Look who is in the house tonight

There are eight BBL Championship games to look forward to this weekend and not least the BBLTv re-match between Leicester Riders and Glasgow Rocks.

Tomorrow’s clash looks to be the standout game not only because of the quality that will be on display, but of course because of the recent history between the clubs which saw Riders win a tight one at the Emirates Arena, only for Molten BBL Player of the Month, Kieron Achara to then knock Riders out of the Cup with his buzzer beater.

Riders also come into the game off the back of a defeat at London Lions last Sunday, although the in-form Rashad Hassan believes his team will bounce back.

He said, “I think we learned from this past weekend that every team in this league is going to give us their best shot and we’ll have to be prepared for that every week – no matter if we’re coming off a back to back or not.

“We’ve already moved on from our last meeting (against Rocks). We’re now looking forward to winning the head to head between us and it is a very important game for us as a team.

“We all have to be locked in and do whatever it takes to get the win

“I think having played them twice and playing at home again will give us a huge boost. We’re familiar with all of their players and we feel we can pull off a win in front of fans.

“It’ll definitely be a tough game, but if we execute on everything we worked on in practice, we should be fine,” added Hassan.

The encounter is part of a double-header for Rocks, who will play at Cheshire on Sunday, with player-coach Sterling Davis approaching fitness again after being ruled out of action.

As for Phoenix, their head coach John Coffino is pleased with progress after his team completed a fruitful November and is looking forward to his side getting on an even bigger roll.

“A win here and there and we will string a bunch together – I went through a similar situation as head coach in the NBA D-League,” explained Coffino.

“We went on to win something like 16 in a row, but it is a confidence thing and our guys now know and trust that we can play with anyone in the league.

“Changes have curtailed us somewhat, but our core guys have been great to welcome the new ones in and the transition has been easier with bringing in veteran players also.”

Manchester will look to complete a south-west double when they travel to Bristol Flyers tomorrow evening – just over a week after having taken down Raiders.

“The road win at Plymouth was good for us. It’s a tough place to play, not just because of the journey, as the Raiders always play so well at home,” mused David Watts.

“We made a few runs throughout the game, but we still have things to work on in order to be the team we know we’re capable of being.”

Giants will also host Lions on Sunday who will be buoyed by their wins over Force and not least Riders last weekend.

“I was happy and the performances will continue to get better, but we have done a good job of working with what we have whilst injuries and acquisitions pan out,” said Lions’ coach, Vince Macaulay.

“The main thing I take from this is that when push comes to shove, we will stick together and work well as a team.

“Leicester are one of the teams competing to be in the top four and it’s important that we also are challenging, so we watch our results against those teams.

“I had no doubt of how we would play against them, but we need to make sure we are bringing that energy as a norm really, as we continue to grow the club.”

There are two derby games tonight to savour, with Leeds Force welcoming Sheffield Sharks and with homes point-guard James McCann still getting to grips with adjusting to the BBL – although you wouldn’t guess this from a stellar November when he led the league in assists.

He claimed, “The biggest change for me has probably been the change to the 24 second shot clock.

“With 35 seconds in the States, it allowed you a lot more patience on offence, whereas here everything must be done much more quickly or you risk taking tough, contested shots late in the clock.”

As for Sharks, they need to pick themselves up from their indifferent start to the campaign and the gut-wrenching, buzzer-beating loss to Raiders last weekend.

“It is definitely a bitter pill to swallow, especially after losing five games with a total of 10 points now,” said Patrick Horstmann.

“But that’s sport and you can either put your head down and feel sorry for yourself, or try to work your way out of it – and that’s what we plan to do.”

Ralph Bucci continues to be a driving force for Durham Wildcats and they make the short trip to Tyneside to compete against the Eagles in the north-east derby, before playing against a replenished Surrey United at home on Sunday. However, it is Wildcats’ own return to full health which is proving most satisfactory for the veteran.

“We have had some issues with numbers at training, but we have everyone back now,” he stated.

“Hopefully we can start to build on things in training so we all can get in a good rhythm of playing together – something that should help with our execution as well.”

Finally, Plymouth University Raiders go up against Worcester on Sunday, no doubt boosted from the joy of their dramatic win against Sharks, but knowing the Wolves game is going to be an extremely difficult tussle.

Enjoy the games!