One Health Sheffield Sharks v Leicester Riders preview
BBL Championship – Friday 18 November 2011
EIS Sheffield (19:30)
Teams with contrasting current form meet at the EIS on Friday evening as One Health Sharks Sheffield host Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders in the BBL Championship.
Sharks have lost their last four games and are in the unaccustomed position of eighth in the BBL Championship table, while Riders have won six on the bounce and are joint third in the table as well as having sealed a place in the BBL Cup semi-final.
Home court advantage was key in the three match-ups between the sides last season, with Sharks winning the series 2-1, and they hold a commanding 62-18 lead in the 80 games that the teams have played since Sharks joined the BBL in 1994.
Great Britain under-20 coach and former Essex Pirates play-caller Tim Lewis joined the Sharks as director of basketball in September, and despite their recent run of form, he’s enjoying his new role with the Yorkshire club:
“It’s going well, it was a pretty smooth transition considering a joined pretty late in the day. I have a consultancy role which involves helping Atiba [Lyons] with the Sharks, working with the University and restructuring the Junior Sharks. The aim is for a performance pathway which provides a link between junior, university and senior basketball in Sheffield.
“It’s a progressive year for Sharks, there’s a different make-up to the team, and we’re finding common ground. We didn’t perform well in Glasgow at the weekend, both individually and as a team, and you can’t expect to go on the road and win games if you play like that.”
Lewis expects another difficult game when the Sharks face Riders: “Rob has done a good job of putting a group of players together with experience as well as some new faces. They’ve made an impact and it’ll be though. They’ll be there or thereabouts this year, but all games are a challenge and we need to make sure we’re at our best on Friday.
“Drew [Sullivan] is always going to be solid for them, [Cameron] Rundles has done a really good job while Bradd Wierzbicki returns and brings an added dimension. They are deep and strong, and will be tough for us.”
Despite his side’s good run of form, Riders’ coach Rob Paternostro is expecting a tough game at the EIS: “Going to Sheffield is always challenging, they usually shoot the ball very well up there and have many players that can hurt you from many places on the floor.”
Paternostro has a food idea of what to expect in Sheffield: “Nate Reinking is a guy that has been making big plays for a long time, and on the interior they have good size and skill in [Justin] Dobbins, Olu [Babalola], and Mike Tuck.”
Riders’ Barry Lamble going into the weekend’s games needing seven more rebounds to hit the 500 mark in BBL Championship games, and he is now only two blocks away from 100.
Paternostro is delighted with how his team are shaping up in the early weeks of the season: “I think defence is the key for us, ever since Brett Royster and Drew Sullivan have come on board, our D has been solid. We all know we have a long way to go to get to playing the defence we want to play, but we feel like we have a lot of potential at that end of the floor.
“Advancing further in the cup is great for all of us at the Riders. Our players and fans get a chance to be a part of a couple of exciting games against the Eagles. Again Sunday our away fan support was tremendous, it means a lot to both our players and staff to have that many people travel to watch us play.”
