Raiders inflict a first league loss on Eagles
IF you take your plaudits when you win you have to take the brickbats when you lose - particularly when you are dominated on both ends of the floor, writes JEFF KING.
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle’s massive offensive power, bar Saah Nimley, went missing and defensively the crucial rebounds fell to Plymouth as the Raiders claimed a shock 89-73 BBL victory over Fab Flournoy’s men.
It all added up to a tough, tough afternoon for an Eagles side which had gone nine straight league games victoriously.
It did not help having Zarko Jukic missing, a player they covered well in victory at Bristol the night before.
However, to lose another starter Kai Williams in the warm-up meant two changes to the usual opening five - and that was probably one too many.
Flournoy returned from injury to try and shore up the roster and bring his normal defensive intensity.
However, his spark, understandably, was not there after being out for nearly three weeks and, in truth, there were not enough players who stepped up when needed.
Newcastle had started well especially Nimley who was in a real rhythm and led 14-7.
They had chances to take that lead out further but missed several of them and that was part of the story as their normally reliable offensive finishing was not there for the remainder of the game.
The Eagles still took the first quarter 23-19 and scored the first two of the second before Plymouth got going and reeled off 16 unanswered points to take a lead they never relinquished.
Newcastle were struggling to put their game together under the pressure created by Kinu Rochford and Brandon Penn in particular.
Jonas Jarvelainen also looked smooth coming off the bench and, with debutant Jawad Adekoya chipping in with 18 points, they outteamed and out-balanced a normally fluid Eagles line-up.
The half-time score of 42-40 to the home side almost felt like a victory for Newcastle, who had underperformed.
The second-half comeback Flournoy asked for never materialised and Plymouth continued to pull away from a surprisingly disjointed Eagles side.
However, Flournoy and his coaching staff have been around a long time and this is not the first time they have travelled to Plymouth and come away disappointed.
It made for a long trip home with plenty of thinking to do – not about what had happened, more about what can still be achieved moving forward.