Inter-Association tournament bounces off tonight in Linden

ONE of the bitter rivalries in Guyana’s rich sporting history – Linden versus Georgetown – will add another note to their long list of stories when the two towns collide tonight from 20.00hrs at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court for the start of the GABF Inter-Association Championship. seasoned

If you ever heard a conversation among seasoned lovers of the game locally about who were some of best players they’ve ever watched, names like Ulric Tappin and Lugard Mohan will certainly surface in the heated debate.
History would show that several of the best to ever play the game, both locally and internationally, hail from either of Guyana’s townships.
Tonight, the likes of Georgetown’s Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai and Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts of Linden will add to that legacy of top players to go head-to-head in a battle that is bigger than the sport itself.
The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) announced that based on performances in this tournament they would shortlist players for the national squad for the 2014 CBC Championships in July. Fans could expect nothing short of a perfect game from the competing teams.
Looking at both sides, pundits would say that Georgetown, equipped with more talented players, solely because of Kanhai, his Ravens teammates Ryan Stephney, Ryan Gullen, Rudy James and Jermaine Slater, not forgetting Pacesetters marksman Stephon Gillis, are favourites.
The Georgetown backcourt certainly would have more depth than the Linden counterparts, being led by Kanhai, Stephney, Dominic Vincente, Shelroy Thomas, Dave Causeway, Nikkolai Smith and Jason Squires but the home side are well-stocked in their frontcourt.
Roberts is probably the country’s most dominant player in his position as power forward and his frontcourt partners, the Webster brothers (Shane and Alister), will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the paint, leaving Georgetown to rely heavily on their shooting game.
Georgetown would be looking to use their superior control on the ball and their distinct advantage, boasting some of the more athletic players in the country, against Linden who normally settle to play half-court basketball.
If Linden want to go ‘one-up’ against Georgetown in the three-way round-robin tournament, they should try to exploit Roberts’ advantage he would have on the city side in the paint.
Royston Siland, Roberts’ only threat (not much really) is out nursing a fractured finger, leaving Georgetown to look at Rudy James and Haslyn Hooper to play up against the tenacious Linden power forward.
The problem is, to put it in layman’s terms: the City ‘bigs’ are too ‘soft’ to play against Roberts, so Georgetown will have to hope he has a very bad night or the Linden guards nonsensically play ‘hero’.
It’s true, basketball is a team sport. Roberts’ supporting cast will have to work with their 6’5” forward if they really want to stop the exterior explosive game of the City players.
Meanwhile, Chronicle Sport understands that Linden will have to do without Omally Sampson, former national captain Steve Neils Jr, Marvin Hartman and Neil Marks who have indicated their unavailability.

(By Rawle Toney)