Jason Siemon wants to drag out his title-winning season as long as possible.

Especially if it means completing a silverware double with Brighton Bears.

The 6ft 9ins centre, twice a losing play-off finalist with Thames Valley, heads to the NIA in Birmingham as part of a Bears team determined to add the end of season showpiece to their BBL title.

That means beating Chester Jets in Saturday's semi-final, then seeing off Sheffield or London Towers in the final.

Whatever happens, the season will be over at about 8pm on Sunday and some of Nick Nurse's title-winning team will have played their final game for Bears.

Which explains why they have been more fired up than ever at training this week ahead of what the Americans like to term "the big dance."

Siemon said: "We've been really competitive in practice Everyone is on edge right now.

"It's a strange time of the year. I know I'm really going to miss these guys.

"It has been an unbelievable season, travelling around and playing in Europe.

"All the guys come from different backgrounds and have different personalities but we've really come together.

"We need to get another trophy to go with the league before this team splits up and I'm really looking forward to the weekend."

Siemon's chances of coming back next season have been cut by 50 per cent with a change in BBL player guidelines.

Teams have agreed to field just one non-work permit non-Englishman next winter, instead of the current two.

That is the category into which Siemon and Rico Alderson fit this season.

Not that Alderson will be around, if rumours are right.

The Birdman is being linked with a move to London Towers, where he could team up with old mates like Ralph Blalock, Rod Brown and Emiko Etete.

Siemon admits he does not know what his team mate's plans are but insists he has no fears transfer speculation will put Bears' MVP off his game this weekend.

Having fought off a puzzling attempt to ban him from the semi-final for his part in a scuffle with Leicester's Chris Webber recently, a nagging neck muscle problem has been Alderson's primary discomfort ahead of what could be his final weekend as a Bear.

It was Alderson whose last-gasp tip-in was ruled out when Chester pipped Bears by two points in the BBL Trophy final almost two months ago.

That result was at odds with the outcome of the two sides' most recent league meetings but Siemon said: "We will be better prepared for them than we were at the Trophy final.

"They were really tough, they've got great players and we know if their shooters get hot it will be a long game.

"I don't think we have too many problems offensively but we need to concentrate defensively. If we stop them getting to the basket and limit them to one shot per possession it will go our way."

Many Bears fans will recall Chester outscoring their side 32-10 in the third quarter to win a play-off semi two years ago.

They also know about the pitfalls of being favourites at this time of year after their experiences in last year's final against Scottish Rocks.

No. 1 seeds rarely win the play-offs. In fact, the last team to come top of a single league table, as opposed to conferences, and take the play-offs were Alan Cuningham's Worthing Bears back in 1993.

Bears coach Nurse would love to emulate them. He said: "There has been a similar edge in practice to what I saw when I won the play-offs with Manchester in 2000.

"These games are always good at this stage. They will go back and forth and it's down to who can hold their nerve and make plays at the end."