Lakers' victory inspires Aspac, Bhinneka eyes bonus

JAKARTA (JP): LA Lakers' success in claiming its second victory in the NBA finals, defeating Philadelphia 76ers 4-1 earlier this month, has boosted the motivation of local club Aspac to retain its title in the Nuvo Kobatama league.

Aspac manager Lexi Rohi told a media conference on Thursday that he was confident of his team's chances of winning the title for a second time in a row at the finals.

"Aspac will face tough competition in retaining the title. But the LA Lakers, our role model, have proven their skills in the NBA finals. We realize we are far from the LA Lakers, but we'll give it our best shot."

Aspac is scheduled to meet Panasia Indosyntec of Bandung on Saturday at 5.30 p.m. at the basketball hall of Bung Karno Sports Complex.

The match will be preceded by the semifinals between Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta, Central Java, and the 1999 champion Satria Muda at 3.30 p.m. which will be aired live by SCTV, a private television station.

Winners of the semifinals will compete in the best-of-three finals on July 7, July 8 and July 10, all at 3.30 p.m. The matches will also be aired live.

Lexi said Aspac would not look down on Panasia although Aspac had been leading 2-0 in the previous meets.

"Mental toughness plays a big role besides physical and technical skills in the final four. We have prepared well, let's see the results."

Bhinneka assistant manager Tommy Lianggono, said the club would not accept a runner-up position which it took in the 1999 league, its best result so far. Bhinneka was suspended from last year's league following its decision to walk out of a warm-up Kobatama tournament final.

He said Bhinneka was offering the players cash rewards if they won the title.

"We want to change our 'runner-up' image. Our players are focusing on eliminating Satria Muda. The final round against Satria Muda will be a revenge as they stopped us in the 1999 final.

"We realize our players are slow as some of them are getting older. We had also faced an internal conflict prior to the final four. It has been settled. This year, the management is offering cash rewards to boost the players' motivation."

Tommy was optimistic that Bhinneka would reach the finals to meet Aspac.

"Aspac beat us in the round-robin this season. But we stopped them in 1997 and 1999, both in the semifinals."

Tommy said his players would pocket a Rp 500 million (US$44,250) reward if they could took the title from Aspac. The players will only get half the amount if they lose in the finals.

On the other hand, Lexi declined to reveal the rewards for his players but said: "There will be a reward as usual." (ivy)