The Newcastle Eagles head North this afternoon looking to bounce back from Friday night’s disappointing 99 – 76 home defeat at the hands of Sheffield Sharks. Their task is a tough one as standing in front of them are a red-hot Glasgow Rocks side.
Whilst Newcastle were heading for a massive home defeat, The Rocks won their third game on the road in a row with an impressive 71 – 70 win at BBL Play-Off Champions Leicester Riders. Rocks have been boosted by the arrival of two new American players which has turned their form around.
Eagles new-boy C.J. Gettys was one of the few bright spots in the Tynesider’s loss with 22 points and 13 rebounds and he will need to find more support from his team-mates if his side are to get back to winning ways.
Head Coach Ian MacLeod reflected on a bad night at the office immediately after Friday’s game and knows his side have to put their woes behind them as they go intoGlasgow this evening.
“I don’t think the scoreboard was even a true reflection because the scoreboard doesn’t tell the reason. Twenty-three points makes it look as if we may have been in it at some point but I don’t think we ever were.”
“We were ill-disciplined and we let external factors get to us which we cannot do. We can’t have excuses. We need to lock in on every possession and the scoreboard shouldn’t affect what we do. Things didn’t go our way but we have to be better.”
MacLeod was probably referring to the fact that during an error-strewn first half court leader Rahmon Fletcher spent too much of his time on the bench. He had three fouls, one a technical and fellow American Mike Morsell was ejected from the game after picking up two technical offences.
That was a big part of the reason why his side struggled but in truth Sheffield’s better ball movement, team-play, determination and organisation gave them a result they richly deserved.
“They are an organised team. That’s the big thing about Sheffield. I think our bad defence in the first quarter was down to our poor spacing offensively. We didn’t transition out of our offence well. Therefore, the first six seconds of our defence we couldn’t be aggressive.”
“We scored fifteen points in the first quarter and they weren’t off great looks. I just didn’t think we were locked in right from the start and they were so that’s something we’ve got to reflect upon.”
Now it’s Glasgow Rocks who have started the BBL Championship in fine form including that win at Leicester on Friday. Traditionally this is always a tough game for the Eagles and given the team’s contrasting fortunes it’s going to be no different this afternoon.
“Rocks are what they are. They’re like a new team with a couple of new guys in. Irrespective of their results I don’t think what the other team is doing will be the decidingfactor. We’ve got to get ourselves right now.”
“It’s about a little bit of mirror-time and what we need to do to get better. It feels as if it’s going to be Eagles v Eagles on Sunday and not Eagles v Rocks. It’s about what we can do and what we should be doing. If we get that right then we start worrying about what opponents are doing.”
A tough task on hand for MacLeod and his men then at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow tips-off at 17:00pm this afternoon and can be seen live on the BBL YouTube Channel.
