Buffalo, NY - Music pump. Arena fans were encouraged on public broadcast systems and on Jumbotron, wearing orange and black. The ode...and the scoreboard has a lot of goals.

Welcome to Randy Tran.

The term is affectionately used to describe the NLL's Buffalo Gangster fan base in western New York, and the foundation warmly supports its team, which has won in recent years. The bandits won the championship in 1992, 1993, 1996, 2008, 2023 and 2024 and are now on the verge of history.

The bandits have won two titles in two championship seasons, and they are fifth in the NLL finals, two wins away from the victory that few teams in professional sports have achieved - three consecutive championships.

"I think dynasty." When asked what the three consecutive championships brought him, forward Smith said. “Not many teams did it, so you didn’t really think too much about it. This year feels a little different.

"I don't know if it's because we didn't play Toronto all the playoffs, and we usually do that, but I don't think I'm really focused on three games. I'm focusing on winning the next championship, and we have a good chance, I tell the young guys, I tell the young guys, don't give it."

Become the second team In NLL history, winning three consecutive championships (2012-14 Rochester Knighthawks) and joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000-02, the New York Yankees in 1998-2000 and the Houston Comet in 1997-2000, and so on, the gangsters must cross the Saskatchewan sprint.

The three best series begin on Friday night in Buffalo (ESPN+ESPN+). The series will then continue to Saskatchewan on Sunday evening (8:00 PM ET, ESPN+) and then extend to the next Saturday if needed.

After both ended the regular season 13-5, the two seeds face to face before the game. To achieve this, the bandits experienced 11 games (6-5) hardships in 10 weeks but won the No. 1 seed.

Buffalo then unbeaten in the first two rounds of the playoffs (beating the San Diego SEALs and the Vancouver Warriors) and received a 12-day break as the players and coaches worked and prepared during the period.

The haste also swept their semifinals and defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds in overtime last Saturday. Saskatchewan made its first appearance since 2018.

Most of them in the league, the Bandits' six championships tied with Philadelphia's Wing and Toronto Rock. They also lost seven times in the final. Forward Josh Byrne, the 2024 league and final MVP, called the winning champion "addiction".

"We kind of know how to win," said Smith, one of three MVP finalists, a two-time winner of the award. "We've been working hard to overcome that hump for the longest time. I think it's this time of year.

"Obviously, there's something different every year. The league gets better every year, and Saskatchewan is an incredibly young and talented team. They feel there's nothing to lose and it's the most dangerous showdown."

Smith tied for the most in the regular season with Byrne, who broke the record for the most playoffs in NLL history - currently held by his coach (and former teammate) John Tavares. Smith said he might have "10 times the points" if Tavares played in the current series.

"I joke that whenever I don't have as much game time as I usually do, it's probably for that reason," Smith said. "He probably has it in his mind that wants to sit here and there."

However, Tavares joked that he plays Smith every minute, so he won't have a few more minutes unless he's in defense.

"Of course he'll break my record, of course, I'm glad this is the guy I'm playing with and I'm honored to coach," Tavarez said. "So, I'm happy for him and hopefully he's next game."

When it comes Byrne said that this was something he didn't expect, but wanted to focus on the little things that got there. Tavares said it was after the Olympics ended. He plans to remind his team to focus on what it takes to win the next game.

"I won't even say three repetitions. I don't talk about that with my team," Tavarez said. "I didn't think about it. Think about it, 'This is our next game.'"

The next game will be in front of the behemoth's faithfulness, a passionate follower of its wings, weather and presence in the city known outside the Buffalo Bills.

"It's really the first in the world of lacrosse. I think there's a team, team or organization on any level (on the lacrosse) that we have the support we do," Bourne said. "It's really crazy, and when you think of professional hockey players, usually when you compare it to an NHL team, an NBA team or an NFL team, you don't think too much about it."

"But in Buffalo, you treat the same way as your head and the Sabre. They are really the first to treat our city and fan base like a real professional athlete."

The team played the game at the Keybank Center, which Sabers also played and attracted a lot of people. This season, the bandits set an NLL attendance record of 166,238 in nine home games including four sold-out games, and there were no more than 17,240 attendances in any one game. Eight NHL teams, including the Sabres, had lower average attendance rates, while six NBA teams last year had lower average attendance.

The presence of Lambatlan will be exhibited again on Friday night.

"For me,[the support of fans]shows that we can be the next major league like the NHL, just like the NBA, like the NFL," Tavarez said. "At the moment, we are still a weekend league and even if we are professional, we still haven't attracted the attention of the media, it may be the attention we deserve because it's a great sport, it's a great league, it's just a matter of people knowing we have and paying attention to it."