Birmingham Bullets head for Sunday Final
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Coach Jim Brandon had never reached the final of the Budweiser Championships in four attempts with the Sheffield Sharks and he was made to wait at least another year as his Manchester Giants team went down 91-80 to the Birmingham Bullets after a hard fought semi final match-up. Right from the start the Bullets were on top with a three pointer from Tony Dorsey helping them to an early 7-0 lead. The Giants then pulled it back to a three point ball game only for Reggie Kirk to score five without reply to make it 14-6. However, Manchester fought hard with Danny Craven showing good defence and Ronnie Baker, who was probably the best player on the court for the Giants, scoring to help his team go on a 7-0 run. Birmingham's Nigel Lloyd then picked up his third foul of the game to give his coach, Mike Finger, a major worry and Ronnie Baker popped up to grab two points for Manchester on the buzzer to make it 23-22 at the quarter mark. With 8:30 on the clock in the second quarter the score stood at 28-24 as the Bullets played great defensive basketball to block the Giants' route to the basket. However, that great defensive basketball came at a cost as HL Coleman picked up his third foul which meant that two of Birmingham's starting five were in foul trouble with three fouls each. Manchester then went on an 8-0 run, with Robert Churchwell scoring five, to take the lead for the first time in the game at 30-32. But, the Bullets showed good ball movement to get back into the game with Nigel Lloyd getting three and Tony Dorsey scoring a big dunk and at the end of the half Birmingham had it by one at 44-43. At the restart, the Bullets took control of the game as they played man to man defence. Tony Dorsey scored a three from a big play and Reggie Kirk did the same as Birmingham tried to break away. However, the Giants were having none of it and that man Ronnie Baker was on hand again to score yet another trey and make it 59-58. What followed could only be described as end to end basketball as both teams looked strong on the offence. Nigel Lloyd linked well with Tony Dorsey to put up a three for the Bullets but Ronnie Baker replied for Manchester with another buzzer beating two pointer to make it 71-65 going into the final quarter. Two minutes into the final quarter the score was 75-67 in favour of Birmingham but, yet again, Ronnie Baker was there to score five to cut the lead to just three points. Nigel Lloyd and Reggie Kirk then scored good two's for the Bullets to make it 81-74 with 3:15 to play only for John Tresvant to link up with Ronnie Baker to score a superb dunk and bring the Giants back into it. With 1:41 on the clock the score was 83-76 and, as Ronnie Baker missed two successive three point attempts for Manchester, Nigel Lloyd popped up with a trey for Birmingham to effectively finish the game off. After that, the Bullets repeatedly went to the line as Manchester tried to stop the clock but to little avail. The Bullets then played good defence as the clock ticked down and, just to add the final nail in the coffin, Nigel Lloyd scored with a lay-up as the buzzer sounded to take Birmingham into the Final. Afterwards Lloyd commented, "The game tonight was called really tight and Manchester played really well and they got me into foul trouble. But we came through and we held together and won. We knew Manchester were going to be tough, for me they were the sleeping giants, as the season went on they got better and better and they're well supported so we didn't expect them to roll over for us tonight." SCORERS Bir : Dorsey 25, Kirk 22 Man : New 20, Baker 20 |
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