'Blood "gutted" after final loss

Lions assistant coach Robert Youngblood couldn't hide his disappointment after Sunday's 78-75 BBL Play-off final defeat against Leicester Riders

“I’m disappointed and gutted” he admitted. “I thought we had a good game-plan for dealing with [Greg] Crandall, and for three quarters we had him in a box. We took away his three point shooting but to credit him, he stepped up at the right time and that’s what great players do.

"I thought it was key that he got a rest at the start of the fourth quarter but we couldn’t give Isaiah [Reese] one because Justin [Robinson] wasn’t playing. We massively missed Justin, he’s been there and done in it the big games. We missed him when he was injured in last year’s final and we missed him this year.

"We’ve lost each of those finals by three points, so it’s narrow margins, but we’ll have to go and win three trophies next year!"

Despite the disappointment of the loss, Youngblood believes that the season's finale was a success for the BBL:

“To take some positives, it was a great game for the fans and the league. There was a lot of people from London and hopefully they’ll come to the Copper Box next season and we can win some trophies."

Lions' centre Chris Tawiah was also impressed with the crowd at the O2:

"There was a point where with three or four minutes left in the game and every bucket scored was met with a deafening roar, it was super loud, as a player, that experience to do that in your home country was one of the best there is."

The London' big man finished with an impressive 14 rebounds to go with nine points and three blocks, and he had praise for the Riders side as they completed a treble:

"I’d like to congratulate Leicester for winning the final. They’ve been very consistent only losing two league games, and winning the Cup and the Play-offs."

Winning coach, Rob Paternostro was delighted to end the campaign by lifting the coveted play-off trophy in front a capacity crowd in the capital:

“What a game! I’m so proud of the guys" he said.

"I told them at the start of the season they’d look back and tell their kids about this team, it truly is a really special group in the locker room. Well I think they (London Lions) are the best team outside of us, so it is very satisfying, both teams went at it hard and it was an incredible finish to the game.”

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