Eagles rise for the occasion to open finals

Image courtesy of: @jeff.s.smith

The old saying is you just want to qualify for playoffs because anything can happen when you get there and the East Perth Eagles proved that with Lee Roberts, Jonah Antonio and Sharif Watson inspiring them to a first finals win since the 2014 grand final.

With current Cairns Taipans NBL coach Adam Forde at the helm of a team including Tom Jervis, Drew Williamson, Sunday Dech, Kyle Armour, Mathiang Muo, Andrej Donlagic, current assistant coach John Taylor, and grand final MVP Joe-Alan Tupaea, the 2014 Eagles are a great example of what's possible.

They finished seventh at the end of that regular season before beating the second placed Rockingham Flames in the quarter finals, the third ranked Perth Redbacks in the semi finals, and then the regular season champion Geraldton Buccaneers in the grand final.

Then for 2025, East Perth only managed a 9-13 record to finish eighth at the end of the regular season, but what mattered was qualifying for the finals and giving themselves a chance.

And the Eagles made the most of that opportunity with a terrific performance in front of a sold out crowd at Arena Joondalup to beat the fifth placed Joondalup Wolves to now set up a semi-final on the road to Rockingham this Thursday night.

It might have been a two-point win in the finish and things got tense late, but the Eagles put in a tremendous performance to lead for 32 minutes of the game including by as much as 11 points in the third quarter.

East Perth also ended up with 14 offensive rebounds to six for the game for 12 second chance points to zero which helped them take seven extra field goal attempts, and coach Carl Filpo was delighted with the effort his group delivered.

"The spirits were definitely high and we were happy as coaches mainly because of the way they executed the plan," Filpo said.

"We went in there with a very distinct plan and with some very distinct adjustments, and to their credit the guys executed that to a tee. So we rapt with the performance.

"It's a bit cliché but the post-season is a new season, and it is different and it feels different. It's about how you adjust and how you play on the night, and how you step up and bring it on the night so that theory absolutely holds true.

"You obviously want to finish as high as you can but once you're in, you're in and in most cases it's win or go home."

Filpo also liked the way his team embraced the atmosphere of having a record Arena Joondalup crowd of 2107 people and while the Wolfpack crowd might have had the numbers advantage, the Eagles fans made plenty of noise.

Overall though, Filpo loved being part of such a terrific environment and atmosphere on the night.

"It was an awesome atmosphere and the East Perth crowd was right behind us, and that definitely helped to drive the team. I think that was a huge factor," Filpo said.

"I also do feel like the bigger the crowd whether they are for you or against you, it gives you that adrenaline to help move you forward, at least for the players.

"For me personally it's neither here nor there in terms of my coaching and it does make it hard to talk to the players, but I like it because it does seem to get the guys going.

"It was great to be part of it and Joondalup do an awesome job. That game night experience is as good as I've seen. It was a great crowd, a great atmosphere, a great game and everyone who went hopefully loved it."

One area that the Eagles ended up having a big advantage in against the Wolves was with the physicality, energy, effort and output at both ends of the floor of both Lee Roberts and Sharif Watson who combined for 41 points and 18 rebounds including eight offensive boards.

Captain Roberts set the tone from the outset and the 2017 grand final MVP delivered 31 points and eight rebounds on 12/16 shooting but there was no drop off when Filpo went to Watson either who had 10 points, 10 boards and two blocks including five rebounds at the offensive end.

"You do go into the game with a plan even around rotations and minutes, and where you want to see guys in an ideal situation, but you also have to make reads on how the game's going or adjust to foul trouble," Filpo said.

"Lee did pick up some fouls so that was probably why he only ended up playing 27 minutes and I'd expect those guys to play a bit more given it's a cut-throat final and you can use that adrenaline to play a bit more.

"But it ended up the perfect balance for us with what Lee and Sharif gave us, and what they did on the glass rebounding wise was huge.

"And then their efficiency offensively was also as good as I've seen both of them play so that was huge and we kept Joondalup to zero second chance points and that was massive. They came to play."

Another player who came up huge in the win for East Perth was Jonah Antonio who has come to the Eagles this year on the back of spending the past three seasons in the NBL at the Cairns Taipans.

Antonio has always been known as an offensive threat and he was on Saturday night with 23 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists with 4/8 three-point shooting.

But his impact was much more than that and defensively he was outstanding particularly in the way he hounded Joey Baker into shooting 5/16 from the field.

His intensity and passion became infectious throughout the rest of the team.

"He was huge and he was locked in from the start, he was pumped up and he was very keen to do well for the team," Filpo said.

"He's not just there for himself, he's there for the team and you can see that. He is locked in and you can see him interacting with his teammates and he is pumped for them when they are doing a great job.

"He was active, he was showing why he's an NBL-calibre player and he was just a cut above I reckon. The job he did defensively and the job he did offensively was as good as we could have asked."