Riders and Eagles aim to be basketball kings again
The two most successful clubs in British basketball meet in the Championship game on Sunday aiming to reassert their status of the top of the sport.Newcastle Eagles have won seven titles and an overall haul of 28 trophies is the most of any club, but it is now a decade since they were last national champions. Leicester Riders, meanwhile, sit one behind with six national titles, but the last of those was in 2022.And they face off for the Super League Basketball title at London's O2 Arena (16:30 BST) with season's glory at stake.
Newcastle are aiming for their second trophy of the season, having won the SLB Trophy in January.Last month, they were runners-up in the European North Basketball League as they fell just short in their attempt to add a first European title to their domestic successes.Despite finishing fifth in the regular-season table, they have found form in the play-offs as they edged past Manchester in the quarter-finals.And they impressively beat London Lions, champions last season, home and away to qualify for the O2.Head coach Marc Steutel knows all about the Eagles' historic successes, and wants to write a new chapter."We're a club that is built on a lot of history and a lot of legacy," he told BBC Look North."It's important our players understand that, but the challenge every year is you're trying to build your own legacy."This group has done that in abundance. It's played some basketball our fans will remember for a lifetime."The basketball we've played epitomises our city - tough, hard-working, gritty."
For Leicester, one man has been synonymous with their basketball glories - head coach Rob Paternostro.The American has led the Riders since 2008 and all bar two of the club's 19 trophies have come on his watch.Between 2013 and 2022, Paternostro picked up six British titles in 10 seasons.The Riders come into this match on the back of a huge high in the semi-finals as they overturned a 10-point first leg deficit to beat Sheffield Sharks by 20 points in the return to book their spot in London.And Paternostro is desperate to get that winning feeling once again."Whenever you get the opportunity to win one of those finals, you're on a cloud for a while," he told BBC East Midlands Today."It's a feeling that all of us that have had it before, want it again."You get to this point of the season and you've won as many games as we've won, you've got to believe in yourselves and go for it."
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