Injury hit Heat beat injury hit Giants 83-71

Surrey Heat vs Manchester Giants
BBL Championship
Saturday 1st December

For all the game statistics, click here

Starting 5’s:

Heat: Margai, F.Holmes, C.Holmes, T.Holmes, S.Cricelli
Giants: Bailey, Watts, Bernard, J.Jones, Eaves

Top scorers:

Heat: Cricelli/C.Holmes (19)

Giants: Watts (20)

Top rebounders:

Heat: F.Holmes (10)

Giants: Eaves (8)

The Surrey Heat faced the Manchester Giants at Surrey Sports Park on Saturday night for the first time in BBL history. And for the visitors, it was a daunting task having lost 10 of their previous 11 games in all competitions and facing a Heat side who were sitting third in the league at the start of the night.

As the first quarter came to a close, the Giants found themselves in danger of notching their seventh straight defeat, as they found themselves trailing 23-12 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 2/9 shooting display from three.

An improved performance by the visitors in the second period saw Coach Jones’ side cut into the Heat’s lead and as James Jones’ 30ft buzzer-beating three landed, the Giants headed into the half only down four, at 40-36.

Coach Raftopoulos was not happy with his side heading into the break having watched his side squander a 13 point second quarter lead through sloppy play. The Giants’ struggles from deep prevented them from leading though as they shot a sub-par 22% in the game (4/18).

The Manchester Giants picked up in the second half where they finished off in the first and when Stefan Gill hit a corner three, the Giants had their first lead of the game since the opening minute as they led 46-45. But four consecutive turnovers by the Giants and an 8-1 run by the home side saw the Heat back in front, finishing the quarter up 64-54.

The Giants entered the final period without centre, Mike Bernard, who exited the game late in the third when he appeared to roll his ankle having landed on Eaves’ foot from a rebound.

With Eaves shifting over to centre and the Giants line-up getting smaller, they were helpless to stop the Heat inside, with the home team eventually sewing up their ninth win of the season in the closing minutes. The 83-71 victory moves the Heat level with the Newcastle Eagles on 18 points and drops the Manchester Giants to 3-10.

Post-game comments:

Surrey Heat Coach, Creon Raftopoulos, on…

…finding a way to win against a dangerous Manchester side:

“I think that ‘gutting it out’ is the right term. They’ve got some great shooters, that’s the beauty of the three point shot – you only need to make two in response to the three (baskets) we make each time.

“I think, sometimes, we are our own worst enemy because we relax and take our foot off the gas. You can’t do that in this league. You’ve got to play for 40 minutes.”

…missing players:

“JJ (Julius Joseph) was on paternity leave – he’s had a baby boy – and he’s a calming influence. He definitely would have helped us in a game like this. He also helps us run a different style of play.

“Martelle is ahead of schedule in terms of he is now walking and taking light shots. He had a light shoot around before practice. We’ll look at maybe the New Years Day game or the week after (that’ll he’ll return) but what we don’t want to do is rush him back.

“Travis will stick around unless someone picks him up from Europe.”

Manchester Giants Head Coach Jeff Jones on…

…the frustration of losing a game that the Giants led in the third quarter:

“It’s down to back-to-back and not having enough bodies and missing three guys that are hurt. It’s tough for us. We’re playing with pretty much a Manchester-based team, they’re all British. It’s frustrating that they haven’t gotten a win in a while so they’re struggling a little bit with it.

“At the end of the day, we got in the league, we want to be competitive, we want to win now and we’re not winning. They’re putting more pressure on themselves than they need to. It’s affecting them a little bit.

“They’ve all played a little bit in the BBL and some of them played for a while but they’ve never been go-to guys, so it’s difficult for them to find that guy to step up.

“We need a closer and hopefully we can find one in the next couple of weeks.”

…the mounting injury list:

“It’s if you lose guys that have been playing in the league and your bench isn’t made up of guys that have played in the league, it’s very difficult. We’re thin on the ground. We can’t bring Americans in.”

Game MVP:

Surrey Heat forward, Samuel Cricelli.

Next up:

Surrey Heat at Durham Wildcats, BBL Championship, Friday 9th December, Newton Aycliffe LC, 4:00pm
Manchester Giants vs Durham Wildcats, BBL Championship, Friday 7th December, Wright Robinson College, 7:30pm