BBL Team of the Week – Week 25
There’s a certain BBL Trophy Final MVP this week and a couple of players who had such a good weekend, they met the criteria twice over.
BJ Holmes (One Health Sharks Sheffield)
Yes, it’s the most apt starting point for our fabulous five as the MVP and game winner of the 2013 BBL Trophy Final takes his place in our line-up. Holmes held his nerve in front of 5,000 fans to sink the decisive free-throws which put One Health Sharks Sheffield on top of the podium and ended any prospect of a Riders clean sweep. In addition to showing his ice cool composure in crunch time, Holmes also had 25 points, mainly via some devastating perimeter shooting. He made five triples from just seven attempts and also added seven rebounds and three assists on a memorable afternoon at the Emirates Arena.
Kai Williams (Worcester Wolves)
It’s so often the case that players return to haunt their former clubs and this was most definitely the case for Williams who stung Cheshire Phoenix with a game-winning display for Worcester Wolves who rolled to an impressive eighth BBL Championship victory in a row. The visitors racked up a huge 121 points, of which 29 were expertly crafted by the shooting ace. He was a real thorn in the side of his ex-employers and a danger from all over the floor as Phoenix struggled to shackle him. Williams didn’t just amass an excellent points contribution, he also claimed seven rebounds, dished up four assists, grabbed a steal and even come up with a rare blocked shot to secure his debut BBL Team of the Week berth.
Travis Holmes (Surrey Heat)
It was an outstanding weekend for the small forward both individually and for his team. Holmes was so good that he produced two performances good enough to get into our starting five. Firstly, he was the main man in the terrific win on Tyneside against Newcastle Eagles, with 19 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals, but then went even better 48 hours later against Mersey Tigers. He finished with 26 points from an efficient 8 of 11 floor shooting at the hoop, knocked down a couple of triples and continued with his usually impressive all round game, by adding six rebounds, five assists four steals and two blocks.
Stan Ocitti (Worcester Wolves)
As was the case with Travis Holmes, the Wolves forward conjured up two wonderful displays over the weekend, both worthy of inclusion in our starting five. Having been the main architect of the win last Friday against London Lions, he followed this up with another exceptional effort 24 hours later to take down Cheshire Phoenix. In fact, Ocitti came up with the best performance of the entire weekend in the BBL as he showed his shooting range with a stunning six triples from eight attempts. His 27 point haul was complimented by five assists and he completed a double-double by adding 10 rebounds for good measure.
Sam Cricelli (Surrey Heat)
The forward could barely miss during a real purple patch of shooting in last Sunday’s comfortable home success against Mersey Tigers. It’s little surprise he gets into our starting five for the third time this season, after making a terrific seven of eight from the floor on a great shooting night. Despite playing limited minutes as Heat head coach Creon Raftopoulos rotated his bench, Cricelli still managed to find a noteworthy seven rebounds, five assists and three steals to help his side move back into the top four of the BBL Championship standing.
Off The Bench – Andrew Keister (Durham Wildcats), Arturas Masiulis (Worcester Wolves), Ralph Bucci (Durham Wildcats), Gabe Haskins (Cheshire Phoenix), Rod Brown (London Lions), Charles Smith (Newcastle Eagles), Kareem Maddox (Newcastle Eagles)
