MONCTON, N.B. — There are two ways to look back on the St. John’s Edge’s Game 1 showing in the National Basketball League of Canada’s final against the Moncton Magic Wednesday night in New Brunswick.
The pessimist will look at the 103-94 St. John’s loss as a missed opportunity to come away with a victory in the opening game of the championship series on the road, a game in which the Edge trailed by only three points with 96 seconds left in regulation time.
But the optimist would consider Wednesday’s setback as somewhat of a moral victory. That’s because the Edge were with the Magic right up until the end, with about a minute to go, despite being without the services of resident star and top playoff performer, Glen Davis.
Davis, averaging a team-high 19.9 points through the post-season, sat out Game 1 because of concussion symptoms.
However, Edge coach Steve Marcus was having none of it, refusing to use Davis’s absence as an excuse.
“I know the guys in the locker room as looking at it as a missed opportunity,” he said. “When you don’t get a field goal in the last two and a half minutes of a game, it’s tough to win, especially in Game 1 of the finals,” Marcus said.
“We know we let one slip away.”
“We know we let one slip away.” — Steve Marcus
Trailing 40-34 at halftime, and down by four after three-quarters (69-65), the Edge would take the lead in the final quarter, by as much as seven with five minutes remaining.
But then scoring dried up, after Murphy Burnatowski’s basket with 2:30 remaining.
“On a scale of 1-10,” said Marcus, “we were probably a seven. In Game 6 at the (KW) Titans (the second-round, series-clinching 108-100 win last Friday), we were 10 out of 10. I thought we were fantastic.
“We only had 11 offensive rebounds, our screening was extremely poor. Our pick and rolls were poor. We did a decent — not great — job in a lot of facets of the game.”
In front of 1,837 at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, the Magic, winners of the Atlantic Division and the NBL’s top team during the regular season, out-rebounded the Edge, 48-40.
The Edge, winners of the Central Division crown, turned the ball over 13 times — twice by Carl English with a minute left in regulation — to Moncton’s eight.
Murphy Burnatowski led the Edge with 30 points. Jarryn Skeete scored 16 and Olu Ashaolu had 11. Rookie sensation Trey Kell led the Magic with 29 points, veteran Billy White had 20.
As for Davis, the big man bopped his head on the floor at Mile One Centre in Game 6, and sustained a concussion.
Marcus said concussion protocol states the player must be symptom-free for 48 hours.
He said Davis took part in the morning shootaround Wednesday, and had a slight workout following an afternoon nap.
“He had a headache which hadn’t subsided, so the decision was made to scratch him,” Marcus said.
The already-banged up Edge played with nine players, including Satnam Singh, who has seen very little floor time in these playoffs.
Sign ended Wednesday’s game with 12 minutes of action.
“It’s the doctors’ call,” Marcus said of Davis’s availability for Game 2 Saturday night (7:30 p.m., NL time). “But my guess is he will play.”
