Giants Aliu feeling the frustration during seven game losing streak
Two wins in their opening two games gave the Manchester Giants a perfect start to life back in the BBL. But one win out of their next 12, has left the Giants second from bottom on just six points and sidelined forward, David Aliu, feeling discouraged about his sides current plight.
“We can’t string together a solid 40 minutes. We have mental lapses of three minutes and that can be the difference and 10 points and we end up losing the game,” said Aliu in his assessment of his new club.
“It’s frustrating because it’s not nice to sit there and watch a game that you know you could have an impact on whether you win or lose. It’s frustrating for me but it’s frustrating for everybody else because we’ll have a few weeks of good practice as a team, everyone’s together and we look forward to playing the next game and then one person goes down or another person goes down and it’s a bit of a setback.”
Former Mersey Tiger, Aliu, has been unable to help his team since sustaining an ankle injury against Cheshire in mid-November but is hopeful of a return to action this Friday when the Giants host the Durham Wildcats.
“I’m going to start practising again on Monday and I’ll be able to play again on Friday.
“It’s a bit of a bad sprain, nothing too much. I’ve been out two weeks now and on Monday it’ll be coming up to three weeks. I’ll be fine on Monday I think.”
Giants Head Coach, Jeff Jones, openly stated after the 83-71 Surrey Heat defeat on Saturday that he will be looking to recruit former Manchester Magic forward, Nick George, to give his side some experience and an added spark following Georges release from Swiss side, Lugano Tigers, due to injury.
Aliu believes that 30 year old George could be just the piece to help the Giants reach their season goal of the play-offs
“With this being the first year back in the league, it’s a building process (and) we’re taking gradual steps. The plan hasn’t changed: compete night in and night out and compete for a play-off place.
“Nick (George) will bring a lot of experience (and) athleticism. Nick’s a very aggressive player and an athletic player, so he’ll bring us a completely different dynamic to what we have now. Now, we have a lot of great three point shooters and a few inside players. Nick will breach the difference between inside and out hopefully.”
The Manchester Giants have a chance to get their season back on track when they face the Durham Wildcats at the Wright Robinson College on Friday 7th December.
