Dekker stars as London Lions beat Phoenix to win BBL play-offs
Sam Dekker's three-pointer secured London Lions' second trophy of the season
- Published
Sam Dekker was the hero for London Lions as they won the British Basketball League play-offs for the second successive season, beating Cheshire Phoenix 88-85 in a dramatic final.
With the score level at 85-85 with nine seconds remaining, Dekker, who missed last year's final, received from Matt Morgan and won it for the league champions with a brilliant three-pointer from the right of the court.
Dekker top-scored for the Lions with 17 points, as well as 10 rebounds, while Morgan, the BBL's Most Valuable Player this season, chipped in with 16 points.
Aaryn Rai top-scored with 21 points for Phoenix, who pushed their opponents all the way.
The result completed a double for London, whose women's team won the play-offs by beating Newcastle Eagles.
Cheshire have been a surprise package this season, finishing second in the league and winning the BBL Trophy, beating London in the final.
They were nevertheless underdogs, but Phoenix boss Ben Thomas - the coach of the year - was determined to make life uncomfortable for London again and deployed a full-court press early on.
The aggressive approach initially worked and the opening stages were even.
However, the favourites began to take control, leading 24-14 at the end of the first quarter and 52-41 at half-time, with Dekker’s speed and trickery causing Phoenix problems.
There was no respite for them immediately after the interval, with the fourth of several steals by Tarik Phillip helping London extend their advantage to 59-41.
That prompted Thomas to call a timeout in only the second minute of the third quarter in an attempt to stem the tide.
The reset had an effect, with Phoenix responding emphatically to Thomas’ pleas to “be aggressive”, reducing the deficit to just three points, at 74-71, going into an electrifying final quarter in which they levelled in the final minute only for Dekker to win it for London in style.