Sharks at Giants – BBL Championship Preview
Friday 28 September 2012
Manchester Giants v One Health Sharks Sheffield
Juma Ngqobongwana
After a nail-biting victory last week the Manchester Giants will look for their second win of the season as they face-off against the Sheffield Sharks at home this Friday.
Giants coach Jeff Jones will be glad that his team started the season off in a positive manner but will hope that they can avoid the late game lapses which led to some late turnovers then nearly gifted the game to the London Lions after they had done so well to overturn a deficit heading into the 4th. After committing 24 turnovers to just 16 assists; ball retention will be high on the team’s list of priorities especially as nine of those turnovers came in the 4th quarter. The team will also aim to avoid more early foul trouble that saw elite point guards Stefan Gill and Devan Bailey forced to the bench in the second quarter. The game against the Lions saw the visitors wing players get to the rim far too easily and sneak in for several offensive rebounds that led to easy layups. Protecting the paint and keeping Sharks big men Mick Tuck and Olu Babalola at bay is a must if the Giants are to extend their winning streak to two games. It should be another exciting game with plenty of talent on display and I’m sure the fans are in for a treat.
Dave Bell
A traditional rivalry restored, hopefully plenty of Sharks fans will make the short journey over to Gorton to re-live those heady days. A tough opening for the Sharks last week; a shortened rotation, uncompromising opposition and key mistakes, which to be fair both sides blamed on the lack of a pre-season. I personally saw enough to believe the Sharks will improve. Gage Daye was outstanding all over the court. The debut of his backcourt partner Micah Williams, unable to play last week awaiting clearance from the Japanese authorities, would undoubtedly alleviate the pressure he felt to be Sheffield’s number one creative outlet. Hopefully, Sharks’ experienced trio of Andrew Bridge, Mike Tuck and Olu Babalola will have blown away the cobwebs, have to play fewer minutes and provide the old heads to guide the side to a vital first win. One bright point in a pretty dismal defeat was the form of youngsters Colin Sing and George Brownell, who certainly didn’t look overawed with the occasion. Sing produced one outstanding drive to the basket, almost claiming play of the day with Brownell shooting an early three with great confidence. Atiba Lyons is sure to be working extremely hard behind the scenes to bolster the Sharks roster and iron out any faults in the playbook and will need to be on top of his coaching game against some canny Giants playing with pride for their local area. Definitely more to come from the Sharks, hopefully the lessons of the previous week will have been learnt.