ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — After surviving a rough second half of the regular season and posting a first-round playoff win with a gritty performance, the St. John’s Edge must be feeling things may have finally started to turn around.
Further confirmation of the validity of that belief might come as early as today, when veteran guard Carl English gives his surgically repaired thumb a test in a full practice with the team. If everything goes OK, the 38-year-old Patrick’s Cove native and 2018 National Basketball League of Canada MVP could be cleared to play for the Edge as they open their second-round NBLC series against the K-W Titans Saturday night at Mile One Centre.
English injured ligaments in the thumb in mid February which pretty much coincided with a very tough stretch for St. John’s. The Edge went 6-11 over the last six weeks of the season, lost key players Obinna Oleka and Diego Kapelan in defections to other leagues and said goodbye to head coach Doug Plumb, who left with two games remaining in the regular season, leaving the team in the hands of Steve Marcus.
St. John’s did get into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Central Division, but had to claw its way back against the Sudbury Five, who held a 2-1 lead in the best-of five series before the Edge won two straight, including Sunday’s Game 5 at Mile One, despite a battered lineup.
During the series with Sudbury, St. John’s lost Canadian guard swingman Shaquille Keith to a broken foot, did without leading scorer Dez Lee for Game 3 and almost all of Game 4 because of injury and used up plenty of time on the training table for other ailing players.
That makes English’s potential return all the more important, even with whatever rust he’s accumulated over the last 10 weeks.
And he might not be the only addition to the Edge lineup.
St. John’s has had two open roster spots since Keith’s injury sidelined him for the rest of the season, and the league has given the Edge permission to fill that particular vacancy. Whether that actually happens might depend on the situation with English; the new players St. John’s is thought to be considering are Canadian. Right now, the Edge have only four Canadians on the active roster, one fewer than they are permitted.
There is also what could be the difficulties that come with making additions so late in the season, including negotiating with a player who knows the term of his employment could be very short, depending on how the Edge do against the Titans. Then again, he’ll be offered a chance to be part of a team that is one series win away from playing for a championship.
To get there, St. John’s will have to get by the K-W, which squeezed into the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Central Division, but then proceeded to knock off the defending champion London Lightning in five games. That gave the Edge the home-court advantage in the upcoming series, although that might not faze the Titans, whose three playoff wins against the Lightning all came in London, and who have five wins in their last five away games.
What’s more, K-W won two of three meetings with St. John’s this season and came away with a split from two games at Mile One last month.
Game 2 of what will be a best-of-seven series will be Sunday at Mile One Centre, with Games 3, 4 and 5, the latter carrying the “if necessary” designation, set for Kitchener, Ont. The dates of those games, as well as any necessary Games 6 or 7 at Mile One, have yet to be announced.
Tickets for the first two games of the series go on sale through Mile One beginning today.
Twitter: @telysports
