After BBL Action began this time last week, Friday evening sees the entertainment continue, as two teams who have not lost a game yet go head to head; last season's third placed Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders travel to the Metro Radio Arena to take on the treble-winning Newcastle Eagles. Both sides had dream starts to their BBL campaigns, as the Riders powered to a 113-93 win over the Sheffield Sharks at home, and the Eagles had a decisive win over the Cheshire Jets and a nail biting triumph over the Glasgow Rocks.
Eagles' player-coach Fabulous Flournoy was pleased with his side's performances on the opening weekend of the season. He said: 'We are delighted to be 2-0. We played very well in parts and sluggishly in others but our defensive effort throughout was fairly consistent. All seven of our main guys scored in double figures in at least one of the games so I happy we have not compromised our team ethos which has served us so well in previous years.' Flournoy is also encouraged by how Americans Joe Chapman, and Lynard Stewart, whose season was wrecked by injury last year, are fitting into his plans. He added: 'Although some guys are carrying the usual aches and pains following the first weekend, we are currently healthy and are continuing to use practice to integrate Joe Chapman and re-integrate Lynard Stewart into our concepts. We are in the process of figuring out our identity as a team.'
Elsewhere on Friday night, the Marshall MK Lions meet the Glasgow Rocks, with both sides having made changes in the off-season, despite retaining their nucleus. Notably, the Rocks have added 6'7'' Forward Mike Copeland and 6'3'' guard Jessie Sapp to their roster, and Lions Head Coach Vince Macaulay feels that Sapp will be the Rocks major offensive threat. He explained: 'We know very little about the Rocks beyond their three returning players, but we are aware that Sapp will be a real offensive threat. However if we continue to play hard as we have done this weekend we will be fine.'
Worthing Thunder came flying out the blocks last weekend, as they beat the Plymouth Raiders 104-84. They had four players in double figures, and new head coach Dave Titmuss is now keen to establish key roles for everyone on the roster Titmuss commented: "Even though it's early in the season, 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' he said 'All of the guys made positive contributions to our win against Plymouth last Saturday and we're looking to build on that this week' he added.
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
