Sea Bears look for historic first franchise playoff win

It’s been a trying week for the Winnipeg Sea Bears.

It started Sunday, when the team endured a disastrous travel schedule out West before laying an egg in its regular-season finale against the Vancouver Bandits with the top seed in the Western Conference on the line.

By that night, things went from bad to worse when Teddy Allen found himself in an altercation with security staff at a downtown Winnipeg nightclub that sent the star guard to hospital. Allen sustained significant injuries that could require surgery.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s leading scorer and MVP front-runner was ruled out for the Sea Bears Western Conference semifinal tilt against the Saskatoon Mamba at Canada Life Centre on Thursday (7:30 p.m.).

And more roster changes have ensued in the days since, only adding to a whirlwind week.

This week, the Sea Bears have had to find a way to block out the distractions and focus on preparing for a contest where their season is at stake. Head coach Mike Raimbault said it’s been anything but a simple task.

“I think the level of professionalism has been really high,” Raimbault said Wednesday. “It’s obviously been heavy-hearted, worrying about our people, and some of that has obviously been there.

“But at the same time, the preparation that we’ve had, an opportunity to have the last couple of days and the time spent together, has been focused and on-task with what we need to do. We have some new challenges, but we’re embracing those, and we understand the test ahead.”

Here are three more pointers to know ahead of Thursday’s semifinal showdown in the latest edition of Beyond the Arc.

Untimely roster changes

As if the absence of Allen wasn’t enough, the Sea Bears will also be without one of their defensive anchors in Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., who was moved to the reserve roster on Wednesday after joining another team in Turkey.

With Tilmon crossed off, that makes it three regulars who will be out of Thursday’s lineup, including Allen and Emmanuel Akot — who was moved to the reserve roster on Tuesday after leaving for an opportunity overseas.

It’s a disappointing development for Winnipeg, which has deployed a rather consistent lineup for much of the season. Roster turnover is inevitable in the CEBL, however, and it’s almost never timely.

“It happens really, really quickly. They have opportunities to go financially better their situation, and we understand that that’s unfortunately part of the business here,” Raimbault said. “The timing of it is unfortunate, and it does move extremely quickly, and we have to be nimble and try to navigate as best we can.”

All of a sudden, newcomer Ben Stevens could be tasked to play a significant role in his season debut. Stevens, who played 10 games with the Montreal Alliance this summer, signed with the Sea Bears on Tuesday and is now one of two centres on the roster.

 

Searching for history

The Sea Bears have done a lot of good this season, including winning a single-season franchise-record 14 games and averaging a franchise-high 96.5 points per game, but there is one monkey that the team has yet to remove from its collective back: win in the playoffs.

Winnipeg has now qualified for the post-season in each of its first four seasons, but had an 0-3 record when it matters most to show for its effort.

The Sea Bears caught everyone by surprise when it posted a 12-8 record in its inaugural season, good for second place in the West, but were bounced in the play-in round by the Edmonton Stingers 87-81.

The following year, Winnipeg snuck its way into the August tournament despite owning a 9-11 record and a minus-70 point differential. The club’s time in the post-season was once again short-lived after the Calgary Surge outlasted Winnipeg 84-82 in the play-in game.

Last summer, the Sea Bears had a free ticket to the Western Conference final as the hosts of Championship Weekend. However, the results were the most disappointing in the club’s history. The Sea Bears backed their way into the playoffs with an 11-13 record and a minus-89 point differential before the Surge convincingly ended their season 90-79.

By every metric, however, this is the best team in franchise history. Their 14-10 record was third-best in the CEBL, while their 155-point differential was tops in the league.

While a few late audibles to the lineup have left some question marks about how the Sea Bears will fare in the next playoff matchup, this iteration of the team has shown that it might be the best equipped to overcome the odds and finally triumph in the playoffs.

 

Trending in opposite directions

The old adage is to be hot and healthy entering the playoffs.

You could argue that the Saskatoon Mamba are just that, while the Sea Bears are cold and anything but full strength.

After starting their season 0-4, Saskatoon roared back to finish the regular season 13-11. Moreover, they won six of the last seven games while scoring 100.57 per outing. The Mamba can be a streaky team, owing to the high volume of three-point attempts. They attempted 786 triples during the regular season — 38 more than the second-place Sea Bears — and made 299 of them, 36 more than the No. 2-ranked Vancouver Bandits.

Led by undersized sharpshooting guard Tavian Dunn-Martin, if the Mamba are on, it can be a long night for any opposition.

Meanwhile, the Sea Bears have lost five of the last eight contests, including two of the last three at home.

Averaging 90.37 points per outing across that stretch, scoring has been down, and now the Sea Bears must find a way to more offence without three of their anchors in Allen, Tilmon and Akot.

“We’re a bit short-staffed compared to the (last) time we saw them. They’re shooting the ball well; their volume of three-point shots is dangerous,” Raimbault said.

“They really are peaking at the right time, so for us, it is a tall task at this point, but we feel like we have the ways and means to get it done, and we know that we’ve got to claw, fight and scratch to win every single possession that we can, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

 

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