Lakers' victory inspires Aspac, Bhinneka eyes bonus
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)