The Canadian Elite Basketball League regular season has wrapped, full of record setting performances, epic comebacks, and some of the best fans in professional basketball. Now, teams are gearing up for the playoffs with the top four teams from each conference qualifying.
Unique to some extent, the playoff structure creates an intense week and a half of basketball. The format is single-elimination, with preliminary playoff games held this week, followed by a Championship Weekend that will see the top two teams in each conference compete for the 2025 CEBL Championship.
It’s not about the regular season records anymore, or individual player performances. Jermaine Small, the head coach of the Montreal Alliance said it best: “To me, what happened in the regular season doesn’t matter… Who wants it more?”. It will come down to a single game, who is better prepared, and who wants to win.
The brackets are now set:
On Thursday, the play-in games will tip off. In the East, the Scarborough Shooting Stars will host the Montreal Alliance at 7:00pm ET. On the opposite side of the country, the Edmonton Stingers will travel to face the Calgary Surge at 9:30 pm ET. The winners of these games will then travel to face the 2-seed in their respective conferences, with both of those matchups being held on Saturday. The Ottawa BlackJacks wait to see who they will host at 1:00 pm ET, followed by the Vancouver Bandits at 3:30 pm. The winners of these semifinal games will then travel to Winnipeg for the Championship Weekend.
Unfortunately, with various international competitions beginning and some players being required to report to their next team, some significant roster shakeups are coming. Teams won’t be at full strength and that means the outcome of these games could be unexpected. This hasn’t been an issue in previous years, but with the extension of this season this year it will limit players’ availability for playoff games.
Although anything could happen over the next couple of days, it wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t take a minute to look at the bracket and make a few predictions.
East: Montreal vs. **Scarborough**
I’m giving Scarborough the edge here. Donovan Williams and Terquavion Smith have been excellent for Scarborough this year and the addition of Michael Foster Jr. was great. Although their record against Montreal is 2-2 this year, Montreal’s Quincy Guerrier has been named to Canada Basketball’s Americup Roster, and without him, they lose significant scoring and rebounding. Sascha Kappos will also be notably absent as he represents Puerto Rico. A lot of the scoring pressure will fall to Tavian Dunn-Martin, but Scarborough’s size will give them the advantage.
West: Edmonton vs. **Calgary**
Edmonton had a great season, with Sean East II and Scottie Lindsey both having record-setting years. The Stingers went 2-1 against the Surge this year, but they haven’t seen each other in over a month and Calgary has really started to find momentum, ending the season on a 4-game winning streak, all by double-digit margins.The combination of Greg Brown III, Sean Miller-Moore, Jameer Nelson Jr., Evan Gilyard II, makes them the frontrunner in my mind.
East: Scarborough vs. **Ottawa**
Ottawa toughed out a 2-1 tiebreaker lead this season and they should have most of their roster for this playoff game. Everyone who’s there is finally healthy and they’ll have the advantage of rest, preparation time, and home court. They’ve made a couple of late additions too. Scarborough will be tough to put away, but Ottawa has been just on the outside of making the playoffs for a couple years and they’re due.
West: **Calgary** vs. Vancouver
This should be the Western conference finals, but with Winnipeg hosting we get this matchup a round early. Vancouver is the favourite in a lot of ways with Mitch Creek’s MVP level season and Tyrese Samuel in contention for Canadian Player of the Year. They’re a phenomenally well-coached team with a mix of athleticism, IQ, and chemistry that is hard to beat. Except Calgary did it three times this year. Sweeping Vancouver couldn’t have been easy but they’ve had the Bandits’ number all season and I have a hard time thinking that will change.
At this point, Ottawa won’t have most of their starters and it will hit them hard. They won’t go down without a fight, but the combination of Khalil Ahmad, Ahmed Hill and their bench of returning players have the chemistry to overcome what’s left of the BlackJacks. Niagara are the reigning champs for a reason, and they will come to Winnipeg ready to make a statement. As much as I’d like to see Ottawa reach the championship game after a series of tough losses over the last couple of years (usually to the eventual champion), with their roster changes it probably won’t be this year.
West: **Calgary** vs. Winnipeg
Homecourt can only do so much, and despite how excellent the crowd is in Winnipeg, Calgary will probably be able to overcome that. The matchups throughout the season have favoured the Surge. Calgary opened by beating the Sea Bears by 12, followed by a 32 point victory two days later. Their third matchup was a 4-point victory for the Surge, before dropping their fourth matchup by a single point.
Final: Niagara vs. **Calgary**
I’ve maintained most of the season that whoever comes out of the West will win the championship. Not much that I’ve seen recently has changed my mind. In their recent matchup on August 10, Calgary handed Niagara an 18-point loss. It wouldn’t surprise me if we got a repeat performance as the final game of the season.
Of course, there’s a lot of basketball between now and then and tuning into these matchups is an absolute must.
Besides just the high level of basketball being played, the CEBL’s championship weekend is four days of all kinds of activities, including a street festival, ceremonies, a coaching clinic, and a luncheon with the commissioner. All of that is surrounded with conference finals on Friday evening and the Championship final on Sunday, August 24.
To kick off the weekend, the CEBL will host the annual Awards Ceremony that recognizes the top performers of the regular season.There are eight major honours to be awarded, along with the First, Second, and All-Canadian Teams. Per the CEBL, “Award nominees, winners and All-CEBL First, Second, and All-Canadian Teams are determined by votes cast by the league’s head coaches, general managers, assistant coaches, select league broadcasters, and internal media personnel.”
Of course, the decision to select winners can’t be an easy one with so many talented players in the league putting up excellent numbers and helping contribute to their team’s success. That said, it wouldn’t be much fun if we didn’t take a minute to predicate where some of the major hardware is going.
**Most Valuable Player - Sean East II**
One of the most challenging things for some teams is the availability of players. Not the case here, with East suiting up and starting all 24 of the Stingers’ games. This allowed him to also score 546 points in total this season, the most in any CEBL season thus far. Averaging almost 23 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals per game on 50-40-90 shooting, he led the way for an Edmonton team that finished 15-9 in a stacked Western conference and ended the season on a 3-game win streak. He was able to help the Stingers battle back on a number of occasions, especially during target time. In just one example during a game in Ottawa, he managed 7 of the 9 points needed to clinch the victory. After the game, Stingers’ coach Jordan Baker noted his importance to the team, saying “When the lights are the brightest he’s going to be a guy that we turn to”. All things considered, he seems like the obvious choice here.
_(Honourable Mention - Mitch Creek)_
**Canadian Player of the Year - Sean Miller-Moore**
A four year veteran of the league, this has been Sean “Rugsy” Miller-Moore’s best season by far. Averaging over 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists per game in 23 appearances, he helped lead a strong Calgary team that went 17-7 and ended the season on a 4 game winning streak. In his final game of the season, he capped things off with a 30-point performance showcasing his athleticism and savvy on the court. Target time brought out the best in him as well, with countless scoring and game-winners to add to his resume from this season.
_(Honourable Mention - Tyrese Samuel)_
**Defensive Player of the Year - Jameer Nelson Jr.**
It’s hard to look past a record-setting performance when it comes to DPOY, and Jameer Nelson Jr. did just that. Averaging an astonishing 3 steals per game, he managed 57 on the season to go along with 5 blocks. His energy and effort on the defensive end made things complicated for the opposing team. He helped anchor a Surge defence that allowed the fewest points against on the season. In his best performance, he managed 7 against the Winnipeg Sea Bears, one of eight games with four or more on the season. Despite his rather small comparative stature, he also managed almost 5 rebounds per game as well.
_(Honourable Mention - Simi Shittu)_
**Coach of the Year - Kyle Julius**
Finishing the season 19-5 despite roster turnover and guys coming in and out of the lineup due to NBA Summer League commitments is remarkable in and of itself. Add to that the fact that Vancouver ends the season with the best offence, second best defence, highest plus/minus, highest field goal and 3-point percentages, most assists per game, third-fewest turnovers per game, and second-most steals, it’s hard to deny their dominance. Julius and his coaching staff have helped create an environment for their players to thrive in, building on the skills and competitive nature they brought into the season. After already clinching the top seed in the West several games earlier, they dropped 130 points against the BlackJacks in Ottawa. Afterwards, he said that he doesn’t “think there’s any game in the world to that group that wouldn’t mean anything. They want to play”, a mindset that he has encouraged from day one. This would be his second year in a row, but no less deserving.
_(Honourable Mention - Kaleb Canales)_
**Sixth Man of the Year - Zane Waterman**
Coming off the bench for the majority of his 14 contests, Zane dropped 15 ppg on an astonishing (and league-leading) 52.9% from long range on 5 attempts per game. Along with that, he averaged 4.6 rebounds and an assist in only 23 minutes of action. Despite arriving late to the season due to prior commitments and missing some time due to injury, he was a game changer for Ottawa, routinely bringing momentum and energy onto the court that altered the outcome of games. After his first contest back from a head injury, he missed the franchise scoring record by a single point, scoring 36 off the bench. “I was out for a while… I had a lot of energy” indicative of the spark he was in his first season in Ottawa on both ends of the court, helping anchor their defence as well.
_(Honourable Mention - Olumide Adelodun)_
**Developmental Player of the Year - Isaac Simon**
Appearing in all of Edmonton’s games this season and even starting 6 of them, Isaac is the clear favourite. This is his third year as a developmental player in the league, but his best statistically. Up to almost 14 minutes per game, Simon averaged 4.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists on 40% three-point shooting. He was drafted out of the University of Alberta once again, and has undoubtedly made the Golden Bears proud with this performance.
_(Honourable Mention - Gatluak James)_
**Clutch Player of the Year - Javonte Smart**
This is the one I probably had the most trouble with. Looking around the league, there are a lot of really strong players who thrive in target time. Winnipeg has Jalen Harris, Niagara has Khalil Ahmad, Scarborough has Donovan Williams and Terquavion Smith. While all of those (and others) are probably deserving, it’s hard not to recognize the impact Javonte had on the BlackJacks. Starting the season 2-6, they struggled in target time. Upon joining the team, he led them to three straight wins, often scoring or facilitating the majority of their target time points. Ottawa’s season drastically changed as a result of his addition to the team, and they ended as the 2nd seed, undeniably as a result of his presence. In a tie-breaking matchup against Scarborough, Javonte scored 7 of the 10 needed target time points to lift Ottawa over the Shooting Stars. When asked about it afterwards all he said was “it was winning time and I wanted to win”. His confidence and skill in target time were exactly what the BlackJacks needed, and he delivered.
**First Team** - Mitch Creek, Sean East II, Greg Brown III, Javonte Smart, Terquavion Smith
**Second Team** \- Tavian Dunn-Martin, Khalil Ahmad, Jameer Nelson Jr., Donovan Williams, Isaih Moore
**All-Canadian Team** \- Tyrese Samuel, Sean Miller-Moore, Simi Shittu, Quincy Guerrier, Keon Ambrose-Hylton
Now we play the waiting game, with the first set of playoff games tomorrow, and the regular season awards being announced a week later. It’s never too late to start following the CEBL and all of the incredible talent that is developing there.
Be sure to catch all of the action on TSN and watch the 2025 CEBL Champions be crowned.
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