Worthing Thunder coach Dave Titmuss will take part in a battle of the tacticians when he faces Paul James, Head Coach of Worcester Wolves, on Sunday. The 63 old commented: 'I know Paul (James) very well, he played for me at Thames Valley Tigers and has gone on to be a successful BBL coach. He's an outstanding recruiter and knows how to organise his talent.' Prior to meeting his old player though, the former England Senior Men's team boss will have to go up against current Team GB Under 20 coach, Tim Lewis, as Thunder take on Essex Pirates on Saturday evening. Titmuss added: 'I always have respect for my opposing coaches because we all go through the same things. Tim (Lewis) has set up a great Programme in Essex and his game preparation is always excellent. Essex have strengthened since we last played them and they are playing well, better than their results suggest. At the moment we are doing about three-quarters of what I think we have to do, technically, to get into a position to make the Play-Offs, but we're grinding out some victories and our team has shown a terrific mental toughness and smarts to close out some difficult games; we'll need every bit of those qualities against the Pirates and Worcester. '
Another club facing a double-header is Glasgow Rocks, as Sterling Davis' men visit Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders on Saturday evening before making the long journey South to Airwaves Plymouth Raiders the following day. With such challenging games all played within a short space of time, the strength in depth of teams is being exposed at this point in the season, and this is an area that Rocks' player-coach Sterling Davis feels his team will score top marks in. He explained: 'I think it will be a tough match-up against both opponents this weekend, they are both playing good basketball. (Gary)Stronach and (Rob)Paternostro are both proven coaches in the league, and are always well prepared. I wouldn't say we are deep but we are getting some of the best production from the bench this season than we've had in a while, and this can only be a good thing.'
In the BBL Trophy, a rescheduled fixture between PAWS London Capital and Everton Tigers will take place at Capital City Academy on Saturday evening, part of a tough weekend for the Capital, who then welcome Newcastle Eagles to their arena the following day. Rounding off the action for the weekend, is a BBL Championship clash between Guildford Heat, and Cup finalists Cheshire Jets.
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
