Living for the weekend

Worcester Wolves have a weekend double this coming Saturday and Sunday with a Sunday being an unfamiliar game day for the Wolves. This Sunday’s opponents the Guildford Heat are one of the few teams the Wolves have matched up against on the Sabbath previously this season.

That time out it was a good day for the travelling Worcester fans as they ran out 98-93 winners in Surrey. It was the first game in which the now old look, new look Heat took to the hardwood and one of the few games we saw the unfortunate Mike Copeland put in an appearance this term.

Before they can get on the bus to Guildford though, the Wolves welcome the Cheshire Jets to campus on Saturday. It’s just over a month since Adam Brown left two points and his two front teeth back in Worcester as the Wolves saw off the Jets 97-87 in a good contest.

And while the Wolves looked comfortable against a Jets side with very little in reserve, recent games show that the Wolves will once again be asked to work hard for the two points on Saturday.

Andrew Thomson’s shooting master class put Cheshire to the sword last weekend and getting to the men lining up on the perimeter will be a concern for them again on Saturday. Freeman, Kaslauskas, Prezzie-Blue and Watts can all drain them from distance and the two American imports have had several devastating spells from the three point line in 2011/12. Get your men to the edge to guard them and BBL rookie Carlos Fernandez and one of the league’s best big men Richie Gordon will happily exploit the space that becomes vacant elsewhere.

Freeman’s award of the golden ball this week could see his appetite for destruction enhanced. Coach Lavery and Coach James will both be acutely aware of the effect an early barrage of successful 20 footers will have on the visitor’s morale.

The Jets will have to pull out a level of performance they have not shown on many occasions this season if they are to take the points away from Worcester. But they have shown that they are more than capable of holding their own, and before the Newcastle defeat had gone on their best run of the season with three wins in succession against tough opposition.

Sunday’s visit to Guildford has a second similarity to the last time out as once again the game will be shown two days later on Sky. You can watch the full match video of the most recent matchup below courtesy of the BBL.

Wolves are 4-0 against the Heat with Creon Raftopoulos’ men unable to find a way to beat Paul James’ outfit, but the latest instalment was a very close run thing.

The Heat and the Wolves have both put away the Raiders in recent games and Guildford will have gained confidence from their win against Plymouth last time out (only their second victory in their last five). However, having played four and lost four (against the Wolves) with three of those defeats handed to them on the Heat’s own court has to play on the minds of the home players at tip-off. Again, as with the game on Saturday, good execution from the off by the Wolves could determine this one in their favour.

With the Eagles hosting a wounded Plymouth Friday night, Worcester will know how much ground they could make on the leaders before Saturday.

See our Video Wall for more BBL footage.