MK Lions v Worcester Wolves preview
BBL Championship – Tuesday 29 November 2011
MK Basketball Centre (19:30)
The Sky TV cameras will be at the MK Basketball Centre on Tuesday night for the first live televised game of the season when the home-town Lions host Worcester Wolves in the BBL Championship. Coverage begins at 7PM on Sky Sports 3.
Lions’ coach Mike New is excited to be on TV, but knows his side face a tough test against the high-flying Wolves:
“It’s great to be back on Sky and live games are even more exciting. We need to produce a win and my guys really need to step up now.
“Wolves are playing the best basketball in the league at the moment. Richie Gordon, Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Tommy Freeman have been solid for them, and provide a strong nucleus to play around and lead from different areas of the floor.”
Paul James, the Wolves coach is expecting a difficult game when his team make the trip to Milton Keynes: “I have not had a chance to see the Lions as yet but they look to have a lot of scoring talent. They have almost six players averaging double points and that will make them tough to beat. Demarius Bolds is a real scoring machine and new players to the BBL, Daniel Northern and Howard Crawford, are going well also.
“It’s really exciting to be back on Sky Sports and this being the first live game of the season adds even more excitement.”
Both sides go into the game on the back of narrow defeats on Friday night, with Lions losing 95-92 at home against Glasgow Rocks and Wolves suffering a heartbreaking 76-75 defeat at One Health Sharks Sheffield. Both coaches are looking for improved performances from their side on Tuesday,
“Against Rocks our defence really let us down in the final minutes of the game” admitted New. “We will have to play much better team defence for a full 40 minutes and close games out defensively to get wins this season.
“For Glasgow, [Mychal] Green and Danny Huffor did a good job of controlling tempo, while [Andrew] Wedemire played a nice floor game. Green was relentless to keep them close in the final minutes while [DeAundre] Cranston, [Gareth] Murray and [Jonny] Bunyan were effective.”
The Rocks were without Sterling Davis and EJ Harrison, and New couldn’t hide his disappointment as his side’s failure to take advantage: “I definitely see it as an opportunity missed but you have to give their guys credit, other players like Bunyan and Wedemire stepped up and were very effective. Their combined numbers and minutes tell a big story. We turned the ball over at crucial times and didn’t protect our rim to finish the game.”
James was equally disappointed to lose on a buzzer-beater in Sheffield: “We did not play at our best against the Sharks and especially failed to control the game in the second half. We lost a little composure and got frustrated with many calls that we felt went against us
“We need to do a better job staying focused and not letting things out of our control affect the way we play.
“Richie Gordon and Arnas Kazlauskas had good games for us. Obviously Nate [Reinking] had a very good game a hit the winning basket with one second to go on the game clock.”
BBL Championship season under way on Wednesday evening when they host Prestige Homes MK Lions.