Contern has a surprisingly great season, the team of head-coach Gavin Love will have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals this Wednesday when they face Basket Esch in the play-in game on the road!
It is the duell between the number 4 in the standings (Esch) and the number 5 (Contern), both teams met twice this season and Basket Esch won both games with a very slight advantage (Contern – Esch 87:93 ; Esch – Contern 102:98), so that this do-or-die game is looking like a potential thriller on paper: „Esch is the favorite because they have home-court advantage, all the pressure is on them », says Love, who has already extended his contract in Contern.
Contern is in an excellent position as the team was not expected to be a contender by many people before and even during the season: „Before the season, I saw that people expected us to finish 10th in the league, in a podcast (Coaches’ Timeout: the podcast), it was even said during the season that we will not make the play-offs, so I think we have done a great job so far despite injuries that hit us hard. We maxed out our potential and now we can play without pressure. »
For coach Love, the key in this game will be „to be disciplined. We have a young team, half of our players have never been to the play-offs, we have to be focused the whole game. Obviously, the professional players will have a big impact on the game but the local players can and will become a big factor. »
Everything is possible in a do or die game, especially with teams playing on a similar level so far this season. It is a special season and the crucial games are being played in a different mode than expected before the season: „The championship mode is very competitive, hopefully we will be able to play the real play-off-system (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 45-) next season, that is something that people want to see in my opinion, it will be very intersting. »
Basket Esch won the title last season and they won to win it on the court this year. In order to do that, they need to take this very difficult hurdle first and beat Contern, a team that is certainly ready to continue the surprising season in the semi-finals. Everything will come down to Wednesday-evening.
A few weeks ago, Gavin Love talked about the season and the future in Contern in an interview on our website –> Interview with Contern’s head-coach Gavin Love: I believe that we have a bright future as a team
Article with Résidence’s head-coach Alexis Kreps –> Alexis Kreps talks about this season, his predictions for the play-in games and his future
