Battle of Alberta, hardcourt style: Calgary Surge go up against Edmonton Stingers

It's playoff time in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and on Thursday night the Calgary Surge go up against the Edmonton Stingers.

It’s playoff time in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and two of the hottest teams down the stretch face each other Thursday in a Western Conference playoff game.

The Calgary Surge go up against the Edmonton Stingers, and the winner moves on to play the Bandits in Vancouver.

It’s the Battle of Alberta, hardcourt style.

“It honestly was like the first rivalry I learned about in the CEBL. … It’s a great rivalry and they’re a great team to have a rivalry with, and I feel like the regular season was the regular season, and now it’s for all the marbles,” said Surge guard Jameer Nelson Jr.

Not much separated Calgary and Edmonton in the regular season.

The Stingers got the better of the Surge in the season series, but Calgary clinched second place in the second-to-last game of the year by beating the Stingers.

The Surge wrapped up the season with four straight wins, and the Stingers won three in a row.

The Surge are hoping the home fans can help lift them over the top.

“It’s a big advantage. … When you have the crowd on your side, it’s obviously a good feeling. It gives you confidence and when you go on big runs and stuff like that, it’s a good feeling,” said Surge guard Rugzy Miller-Moore.

There’s so much on the line in a single-elimination game.

Win and you move on to Vancouver.

Lose, and your season is over.

So how do you approach a game like this?

What advice do the coaches have for their players?

“We have a high standard. We just have to be us and play our brand of basketball and our formula—defence to offence—and we just have to play together. Our assistant coaches did a great job of instilling the game plan all week, so we’re ready to go,” said Surge head coach Kaleb Canales.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’ve played good basketball all season long. We’ve had good success against Calgary the last couple of times we’ve seen them. So, for us it’s just trying to be consistent in our concepts—trying to be a little tighter in our execution, certainly, but not trying to do anything out of the ordinary or out of character,” said Stingers head coach Jordan Baker.

Three Surge players are finalists for CEBL awards.

Miller-Moore is up for Canadian player of the year.

And Nelson will go up against teammate Greg Brown III for defensive player of the year.