘pink wall’ of fervent Flyers fans - decked out in complementary play-off t-shirts - the team produced a display of grit and determination typifying their record-breaking season, to reduce the deficit to just seven and the Riders ahead by a nose, 84-77, heading into game two on Sunday.
Despite having previously only won twice at Leicester’s Morningside Arena in seven years, the Flyers were unfazed and rose to the challenge impressively. They battled back to lead the tie by as many as five points on aggregate early in the final quarter, and were up four with less than five minutes to play.
However, it was the Riders - led by Rob Paternostro, one of the most decorated coaches in BBL history - who ultimately cleared the final fence to book their place at the showpiece play-off final at the O2 Arena in London.
Despite winning the second leg 79-75, former NBA G-league player Marc Loving iced two clutch free throws late on for Leicester to put overall victory just beyond Bristol’s reach, as it finished 159-156 on aggregate.
The two sides, who had battled for second and third spots in the league table during the regular season, produced an enthralling contest that served as an incredible advert for British basketball.
In the early goings of the return leg in Leicester, both sides went blow for blow. The Flyers looked to carve out some high percentage shots in the paint, with captain Mike Miller grabbing six early points after finding his stroke from mid range with a trio of mid range jump shots.
Leicester’s 7 ft 3 centre Aaron Menzies caused problems for Bristol early, grabbing offensive rebounds to give his side second chance scoring opportunities and setting screens for sharp-shooter Loving, who finished with 18 points.
The Flyers’ leading scorer this season VJ King, who returned to the starting line-up after contributing 23 points off the bench in the first leg, hit his team’s first three-pointer with a shot that bounced off the top of the backboard, in what proved to be his only made shot in game two.
After being stuck three in the game and down 10 on aggregate after the opening quarter, the Flyers continued to grow into the game. Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas ran some creative rotations, featuring both centre Malcolm Delpeche and brilliant back-up big Leslee Smith, as his team got into early foul trouble.
Guard Tevin Olison got hot in the second frame, draining three shots from downtown, the last of which a deep buzzer beater on the wing, which sent the teams to the locker rooms with Bristol leading the game 40-42, but still five points adrift on aggregate.
The Flyers picked up where they left off in the second half, opening with a five-point run to tie the contest on aggregate. First hot hand Olison, who finished with 19, found the bottom of net with another three-ball.
On the next play, game MVP Delpeche produced a blockbuster denial on the defensive end, before floating the ball into the net when found open by Thomas Bell III, after the all-action forward had scrambled for a heroic offensive board on the floor.
Bristol later regained the overall lead of the tie for the first time since the opening two minutes of game one, when Bell III made two free-throws after Zach Jackson was called for a foul. Smith extended Bristol’s aggregate lead to three with a hook shot over the towering Menzies, before Riders guard Kimbal Mackenzie levelled it up with a big time three.
Miller reinstated Bristol’s lead after stealing the ball for an easy lay-in, before a frenetic passage of play ensued. Over one minute and 40 seconds, three back-to-back travel offences were called, with not a single point scored, as the pressure of the occasion appeared to mount on both sides.
After Great Britain international Patrick Whelan was faultless from the free-throw line to give Leicester a three-point aggregate lead, Olison pump faked and finger rolled the ball in to cut the overall deficit to one.
An explosive end to the third quarter saw Delpeche, who had edged the Flyers back in front from the charity stripe, intercepted a pass from Mackenzie, dished the ball to Miller who dribbled up the court, before lobbing the ball back for Delpeche to stuff the ball home with a two-handed slam for the ‘alley-oop’ play.
The Flyers were up five - their biggest aggregate lead of the whole tie - at the start of the final quarter, when Bell III followed up with a huge put-back dunk off a missed three.
But the Riders hit back with a huge corner three from Mackenzie, before back-to-back buckets from captain Darien Nelson-Henry reinstated their advantage.
With less than five minutes to go in the contest, Bell III had the Flyers back up by four on aggregate after he banked a tough three-pointer in off the glass to give the travelling Bristol fans - easily spottable in the crowd in their pink t-shirts - hopes of a famous victory.
However, Leicester demonstrated their championship credentials to once more wrestle back the lead, thanks to a huge three from Loving and an ‘and one’ play from Whelan.
Delpeche was clobbered as he almost made what would have been a huge one-handed jam, but he missed both from the line, and Jackson subsequently drained a massive three to put the Riders up by five on aggregate with three minutes to go.
With just over a minute left, Delpeche cut Leicester's lead to three with a hook shot after grabbing a great board. Miller missed after driving to the bucket. Mackenze clunked a three attempt for the Riders, with Bell III securing possession with 18 seconds to go after diving bravely for the loose ball.
Miller then found the cutting Delpeche, who threw down the hammer with another ferocious slam, to make it a one-point game on aggregate with nine seconds remaining, prompting a timeout from Leicester.
After Bristol were unable to intercept the rebound pass, Bell III provided the necessary foul to give the Flyers a chance of another possession, but at the cost of sending Loving to the line, who with ice in his veins knocked down both free throws.
With no timeouts remaining to draw up a play, Flyers guard Jelani Watson-Gayle had a tough look at a last ditch, contested three-pointer from the wing to send the game to overtime. But the recent Team GB call-up wasn’t able to connect, meaning Leicester progressed to the final by a slim three-point margin.
At the buzzer, the Flyers players took to the stands to greet their travelling fans to thank them for their support throughout what has been a historic campaign for the club. The team secured their highest ever regular season finish of third place in the BBL league table, notching up 25 wins - the most victories they have ever achieved in a single season - while they also went on a record seven-game winning streak along the way.
The club is also set to play in European competition for the first time, after announcing last week they will enter the European North Basketball League (ENBL) next season.
Speaking after the second leg, Coach Kapoulas told BristolLive his players had produced “one of our best performances of the season”, and that he was “incredibly proud” of their efforts throughout the whole year. Kapoulas said it was “strange feeling” to have won the game in Leicester, but to have lost the tie overall.
“If you’re a fan of the game, you would like to see a third game between Bristol and Leicester this year," he said. "I think that would be exciting. Hopefully that will be something that the league would consider moving forward, in terms of making it more of a ‘best of three’, or something like that, where it comes down to the wins rather than just the points difference.
“But we fully knew that was the deal going into it, so it’s not frustrating. Obviously we’re gutted we were not able to overhaul the deficit but we are proud of our efforts, we played a hell of a game, and it just came down to a three-point difference.”
Delpeche, who along with Miller reached the play-off semi-finals with the Flyers last season, said he and his teammates had used some pre-season predictions from basketball analysts that they would finish bottom of the BBL as “motivation” this year.
Former BBL champion turned pundit Drew Lasker and Team GB Olympian from 2012 Kieron Achara forecast the Flyers to finish in dead last out of 10 teams, while former Sheffield Sharks veteran Mike Tuck had them just one place better in ninth.
“Coach said at the end of the game, we have nothing to hang our heads about”, Delpeche said, adding: “Obviously the pain of loss is one thing, but from the jump people had us at the bottom of the league.
"We weren't supposed to be in the play-offs. We weren't’ supposed to be second or third in the league by the end of the regular season. No one believed in us, but we always believed in ourselves. So there really is nothing to be upset about. We played Flyers basketball this whole season, we’ve proved everyone wrong.”
