CEBL title suddenly up for grabs as key absences drastically alter playoff picture

In the Canadian Elite Basketball League, the only certainty is uncertainty.

As the playoffs begin Thursday, that has never rung truer.

In the Eastern Conference, a meaningless regular-season finale between the top-seeded Scarborough Shooting Stars and No. 2 Brampton Honey Badgers took a shocking turn thanks to a brawl to end the first half that now carries major playoff ramifications.

The Shooting Stars suffered a major blow as Canadian big man Frank Mitchell and second-leading scorer Javan Johnson were each handed one-game suspensions while another bucket-getter in Terquavion Smith was slapped with a two-game ban for their roles in the fracas. The Honey Badgers lost big man Tegra Izay for one game and late-season addition Roddy Peters Jr. for two.

Out west, the second-seeded Winnipeg Sea Bears saw key forward Emmanuel Akot leave the team for “overseas opportunities” and announced Tuesday that MVP frontrunner Teddy Allen would miss the opening round after sustaining injuries in an alleged nightclub assault.

Nightclub security assaulted, badly injured star Sea Bears player Teddy Allen, team says

The top-seeded Vancouver Bandits are playing for interim coach Rans Brempong after longtime bench boss Kyle Julius departed mid-season in the wake of a three-game suspension for a fan altercation.

And, in these playoffs, it’s win-or-go-home for everyone. No byes. The only margin for error exists in the Finals, which will be contested as a best-of-three — in the competing teams’ markets — for the first time in league history.

The Bandits will face the No. 4 Stingers in the first round while the Sea Bears take on the No. 3 Saskatoon Mamba. In the East, the Shooting Stars meet the No. 4 Niagara River Lions and the Honey Badgers