BBL Preview: Wolves at Lions – 10 September 2013
The 3-1 London Lions welcome the undefeated 2-0 Worcester Wolves to tbe Copper Box Arena Thursday night for the second live broadcast from BBL.tv.
Coming off the back of what looks like an even more impressive win against Plymouth after the Raiders victory against Newcastle, the Lions were undone in the North East last time out. Not in Newcastle however, as it was the Durham Wildcats franchise this time showing their hand for the 2013/14 campaign. Canadian Mike Allison with a big night (22 points, 11 boards, 73% from the field and 6 from 6 at the line) at Newton Aycliffe was ably assisted by three other Wildcat players with double figures in the points column at the final buzzer. Rod Brown and Adrien Sturt stood up to be counted for London but they couldn’t do enough down the stretch after reducing the defecit from 17 to three at one point in the fourth. A late Bucci trey restored the daylight and the Wildcats did the right things in possession to see the game out.
What that game means in the context of the season is too early to tell, as there was a feeling even before that game, that this new look Durham side can make the top eight.
London have yet to field any of their imports due to red tape, but have added British power forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning to their ranks ahead of the visit of Wolves. With Vince Macaulay already able to call on several talented bigs, there promises to be some fascinating matchups when the Wolves bring Creekmore, Taylor, Owumi and co. to East London.
Lions return home to the scene of their opening weekend win over Manchester and it will be their small sample size home record or a simialrly short unbeaten start for the visitors that goes on the night.
With the Wolves coming off a crucial early season victory against the Leicester Riders, they will see the coming weekend as presenting them with two equally important games. Friday see’s Cheshire enter the University of Worcester Arena to take on the currently undefeated Worcester side, but before that, they make this journey to London for a battle against the Lions.
The Wolves have yet to have faced back to back games, with the season still in its infancy. Creekmore and Taylor, although only two games in, have quickly established themselves as cruical to Worcester’s success this campaign, producing high individual stats at both ends of the court. Whether they can continue that form until the final buzzer on Friday remains to be answered.
With the roster that Worcester have, back to back contests should not be an issue, but neither team will be an easy matchup for Wolves.