Raiders seeking to make more history in BBL semi-finals
IF EVER the Plymouth Raiders wanted the opportunity of revenge over a London Lions side that beat them in the final of the BBL Trophy, then they have just that when the two teams meet again tonight in the first leg of the BBL Championship semi-finals.
That March defeat is still quite raw amongst the playing rosta of the Raiders. It is often said that sportsmen should never come off the field, court, pitch – whatever it may be with any regrets and having made sure they have left everything on the playing surface.
The truth is that Raiders did have regrets after that final, knowing the poor start that they made to that game cost them their chance of glory. They trailed by 18 points at the interval, only to rally after the break and close the gap before ultimately falling just short and going down to an 88-82 defeat. Now, they are determined to make sure that lightning does not strike twice.
“I guess you can call it revenge, but that defeat is still fresh in the memory, that’s for sure,” Raiders head coach Paul James said.
“I think it is important that we win the first game. I don’t want the lads thinking of going into the second game with a narrow defeat or anything like that because I think it is important we go out and we win the game.
“I want us to put pressure on them from the start. If we can put them on the back foot, then that will put the pressure on them and we will see how things turn out, but I do think the first game is going to be important.
“We can’t afford a slow start. We know what damage that did in the (BBL Trophy) final and we left ourselves with too much to do. We did give it a real go in the second half and actually had the chance to go in front, but the damage was done in the first half that day.
“We keep talking about the importance of making a good start, but it just doesn’t seem to happen for us. I have tried to change things by changing it up a bit and starting a different five, but it doesn’t always work how you want it to.”
James has certainly not had things easy this season with a pre-season injury to key man Andrew Lawrence a cruel way to kick off the campaign. The GB international has not featured for his new club at all this season, while worse was to follow when
Prince Ibeh returned to America and Denzil Ubiaro also left the club.
Even this past week, Raiders have lost Chris Porter Bunton to injury, which will rule him out of tonight’s game – and probably the second leg as well.
“It’s such a shame for him. I think he is our best defensive player and you want your best players to play in big games like this, but he hurt his shoulder in the first leg of the quarter-final and it’s still too sore for him to play,” James said.
“He can’t lift his arm above his shoulder at the moment and he is obviously very disappointed to miss out. He’s a young lad and all players want to play in the big games and this is certainly a big game.
“But he will be there cheering the lads on and shouting words of encouragement. They are a very close-knit bunch and want to do well together and while he may not play this week, Chris is still very much a big player for us.”
As for the Raiders, they stand on the verge of breaking more records in a campaign where records have tumbled. Their third place finish in the BBL Championship was the highest ever finish, they reached a final for only the sixth time in their history and their win against Worcester in the second leg was their 32nd in all competitions this season – setting a new club record.
Asked what it would mean to get the club to a play-off final for the first time in the club’s history, James said: “It would mean everything for me. Regardless of what happens, though,
I am so proud of what we have achieved with our highest ever league placing and registering more wins across the board (in all competitions) than ever before tin the club’s history, so those sort of statistics are something I am incredibly proud of.
“But we don’t want it to end there. I have every confidence in the players and I know what it means to them as well, so hopefully they can go out and do the business and tale the Raiders into the final where this club has never been before.
“This team have been through a lot this season. I spoke before about the adversity it has faced - losing Andrew Lawrence early on when we had built the team around him was a huge blow - and then of course we lost Denzel Ubiaro and Prince Ibeh.
“But I have full confidence in the guys. They have overcome such adversity this season and that shows the great character they have and it has only made them stronger.”