WEEKEND PREVIEW
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Friday 02 October 2009 (7.30pm)
MILTON KEYNES LIONS VS. GLASGOW ROCKS
The weekend's action begins on Friday evening this week as the Marshall MK Lions welcome the Glasgow Rocks to their home venue for the first time this season. The last time the sides met, the Lions came out with a 99-97 win over the Scottish side, on 13th April 2009 at Kelvin Hall. However, as the new season is now underway, both sides have made changes, but have managed to keep an experienced core of players for the 2009/10 campaign.
The Lions had a busy weekend last weekend, with a game against Worcester Wolves, at home, which they won comfortably 94-81, and an away fixture against the Cheshire, which a Paul Peterson three pointer edged them out of 78-77. Head Coach Vince Macaulay is still doing everything he can to get Point Guard EJ Harrison into the UK, and says that his side took a lot from last weekend:
"We are still not sure if we will have a point guard in or not by Friday, and we are enlisting the help of our local MP in finding out why he can't get in yet, but last weekend showed that this team has a lot of character. We applied ourselves very well against Worcester and then going to Chester, we knew what to expect against a veteran side. It took us a while to get going, but when we did, we held them to just thirty points in the second half, and really should have won the game."
The Rocks meanwhile, were in action against local foes, the Newcastle Eagles on Sunday night, missing out on the win by four points as the Eagles snatched the game 86-90.
Player-coach Sterling Davis, however, feels that the result last week will be beneficial to his side. He said:
"I think the Newcastle game was something to build on. They have a very good team; probably the best in the league again this year, and to be able to hold them to a four point game at this point in the season is not bad. We know what we should have done differently and once those things have been addressed, we will be ok."
In terms of players that will threaten his side come Friday, Davis singles out former GB International Yorick Williams as the Lions' major threat. He added:
"Yorick Williams can be very dangerous when he gets rolling. He shot the ball extremely well last game and he has one of those shots that are very hard to defend. All you can do is stay up close and hope he misses."
Saturday 03 October 2009 (7.00pm)
WORTHING THUNDER VS. GLASGOW ROCKS
The Worthing Thunder entertain the Glasgow Rocks on Saturday evening and both teams go into the weekend positively. Worthing got their BBL Championship bid off to a flying start with a 104-84 win over the Plymouth Raiders, and even though the Rocks lost to defending champions Newcastle Eagles, the fact that the deficit was only four points indicates that Glasgow will be a force to be reckoned with this term.
Worthing Thunder Head Coach Dave Titmuss is pleased with his side's performance, and whilst he is looking to build on it, he is not getting too carried away just yet:
"Even though it's early in the season and we're certainly nowhere close to being settled as a team, I'm looking to establish key roles for everyone on our roster because I don't think 'depth' is just about having back-up, I think it's about recognising what each of our guys brings to the table and then finding a way of maximising that available talent in any given combination on court. All of the guys made positive contributions to our win against Plymouth last Saturday and we're looking to build on that this week."
Rocks player-coach Sterling Davis feels that preparations during the week have gone smoothly, and feels that Worthing's outside threat will be their main strength, whilst they are a solid all-round team. He explained:
"The week's preparations have gone pretty well. We still have some things to rectify at both ends of the court, but that will come with time, hopefully sooner rather than later."
"It's hard to limit the threats that Worthing have to just one or two guys, being that they had such balanced scoring in the first game. From what I understand they have quite a few guys who can knock down the outside shot, so we have to be ready to defend that."
Posted on 01 October, 2009
