THE Perry Lakes Hawks, Rockingham Flames, Goldfields Giants and Willetton Tigers all have the chance to take a one-nil lead in their men's SBL quarter-final series this weekend at home against higher-ranked opponents.

The 2015 men's SBL playoffs begins on Friday night with the Perry Lakes Hawks taking on the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre, with tip-off set for 8.30pm.

Then on Saturday night all three games tip-off at 7.30pm with the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames playing the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants will also play the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium while the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers take on the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Starting on Friday night, the battle begins between the first and eighth-place teams at the end of the regular season but it does appear to be a much tighter contest than that suggests.

While Joondalup ended up finishing three games clear on top of the standings with a 23-3 record and seven-match winning run, their last defeat did come at the hands of a Perry Lakes team who finished the season in fine style.

The Hawks' playoff hopes looked all but over when they slipped to a 4-12 record, but the return from injury of import guard Bryton Hobbs sparked them into action to win eight of their next nine games to lock in a return to the playoffs, and now a clash with the Wolves.

While the Wolves beat the Hawks in their first meeting of the season 85-79 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium in Week 9, Perry Lakes was able to deliver an outstanding performance to beat the Wolfpack 97-71 at Bendat Basketball Centre in Week 14 to begin their charge for the playoffs.

Then on Saturday night, the Cougars and Flames do battle in what appears to be the toughest to predict contest of the first week of the playoffs.

The Cougars did an outstanding job of making the playoffs on the back of losing a host of players coming into the season and with a changeover in coach, and they ended up securing fourth position with a 17-9 record and winning their last two games.

Cockburn was especially outstanding at home during the season winning 11 of 13 games, but on the road the Cougars won just six of 13 leaving them with work to do against the Flames on Saturday night.

Rockingham had an up and down season, but ended up doing enough to finish with a 15-11 record and in fifth position to set up what should be an unpredictable contest with Cockburn in the quarter finals.

The two teams played out an exciting and high-quality thriller back in Week 4 at Wally Hagan on Stadium on a Saturday night with the Flames ending up beating the Cougars 107-106

The second meeting between the two during the regular season was back in Week 15 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and in that contest it was the Cougars prevailing 97-86 over the Flames.

The Buccaneers won the first clash with the Giants of the season by 16 points in Week 7 at Active West Stadium and then in Week 16 it was the Giants who scored a 14-point victory at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium with each team confirming their home-court advantage.

Perhaps the most exciting of the quarter-final match ups appears to be between the regional powers, the Giants and Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers were the minor premiers and made the grand final in 2014, and have backed that up by finishing in second position in 2015 with a 20-6 record, but they haven’t entered the playoffs with the dominant type of form they displayed in the first half of the season.

The Giants looked set to miss the playoffs for a third straight season when losing their first eight games of 2015, but they have been terrific since winning 14 of their last 18 and now enter the post-season on a four-match winning streak.

With the Buccs possessing the likes of Bennie Lewis, Carter Cook, Cory Cooperwood, Aaron Ralph and Mat Wundenberg, and the Giants having Jay Bowie, Jacob Holmen and Mathiang Muo it should be quite the quarter-final series to witness.

The Slammers scored a strong 116-102 win over the Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium in Week 8 when the teams first played this season.

The final series then features the Tigers and Slammers with Willetton hosting Game 1 and looking to go up one-nil against a South West team that has been unpredictable in terms of their personnel in recent times.

The Slammers still finished the season with a 17-9 record to be in third position while the Tigers ended up at 14-12 in sixth position to return to the playoffs now for the first time since 2011.

The Tigers then got that win back in emphatic fashion just two weeks ago beating the Slammers 99-66 at Eaton Recreation Centre to build some confidence ahead of the quarter-final series.

WEEK 1 MEN'S QUARTER FINALS SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
(8) Perry Lakes Hawks v (1) Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves, Bendat Basketball Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
(5) Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames v (4) Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 7.30pm
(7) Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants v (2) S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
(6) Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers v (3) Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Willetton Basketball Stadium 7.30pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography