The Braves were on their home court and had been the best team all season.

That counted for little as the Braves were upset by Knox, 94-86.

Two years later the Raiders repeated the dose, this time at Knox.

The pain of those grand final defeats still lingers for most of the present day Braves, and they’ll do anything to make sure the Raiders don’t make it three-from-three in championship games against Bendigo when the two sides meet again at the Bendigo Stadium tonight.

“There’s a lot of pain there for our team and we want to use that energy positively on Saturday night,’’ Braves coach Ben Harvey said.

“The guys are ready. We’re trained strongly this week and we’re ready to play four quarters of good basketball.

“If we stick to our strengths I know we can win the game.

“A massive strength for us is that we go 10 deep. When we go to our bench players we don’t lose much whereas Knox doesn’t have the same depth.’’

Knox, which is chasing a third straight conference title and its fourth in five years, made it to the grand final the hard way, via cut-throat elimination finals on the road against Brisbane and Kilsyth.

While most Braves fans would rather their side faced Kilsyth in the grand final, Harvey has had the Raiders in his sights.

“I wanted to play Knox because they are the best team in the competition,’’ Harvey said.

“They’ve won the past two championships and when you play in grand finals you want to play the best.

“CJ Massingale is a great player, we all know how good Cam Rigby and Mick Hill are from their time playing with the Braves and Lester Strong is one of the better centres in the SEABL.

“It’s going to be a great game.’’

Harvey’s Braves were regarded as the team to beat this season, right up until round 14.

But three straight losses bought the Braves back down to earth with a thud.

In hindsight, Harvey is adamant the three defeats were a blessing in disguise.