Riders @ Giants: BBL Championship preview
Manchester Giants will be hoping to avoid their second four game losing streak of the season when they face the high-flying Leicester Riders at home on Friday.
After opening their season with back-to-back victories they have only managed one win in their last eight games – including five straight defeats away from home. In their last game against Newcastle Eagles they fell behind by double digits after just five minutes and were unable to recover as they lost to the North East for the second time this year. They will be looking to avoid another slow start when the Riders come to visit.
Leicester come into the game on the back of their first defeat of the season having lost to Surrey Heat at the weekend.
The visiting team have one of the stingiest defense in the league allowing just 71 points per game and will look to keep the Giants shooters in check as the home side average a shade under ten 3-pointers per contest.
The visitors will miss the presence of their forward John Fraley who has returned back home to the States for knee surgery which looks like it will bring his BBL debut season to a premature end. Fraley had enjoyed a splendid start to his British Basketball career, cementing his place as the league’s leading rebounder at 12.4 per game. He also currently leads the league in field goal percentage at 68% and was the Riders leading scorer at 17.4 points per game. The Riders will count on the rest of their players to pick up the scoring load and are sure to lean heavily on GB skipper Andrew Sullivan and Slovakian forward Pavol Losonsky as they look to put points on the board.
The Giants will hope that the energy from their crowd can give them a boost as they look to improve on their 3-2 home record following their close defeat to the Plymouth Raiders two weeks ago. Stefan Gill has stepped up his scoring recently for the home-side finishing with a season-high 23 points in their defeat to Newcastle for his third straight game with double figure points.
The Giants currently sit in eighth place in the league, level with Durham Wildcats and Glasgow Rocks on three wins apiece however they have played three games more than their Scottish counterparts. Hopefully the added motivation of the Sky Sports cameras (this game will be broadcast on Tuesday the 20th November) will be enough to get the Giants the victory their need to jump-start their season.
