Big games keep coming for Riders

As the final buzzer echoed around the small, intimate surroundings of the John Sandford Sports Centre on Wednesday evening, the collective cheer and applause that shortly followed was as deafening as it was significant.

Leicester Riders’ 80-69 win over second-placed Newcastle Eagles was, undeniably, huge. The victory opened Riders’ lead at the top of the BBL Championship to eight points, whilst the fact that Leicester had won the season’s series over Fab Flournoy’s side meant that, even in the case of a tie come the end of the regular season, it would be the Riders who would be crowned with their first-ever league title.

By even the most cynical of fans’ standards, it would take an incredible turn of events in the remaining seven games of the BBL season for Leicester Riders not to win the Championship; however, Riders head coach Rob Paternostro insists that he and his players are focused solely on Saturday’s home game against Glasgow Rocks – and won’t be celebrating until the title is 100% theirs.

“We’ve still got a lot of basketball left to play and everyone in the room understands that,” Paternostro explains.

“Ever since we’ve been given this schedule, we’ve talked about just focusing on the next game. Since last Wednesday (against Sheffield Sharks), when this run began, we’ve seemed to have had this nice rhythm to our game. Right now, we just want to continue that. We’re sitting here with seven games still left to go and we understand that we have a lot of basketball left ahead of us.”

Glasgow Rocks arrive in the East Midlands on Saturday evening boasting an impressive 18-9 record in the league, with the team heading into the game off the back of an emphatic win over Manchester Giants, the side that Leicester Riders face the following day at Wright Robinson College.

“Ever since we played Surrey last Saturday, we’ve played the teams that have been in third, as they were third at the time,” says Paternostro, taking a brief pause to laugh at the coincidence.

“Then we played Plymouth who went into third, before playing Newcastle on Wednesday who were second.

“On Saturday, we play against another team that are now in third place in Glasgow, so we’ve been playing some really tough teams. Glasgow is another really tough team. I always felt that, when the season got played out a little bit, they would rise up the standings. They are deep and they are balanced and I think that Sterling (Davis, player/coach) has done a really good job coaching them this year; however, he has also played really well too. They’re a team that are playing very well.”

Whilst it may be played down, it’s another huge weekend for Leicester Riders. By Rob Paternostro’s own admission, there is a lot of basketball left to play.

However, should Riders repeat last weekend’s feat and achieve back-to-back wins against the Rocks and Giants – and should Newcastle Eagles falter at Durham Wildcats or Mersey Tigers (stranger things have happened), the title will go to Leicester for the first time since the club was established in 1967 – a franchise highlight for the oldest professional team in the country.

Huge occasions are no longer an issue for Leicester, though. Two finals and some closely-fought two-legged semi-finals are just some of the scenarios that the Riders have encountered over the past six months.

“Early on, the Cup competition meant that we had to play in big games and, from there, the team moved on to the Trophy and we had those important games, so when you play in a lot of them, you just get used to them,” Paternostro adds.

“What is nice about this team is that, whatever team we play and whatever game we play, it’s always a big game. They’ve shown no signs of changing from game to game. The process for us has always been the season and the full 40 minutes – and we talk about that all the time. We just keep playing until the whistle blows and the season ends – then we’ll see where we are. We don’t get caught up too much in which particular game is more important. With the amount of competitors we have and the number of games left to play, we’re taking it one game at a time.”