The Eagles went from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of a week after following up an impressive win against Chester in the BBL quarter-finals with a shambolic display against the Scottish Rocks.
The league leaders were both outplayed and humiliated 92-73, the Scots extracting sweet revenge for their gut wrenching double-overtime loss to the Eagles earlier in the season.
Flournoy said: “I can accept the loss as we did have poor preparation going into the game and, in truth, I knew we were going to lose.
“We had some guys who were sick or injured and we had others who just had bad attitudes within practice and it showed in the game.”
“I am not necessarily mad. I am just disappointed with the team, and with myself becoming distracted with other duties leading into this match which affected our performance.
“It is more annoying for me as a coach that all the players knew what to expect when you go to Braehead and face a dangerous Rocks team.
“However, some of the players in their wisdom think the big, bad Eagles team on a roll can just walk into an Arena and collect another win – well the big bad Eagles got their butts well and truly kicked this time and deservedly so.
“Our offence was bad but defensively we were terrible.”
The margin of defeat will surprise and shock many around the BBL, but the Eagles probably got off lightly and, whether complacency has crept in or not, it is a timely wake-up call.
With premature talk of a clean sweep, it is clear that, unless the players serve up the defensive tenacity and hard work they pride themselves on, there are teams who can and will turn the title favourites over.
The Eagles took an early lead in the game but fell apart either side of the break.
They trailed by 11 at half-time and had hoped for a revival, but produced an even more error-strewn performance in the second period to lose any chance of extending their winning run.
What was most galling for those Eagles fans watching was the fact the club will face the Rocks again in Crawley a week on Saturday in the BBL semi-finals – a fact also not lost on Flournoy.
He added: “I am not sure how this performance will affect the semi-final.
“The manner of the performance and how we did not play together as a team, individually, and how we did not have any heart is tough to take, much tougher than the result.”
Richard Midgley was the Eagles’ top scorer with 18 points, followed by Charles Smith with 16 and Lynard Stewart with 12.
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Posted on 07 December, 2007
