Mahaka and IM Texmaco eye league's third series

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Mahaka Satria Muda aims to avenge favorite Indonesia Muda (IM) Texmaco in the 2000 Nuvo Kobatama national basketball league's third series.

Jakarta-based Mahaka's general manager, Erick Thohir, told a press conference on Wednesday that his players were eager to make up for the team's humiliating defeat by IM in the first series in Malang, East Java, last month.

"We are talking about prestige. Mahaka and IM are home favorites. We both want to be the best. If we see the chance to win, we'll grab it. I don't want to boast of our chances against IM, just watch our performance," he said.

Meanwhile, IM's team manager Lexi Rohi said his club would not give its opponents the slightest opportunity to earn a point.

"We want to do our best in the third series. We don't want to lose to teams that are weaker than us. We want to be in the final four in November."

"Most importantly, we want to repeat our success in the first series and crush Mahaka."

Besides Mahaka and IM, seven teams from Jakarta and other provinces will also be competing in the league. The teams are placed in two divisions. Mahaka and IM are in the Wim Cycle division along with other Jakarta-based teams, including, Aspac; Bali Jeff Citra Satria Pelita (CSP); and Dwi Dasa Mitra.

While the Kratingdaeng division comprises Panasia Indosyntec (Bandung); Bima Sakti Nikko Steel (Malang); and Pacific Caesar and Wismilak CLS, both from Surabaya.

The round-robin third series will run from Sept. 16 to Sept. 21 at the Senayan Basketball Hall.

Except for Erick and Lexi, none of the team managers or coaches showed up for the media briefing.

Mahaka and IM will meet in the series' opening on Saturday. Other matches will pit Pacific Caesar against Panasia Indosyntec and Aspac against CSP.

Aspac was undefeatable in the second series and tops the chart with 16 points. Mahaka trails in the second place while four times league champion Panasia Indosyntec is in third place, both team having earned 14 points after winning six games and losing two.

IM is in the fourth place after earning 12 points from winning four games and losing four others. IM's position can easily be taken over by other Jakarta-based teams if it fails to win in the series.

SCTV, a private TV channel, will air the matches from Aug. 31 to Sept. 23. The league will be featured every Thursday from 10:30 p.m to 11:30 p.m. and every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The station will also run stories about the matches and other events surrounding the league in its sports segment of Liputan 6 Pagi (morning news) every Sunday. (ivy)