BBL players of the week – week 12
We publish our players of the week from our writers who got to live games over the last seven days.
Dave Bell – Attended Sheffield Sharks v MK Lions
Jimmy Langhurst – 11 triples from 15 attempts for the weekend, 100% from the charity stripe (10/10). Sharks fans are hoping the visa situation gets sorted over the Christmas break!
OleDJ – Attended Guildford Heat v Newcastle Eagles
Charles Smith – The man they call The Prince put in a brace of royal performances this weekend. Worcester Wolves inflicted the first BBL Championship defeat on Newcastle Eagles on Friday despite a mammoth performance from Charles Smith. 37 points shooting 62% from the field including 7/11 beyond the arc plus 7 rebounds and 3 steals were not the figures of a man who deserved to be on the losing side.
Smith was also the pivotal figure in his side’s 83-73 win in Surrey against Guildford Heat on Sunday. He led both teams in a feisty battle with a game high 24 points supplemented with 6 boards although the reliability of theses statistics may be open to question following the many scoreboard malfunctions during the game! A special mention must go Joe Chapman who scored 23 points in a gritty display at Heat despite dislocating his shoulder during Friday’s Wolves game.
Martelle McLemore – On a day where there was no real standout player for the Heat, McLemore edged the home side’s player of the game with 19 points and 6 rebounds. The swingman was in the thick of the action throughout and his spirited performance mirrored his gutsy team’s determination to climb the BBL table. Martelle was called for 4 fouls in a very physical game so it was a relief that Plymouth’s Foxy wasn’t around as the big guy was in no mood to be de-bagged on Sunday!
Damian Cooper – Attended Worcester Wolves v Glasgow Rocks
Can’t look any further than the Wolves in a game in which they dominated but a first shout for player of the week is for Tommy Freeman‘s performance the night before in Newcastle. Four threes in succession and a fourth quarter haul that gave him his highest ever career points total at 33 and handed Newcastle their first league defeat of the season. Freeman again showed there is so much more to his game as he was busy on the boards in both the weekend’s matchups. He is currently averaging 3.69 defensive rebounds per game.
Richie Gordon – The centre was a handful for the Rocks defence and the attributes he brings to Wolves’ game are a key part in them being able to stretch defences and hurt them from all over the court. Gordon’s dominance and distribution under his own basket made a big contribution to Worcester recording back to back wins against two of the top three sides in the Championship.
