Eagles must bounce back after poor run
IT was another disappointing night at the office for the Newcastle Eagles on Friday down at Sheffield.
It was the fourth defeat in the last five games for an Eagles side that needs to bounce back as quickly as possible.
That run includes going out of The BBL Cup at the Semi-final stage and also took Newcastle’s BBL Championship record to seven wins and five losses meaning they have lost ground on some of their main rivals for the BBL Title.
One of the bright spots in this troubling run has been the form and scoring of rookie Shooting Guard Kyle Williams, who has been netting double figures recently in most games in what is his first season as a professional. Williams gave his thoughts after Friday’s loss.
“It’s hard to know what it is we’re doing wrong. We practice hard and prepare well and come out ready to play but it’s just not happening for us at the moment. We’re finding it hard to get the ball inside and attack and we’re getting out rebounded a lot at the moment.”
“I just feel that the guards have to help out more and help the bigs out more. We need to focus as a team and look to get better. We need to come together and play for each other and that starts in practice and in watching film to help us see where we need to improve.”
Togetherness and improve do seem to be the keys to this Eagles side. There’s no doubting they are a talented bunch of individual players with great potential and promise but there’s something not quite clicking at the moment.
It did not help their cause on Friday being without high-scoring American guard Jeremy Smith, who was injured last weekend and didn’t recover in time to take his place in the line-up, a fact mentioned by Williams.
“Jeremy is a big part of out offence and you’ll always miss a player like that. He’s a great scoring option for us and we missed him on Friday. But, that will happen now and then and you have to get past it and everyone else has to come together.”
“We just need to get right back in to it next week in practice and prepare for the games ahead. We always try to be at our best and be prepared but you never know how it’s going to go until you get out there.”
The Eagles have two more games this calendar year either side of Christmas. First up is the last ever game at home at Sport Central against City of Edinburgh Kings in The BBL Trophy next Saturday,
We practice hard and prepare well and come out ready to play but it’s just not happening for us at the moment Kyle Williams
22nd December at 7pm, and very much a game Newcastle expect to win.
They then head down to Leicester on Friday 28th December for yet another important BBL Championship fixture against the Riders, which is going to be massive for both sides.
“We are expected to win our next game but we always go in to every game expecting to win. That has to be our mentality. We don’t know much about Edinburgh as they’re not in The BBL but it’s a big game for them.”
“Leicester, we know are tough and always have a good team.
“We’ve played them twice so far and we’re 1 – 1 against them but they own the league game so we have to go there hoping to even the league series against them.”