Rice ready to embrace finals environment

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Max Rice always embraced the big occasions on the road in his Boise State career and he now can't wait for the East Perth Eagles to take on the Joondalup Wolves in front of a big crowd to open the NBL1 West finals.

Rice had a terrific six-year career at Boise State University with two redshirt seasons thrown in there and one thing he always found brought the best out of him was playing in front of big crowds in the Mountain West Conference on the road.

That's exactly what will await him now as part of the Eagles team that will take on the Wolfpack at Arena Joondalup in front of an expected crowd of around 2000 people in the elimination final between the northern suburb rivals.

Rice has had a terrific first season playing in the NBL1 at the Eagles leading the team in scoring at 19 points a game including shooting the three ball at 39.4 per cent while knocking down 74 of them in his 21 games.

While it's been a rocky ride at times this season for the Eagles to end up with a 9-13 record, all that matters is qualifying for finals and anything can happen.

After all, East Perth's championship in 2014 saw them come from seventh position to win it and Rice is now excited to get the team's second straight playoff campaign underway.

"Obviously we've had some ups and downs this year with some injuries and just guys coming and going, and adding guys late as well, but the end goal was obviously to make the playoffs, and do well in the playoffs," Rice said.

"The first step is done and we qualified, and we've been working hard this week to try to make some adjustments to make sure we do well on Saturday."

The Eagles qualified the finals from eighth position at the end of the regular season to set up the elimination final match up with the Wolves at Arena Joondalup on Saturday night.

There's going to be a big crowd on hand for the occasion and Rice can't wait to experience it and to try and rise to the occasion after getting a first taste of playing up at Joondalup last Friday night.

"Even playing on the road, there's been some really cool environments I played in during my time in college where I played in the Mountain West," Rice said.

"I played at Boise which is in the Mountain West and there were some of the best home arenas in the whole United States in that conference that I got to play in.

"So I'm used to playing in hostile kind of environments with hostile crowds, and sometimes that can bring the best out of me and I'm hoping to channel some of that energy towards the game on Saturday as well."

Rice has also noticed a real kick up in the excitement levels around Peter Campbell Basketball Arena with the Eagles this week with both the men's and women's teams qualifying for finals.

East Perth are just one of five teams along with the Warwick Senators, Rockingham Flames, Mandurah Magic and Willetton Tigers to have both outfits in the playoffs and Rice is look forward to seeing what they both can do from eighth position.

"I think it's a really cool thing to get both programs into the finals and you can kinda feel the buzz in the air at practice this week," Rice said.

"Everyone is just excited to still be playing and to have the opportunity to in front of us to play a good Joondalup team on Saturday, and for the girls to go to Mandurah which should be a good one as well.

"We just want to try to make the most of these last couple of practices now and try to continue to get better and improve. Once you make the playoffs all records go to zero and it's whoever comes out better that night.

"We know there's a great opportunity in front of us and we've been working really hard to try and make the most of it."

The East Perth men have shown enough during the season to suggest that even from eighth position they are a threat come this NBL1 West finals series.

The Eagles are the only team to beat the Buccaneers in Geraldton this year, they are the only team side from the Buccs to beat the Senators at Warwick Stadium, and they've also beaten another finals team in the Goldfield Giants.

Given that, Rice is feeling good about the Eagles can do against the Wolves on Saturday night and potentially beyond.

"Once you get to the playoffs anyone can do anything really and when we're clicking I think every team in this league knows that we can be dangerous at times," Rice said.

"We're just trying to channel that energy of some of those big wins we've had and looking back on what we did in those, and how we can do it again and play well now that it's playoff time together.

"We're just trying to keep the vibes going good and so far it's looking good, and we like our chances."

Rice feeling good within his own game too and he has proven himself capable of some match winning performances having put up 34 points against the Perth Redbacks, 31 against the Buccaneers, and 32 against the Senators so far this season.

It's no coincidence that East Perth have won each of those games when Rice has caught fire and he is feeling good with how he's feeling physically and where his game is at going into Saturday night.

"My body's feeling great right now, knock on wood, and all our dudes are healthy," Rice said.

"My shot's feeling pretty good too so all the things I feel like you'd need going into a playoff game, I think we've got right now.

"There's no excuses and we don’t want to make any, we're just ready to get out there and give it our all on Saturday."

Another X-factor for the Eagles going into the playoffs is the combination of Rice and Jonah Antonio as two of the most lethal shooters in the competition.

If they can catch fire on the one night, East Perth will be mighty hard to stop and Rice has certainly enjoyed playing alongside Antonio who has spent the past three seasons in the NBL at the Cairns Taipans.

"I think that chemistry with Jonah has actually developed really well over the past couple of weeks especially," Rice said.

"Any team will you it's hard to add a guy mid-season and to be able to gel right away, but as the weeks have gone by we're starting to get used to how the other guy likes to plays, and each other's strengths and weaknesses, and how to play off each other.

"We've learned a lot about each other's games and I think you've seen how we've moulded and improved our games over the last couple of weeks, and hopefully we can keep that going."

In the bigger picture, Rice couldn't have enjoyed his first experience in Australia this year and especially to have been able to share it all with wife Taylor.

"We've definitely enjoyed our time here and it's way better than we even thought it could be honestly," Rice said.

"All the people in Australia have been so good to us starting with Carl and Mia (Filpo). They're so welcoming and generous so they've made the transition over to Australia so easy for us.

"And just living near the beach and we only practice twice a week in this league so it's been like a paid vacation.

"Just the opportunity to go and do what you want during the week, and then throw the ball up on the weekend has been a dream come true for sure."