‘It was a tough loss, as tough as they come...’
RIDERS HEAD COACH LOOKS BACK AT THE BBL SEASON
LEICESTER Riders head coach Rob Paternostro has spoken about his team’s “tough loss” in the second game of their BBL Play-offs quarter-final against Sheffield Sharks, writes Charlie Walker.
Having won the first game in Sheffield, the Riders had a great opportunity in the second clash to reach the semi-final and keep alive their hopes of silverware this season.
Riders, just needing to win, had a chance to take the lead with seconds left at the Mattioli Arena in game two.
But a double-dribble call gave Sheffield’s Prentiss Nixon the chance to hit the winner with 1.6 seconds left.
A hotly contested no-call on a Miryne Thomas three sent the series back to Sheffield the following day where the Sharks completed the turnaround to win the series 2-1.
“We knew we had a great opportunity, holding the lead at halftime and then having a chance to take the lead with 25 seconds left,” said Paternostro, right.
“The double-dribble call was devastating for us, and then Nixon hit a great shot – credit to him.
“It was a tough loss. As tough as they come. “Especially when we had to be back on the road 13 hours later. “We had our chance to win the series in game two, and next thing we know we’re on the road to Sheffield.”
The Sharks won game three convincingly in the second half, after a first half in which missed free throws were the difference between the sides. The Riders were down nine at the half after missing nine foul shots in the opening two quarters.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Sesan Russell in the second play-offs game which Riders lost at home
It was a continuation from the day before, where Leicester shot 66 per cent from the line.
“In the first half the free throw line hurt us as it did in game two,” said Paternostro.
“If we made our free throws we’d have been in it, but we couldn’t handle Sheffield in the second half.
“Give them credit. Their home court advantage with the way their crowd was was too tough for us to overcome.”
Riders were without captain Kimbal Mackenzie for their playoffs run.
“Not having Kimbal for the play-offs was devastating for our chances,” said Paternostro.
“He was our leader, and the guy with the ball in his hands in the biggest moments of our season. “It was a huge, huge loss, but I thought other guys in game one and two stepped up to give us an opportunity to win the series.”
Paternostro also paid tribute to Riders supporters, adding: “The fans were top notch – as good as I can remember in any play-off series.”
Riders’ season saw ups and downs following a large turnaround in players in the off-season.
Paternostro said: “We lost so much from the year before, where we were 25-11 in the League.
“We lost a lot of experienced players, who we knew would move on after some time.
“We missed them, but we put together a roster that was 4-1 to start the year.”
After their fine start, the Riders fell to 7-10 having lost to the London Lions twice, and Cheshire Phoenix three times over a difficult run of fixtures.
Leicester made changes to their roster, bringing in high volume scorer Teddy Allen and energetic big man Duke Shelton to the team ahead of the BBL Trophy in January.
“When Teddy and Duke arrived, they provided a boost and we started to play some good basketball around the holidays,” said Paternostro.
“We put ourselves in real contention for the Trophy, doing a great job to qualify through a challenging group.”
Following the Trophy, the Riders faced six double-header weekends, but their injury crisis took its toll on the team.
“We dealt with injuries at a crucial part of the season with a lot of double-header weekends,” said Paternostro.
“Our record on those Sundays wasn’t the best and we dropped some games.
“This league is very challenging with its schedule, and it’s about who can survive the grind of February, March and April.”