Tony Garbelotto is asking his players for one final effort as they look to conclude their marathon run-in with a title-deciding win against Newcastle Eagles tonight.
After last night’s 88-75 win over Sheffield in front of more than 2,000 fans at the ECHO Arena, the Tigers need to beat the Eagles in Newcastle to secure the BBL Championship title.
It’s the tenth game of an eleven game run-in that the Tigers have had to squeeze in to 19 days, with their final game coming at Sheffield on Friday.
Garbelotto said: “Throughout the season these guys defy the expectations, we came up with a great performance.
“In reality, the game was similar to the Newcastle performance a couple of weeks ago, we just got into the beat of the game and dominated in reality. They had a couple of close calls down the stretch and we got tired but our guys – their effort and desire is unsurpassed.”
The Eagles have won the last three BBL Championships, but the Tigers have enjoyed the edge over their North East rivals this campaign, winning both league games so far as well as the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy semi-finals.
Garbelotto added: “We know what we’re playing for – we’re playing for the title and Newcastle are playing to stop us, that’s the bottom line. I feel very confident even though we’ve played the night before, Newcastle have had a brutal road trip – let’s see what happens.”
The Tigers were cheered on to victory against the Sheffield Sharks on Tuesday night by a season-high crowd, much to the delight of the coach.
He said: “It was great, we know that the product works, we know it’s an exciting product. Whoever’s involved, whether it’s yourselves in the media or fans or coaches or whoever – we know it works and we’ve just got to keep on doing this on a regular basis.”
