Basketball: Relaxed Sharks keen to end play-off jitters

Sheffield Sharks did not handle the pressure well in the last two BBL play-off finals when the national championship was on the line, but coach Chris Finch's players can feel more relaxed when they face Scottish Rocks in today's semi-final at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Finch wants to win the play-offs for the first time in three attempts, but his team are already undisputed national champions by winning the 40-game League schedule and have little to prove in this weekend's end-of-season jamboree in which Brighton Bears face Newcastle Eagles in today's other semi-final.

Last season, the Sharks lost to Chester Jets in the play-off final and 12 months before that Leicester Riders completed their season of freak success by also stopping the Sharks from taking the national title.

"I don't know about the history being a motivational tool, but the fact that we have never won the play-offs is certainly a motivational tool," Finch said.

But if Finch can feel more relaxed, Rocks' American coach, Kevin Wall, who quits after this weekend, is intent on heaping on the pressure. "The pressure is on Sheffield," he said. "People expect Sheffield to not only beat us, but to win the whole thing."

Brighton, championship runners-up to the Sharks, are out to continue their knock-out success after winning the National Cup Final at the NIA in January. They are the only semi-finalists to have won the play-off title before, as Worthing in 1995.

Brighton face a Newcastle side who come into the play-offs with little to prove. "There is no pressure, because no-one expected us to get this far," Fab Flournoy, the Brighton player-coach, said.