Riders v Eagles BBL Cup preview
Saturday sees a battle between two sides who have been in incredible form so far this season, as the Newcastle Eagles travel to the Leicester Riders and both are desperate to grab a first leg BBL Cup win.
In what will be the first meeting of the clubs this campaign, there is much to look forward to with both the Riders and Eagles displaying sufficient fire power to ensure those in attendance will not be left disappointed. But fire power alone is not the reason for the Riders surprise start to the season, so says a man who knows all about winning games and trophies, Newcastle Eagles Head Coach Fab Flournoy:
“You got to give Rob Paternostro credit. Over the last three to four years the Riders have been arguably a top six team. They’ve been there and thereabouts.
“Ever since Rob has come on the scene he’s getting the best out of his guys, did his research, his homework, been in the league for however many years, he’s synonymous with the city. So you know, it was just a maturation period. Obviously, he’s always recruited well, he’s always had good teams.”
Flournoy’s praise continues as he talks about Paternostro’s side now having an ‘identity, a style of play which they’re going to play’ as well as the team ‘starting to have confidence’, something that has been created by winning 9 of their last 10 fixtures which includes an eight game winning streak and five wins on the road.
With the Riders near unbeatable form and the knowledge that they possess two of the top seven scorers in the league, there wouldn’t normally be a reason to think that their winning streak would be in danger. But their opponents on Saturday are a difficult side to beat, just look at the numbers:
Tale of the tape:
Record:
Eagles: W9 L1 – Current streak W5 – Current home record 6-0 – Current road record 3-1
Eagles: 84.3PPG – FG% 45 – 3PFG% 32 – FT% 74
Opponents when facing the Eagles: 73.2PPG -FG% 47.2 – 3PFG% – 25.9 – FT% 62
Those figures speak for themselves. As do the Riders:
Riders: W9 L1 – Current streak W8 – Current home record 4-0 – Current road record 5-1
Riders: 91.8PPG – FG% 54 – 3PFG% 38 – FT% 60
Opponents when facing the Riders: 75PPG – FG% 42.3 – 3PFG% 25.2 – FT% 65.9
So in summary, there’s very little between the two sides. The only advantage the Riders may find they have is in having the Eagles play at home on Friday against the Raiders. But as Riders coach Rob Paternostro pointed out, it is hardly a first for Flournoy’s team.
“This is a team that has done it many times. If it was a rookie team, if it was a team with a lot of newcomers who weren’t used to BBL basketball then you can say that maybe that would be a factor. But they have a bunch of guys who have played many important back to back over the years so I don’t think that’s going to be a factor.”
The phrase most commonly used when discussing match-ups between two top sides is “Unstoppable force meets the immovable object” but in this instance, both sides appear unstoppable and neither is going to be easy to move, at least not in a single game.
So I guess it’s a good job there is a second leg.
All statistics included in the article were courtesy of www.brithoops.com
