This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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The National Basketball League of Canada is pleased to release the schedule for the League’s inaugural championship playoffs, beginning Tuesday in Saint John with the Mill Rats hosting the Lightning.
“We’re excited to end our inaugural 36-game regular season with an action-packed championship playoff lineup,” said John Kennedy, NBL Canada Commissioner.
“All the teams had a tremendous first season, playing a high caliber of competitive basketball and providing fans with exciting entertainment. We’re eager to see what the top 4 teams have in store for the championship playoffs.”
With their current stellar (27-8) record the London Lightning clinched the #1 seed early on and will have home court advantage throughout the championship playoffs. The Lightning will compete in round one against the #4-seeded Mill Rats in a best of three competition and host their first playoff game on Friday March 9 at 7PM.
“From day 1 in training camp, our goal was to get to the playoffs, so we worked hard every day. Now that we have reached playoffs our goal is to be more consistent. We must play for the entire 48 minutes instead of 40 minutes and ensure we rebound a lot better,” Said London Lightning Coach, Micheal Ray Richardson.
For a new professional team in London it’s great for the city to be a part of our play-offs. Our fans have been supportive all year and we are glad to give them the opportunity to be involved in our quest to win a championship.”
The #2-seeded Halifax Rainmen and #3-seeded Quebec Kebs will also compete in the semi-final round with the Kebs hosting the first game of the series on Sunday March 11 at 1 PM.
“During the regular season the focus was to get better and improve game by game. From now on we are also going to prepare some according the opponents, so we will try to attack their weaknesses and increase our potential,” said Halifax Rainmen Coach, Pep Claros.
We are a team that improves with practices. The upcoming week will give us benefits. Instead of talking about expectations I prefer to focus on all the work we have to execute to reach our goal.”
The winners of the #1- #4 series and the #2- #3 series will face each other in a best-of-five final series. The first two games played at the higher seed’s home court, the next two games played at the lower seed’s home venue with 5 being played at the higher seed’s home venue. Games 4 and 5 will be if necessary.
The winner of that series will be named the National Basketball League of Canada Playoff Champions, and will receive the NBL Canada Championship trophy to commemorate their victory.
NBL Canada’s inaugural season ends this Sunday, March 4 with the Saint John Mill Rats hosting the Halifax Rainmen at 2PM AST.
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