| Glasgow Rocks | 86 |
| Guildford Heat | 75 |
Scottish Rocks player-coach Sterling Davis is aware of the importance of Sunday’s home game against Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders as his team look to finish in the top four of the BBL Championship.
“It’s a must win if we are to have even a chance of getting home court advantage in the play-offs” he said.
“We have to start putting some wins together. I think we’re moving in the right direction. If we concentrate on our defence we’ll be okay.”
Riders go into the game in joint fourth place with a 17-11 record, while Rocks are in sixth spot – two wins behind – following a run of six straight losses which coincided with a season-ending injury to guard Blake Shelton.
The Rocks play-caller is impressed with Riders’ form this season:
“They are having a good season, and playing well despite their injury problems. They’ve played well and have been pretty consistent even when they’ve been without key players. I’m not sure if Bradd Wierbicki will be back for them, but if he is we have to do a better job on him than last time. He was a major factor in the game, and caught us by surprise and really hurt us.”
Rocks went down 74-66 at home against Guildford Heat last Sunday, and Davis was concerned about their lack of firepower:
"I thought we did a better job than in the last couple of games where we’ve been giving up somewhere near 100 points. However, when we needed points we just couldn’t convert. We either couldn’t get the right shot, or just couldn’t get it to go down. If you don’t execute in a close game, you’re always going to struggle to win it.”
Riders’ coach Rob Paternostro is prepared for a tough trip to Scotland:
“It’s always a difficult trip, and they’ll be looking for a win on Sunday. It’s going to test our fitness and ability to play twice in two days. But as long as we continue to play good defence we’ll have a chance.”
Paternostro had praise for guard Isaac Westerbrook after last week’s 83-64 victory against Worthing Thunder:
“Isaac played for all 40 minutes, and had nine points and eight assists. But he does a lot more than the stat sheet shows. He’s been solid whenever I need him to play and he gives us some extra leadership.”
Leicester have already sealed the head-to-head series between the teams this season, winning 93-83 at home in January and 93-84 a month ago.
Posted on 01 April, 2009
