Leicester Riders and London Leopards go head-to-head in the Men's National Cup Final in Sheffield on Sunday but neither team can be ruled out from picking up the prize, according to the playcallers involved.

Riders have thrice reached the Cup Final – in 1984, 1991, and 1998 – but have not lifted the George Williams trophy. Billy Mims wants success not only for his own personal satisfaction, but for the club as a whole.

“It’s important for the club, for the fans and for the city of Leicester too,” he explained. 

“It’s big for Kevin Routledge too. Kevin Routledge is not only the owner of the Riders, he’s the Chairman of the BBL too and for the seven years that I have been in the country, I have watched Kevin Routledge stand at centre court and hand out lots of trophies to other teams, but I have yet to see anyone hand Kevin one and I think he’s handed out enough now – it’s about time one was handed back to him.”

While Donewald would disagree with that philosophy, he clearly thinks highly of many of the Riders’ players and singles out Billy Singleton for particular praise. 

“Billy Singleton has been there before and that always worries me. When you have guys who have been in these sorts of situations before, they know how to handle it. I had Billy and he almost carried us through the thing [1998 Cup Final] and the main reason was that he had been there before. He will just make a play here and make a play there that’s going to be important. That’s his biggest strength.

“The others can all get out and run and they can all score in bunches, from Blalock and Perry to Johnson and Leak – they can get out and go and they can put the ball in the hole and that really complements Billy.

“But, I think the system and not necessarily one in the system is perfect for them and we have got to find a way to counter and slow them down.” 

For his part, Mims attributes Leopards’ success to “speed and athleticism” and he knows they will prove difficult to beat.

“ “They have a lot of guys who can score and the key to them is that they tend to come at you with 40 minutes of chaos. What brings them success is that they out-quick and out-athlete teams and that’s what you have to guard against.

“I think they are a very unconventional basketball team and that’s probably what got them to the Final, because London Towers dug themselves a deep hole in the semi-final by playing a very European style basketball game with a very conventional style in their line-up. That didn’t work and when Towers went with a smaller line-up, they got back in the game, but too little too late. 

“I don’t really see them as having one key individual, as opposed to having a lot of weapons. It’s from their starters, right down to their bench. They tend to be a team that plays very aggressive basketball. One thing that dictates how the game goes is how you maintain your composure against them, because as well as their speed an athleticism, they also try to put mental pressure on you.”

However, Mims believes his team can combat the Leopards’ strengths. 

“This group of guys is similar to the type of player I always like to recruit, in that they like to play with their backs against the wall. I think this team likes to be underdogs and I think it will still be the case in the Final.

“I doubt we will be able to slow the game down against Leopards. And I think there could be fireworks because both sides possess a lot of offensive firepower. It could be one of the highest- scoring cup finals in history.”