Chavis “struggling” since Travis left says Heat Coach

It’s been a difficult week of practice for the Surrey Heat following their two blow-out losses to the Manchester Giants and Leicester Riders over the weekend.

The Heat experienced back-to-back defeats for the first time this season and Coach Raftopoulos has seen his side struggling to come to terms with the pair of losses.

“It was hard to take the defeats because once you get into a habit of winning and putting out good results and then you get two results back-to-back, it hits you harder than a normal defeat will do,” said Coach Raftopoulos. “It was a really tough weekend.”

“We’ve looked at the stats and we know we were just outperformed. It’s not going to be easy against Worcester but it becomes a very, very big game.”

Raftopoulos has reviewed his side’s double-defeat and highlighted the need for better work inside after his team were outscored 104-52 in the two losses. But he will also be asking his team to dictate play on Friday, as he said: “I feel that controlling tempo will be key against them.”

The Heat will be hoping that sidelined pair, Chavis and Frank Holmes, will be available for the Wolves tie, having faced the Riders with a sub-par Frank Holmes due to illness and being without Chavis through injury.

Chavis Holmes suffered a groin strain in the 85-68 loss to the Manchester Giants and couldn’t play against the Riders, while Frank Holmes was hit by a surprise sickness bug minutes before the Heat went down 85-58 in Leicester.

One positive for the Heat over the weekend though, was the return of Martelle McLemore, returning to action following an early season ankle injury. McLemore averaged 12 points and 5.5 rebounds in just over 30 minutes play and although Coach Raftopoulos is glad McLemore has returned to the court, he is still frustrated by the loss of Travis Holmes and the impact it has had on twin brother, Chavis.

Holmes twins in years gone by

“It’s just unfortunate that it comes down to financial constraints and so forth, that we had to make the changes that we had to make,” said the Heat coach on losing Travis Holmes in early January, before moving on to discuss the visible impact it has had on Travis’ brother, Chavis. “We’ve had a talk, he’s picking himself up.

“He’s away from home. Not only did he have his brother over here for a little period of time but he also had his wife for a period of time but she’s obviously had to return to America for work. I can imagine it’s tough, I can see it in him.”

The Heat have restricted Chavis Holmes’ training this week and not allowed him to make any ‘explosive movements’. Chavis is due to be reassessed on Thursday regarding his status for Friday, while Frank Holmes is going to be a ‘ to train this week,although he has been restricted by Coach Raftopoulos and there hasn’t been any ‘explosive movements’. Chavis Holmes will be reassessed on Thursday ahead of Friday’s game against Worcester while Frank Holmes will be a ‘late, late’ game decision.

Surrey Heat travel to Worcester to face the Wolves on Friday 25th January at Worcester University. Tip-off is at 7:30pm.