Riders v Lions

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Riders v Lions; Match Report
Topic Started: Oct 17 2009, 11:59 PM (677 Views)
NickM	Oct 17 2009, 11:59 PM Post #1
Starter Posts: 784 Group: Member Member #243 Joined: July 20, 2006	Scorelines aren't always accurate reflections of a game, but if anything this 89 - 67 win flattered the Riders. Lax in the extreme on defence in the first half and struggling offensively throughout, Rob knows that performances like this are no good. Repeatedly leaving Lions shooters wide open on the arc, the Riders managed one 3 in the first half and another in the second. Robert Youngblood had managed more than that in the first quarter! Clearly Riders missed Tack Minor, but as one experienced observer commented to me at half-time (having seen Riders concede 51 points in 20 minutes play) "It shows that we're not as organised on defence as we thought - other teams have simply been too busy dealing with Tack! Of course, scoring free-throws does help. The Riders managed 11 from 23 from the line - not exactly a professional performance. Taking it player, by player:- Jason Johnson - 23 pts, 3/6 FT's. Despite being top scorer and bagging numerous rebounds, I thought he flattered to deceive. Too often he shot from too far out and once it became clear Lions weren't going to be caught he got sloppy around the basket. With more care he could have had 30 points easily. Don't get me wrong; he's a class player, but could do more. LaTaryl Williams - 12 pts, 0/4 FT's. Despite his free throws was a regular threat around the hoop and defended strongly too. Picked up an unfortunate 4th foul (looked like a veteran flop to me, Yorick!) early in the final quarter and did not re-appear after that. The free-throw stat's are not exactly a captain's example... Shaun Durant - 1 pt 1/2 FT's. A starter that manages no field goals despite plenty of minutes. It may not be the main focus of his game, but on a night when the starting PG was banned, surely everyone needed to step up. Disappointing really. Bradd Wierzbicki - 4 pts 2/4 FT's. Oh dear! Just one field goal; goodness knows how many misses from outside the arc and around the hoop. With Tack banned, Bradd needed to be the man, but was found sadly wanting. He looked short on confidence, and was given far too many minutes in my opinion. It was painful to watch at times.. Isaac Westbrook - 8 pts 1/1 FT, 1x3. Started and played at PG for most (or was it all?) of the game. Scored all his points in the second half and despite not letting anyone down, didn't do anything to dispel my previous assessment of him as a useful back-up, but not starting quality in the BBL. Adam Williams - 11 pts 2/3 FT's, 1x3. Came off the bench and most of the Riders faithful around me couldn't understand how few minutes he was given; particularly compared with Bradd. His only score of the first half was the Riders' only 3 and after spending all of the third on the bench he scored 8 in the final quarter when given a proper run out. At least two of his twos were drives to the basket when it seemed impossible to score - all that trouble at the Panthers prepared Adam for nights like this. Tony Windless - 7 pts, 1/1 FT. Solid performance, but unable to turn the tide of helplessness around him. Play of the game was an attempted three that completely missed the hoop, but came back off the backboard to give JJ an offensive board and 2 points! Barry Lamble - 0 pts. Only played in the second half, and managed to demonstrate characteristic carelessness around the basket. Seemed to have been watching some Danny Craven videos on not using your size to good effect! Isaac Westbrook - 1 pt 1/2 FT's. Apart from his brother being in the team, what is he doing here? Showed plenty of energy, but not much else. That was it really. The Lions looked useful - some good new signings around the veterans and newboy EJ Harrison was my game MVP. He just got on and played the game to finish with around 20 points without anyone really noticing him. Vince ran the bench in the final quarter, otherwise it would have been a 30 point game. The biggest shock of the night was the trip to the gents where it appears that somebody has invested in some new loos and sinks - most disconcerting!



AP88	Oct 18 2009, 03:55 AM Post #2
Rookie Posts: 64 Group: Member Member #8,631 Joined: May 2, 2008	Without a doubt the worst we have ever played under Rob. The worst part about it was that Lions weren't THAT good. It was just that Riders were THAT bad. The consolation is that it is impossible to play as bad defence as we played tonight again and that Bradd will never shoot as poorly as he did again. The fact that Tack missed the game had nothing to do with the result. I counted 10 missed lay up/put backs and 9 missed wide open 3's. You can't miss that many shots and play dreadful defence as the Riders did and expect to win a BBL game. To be fair, when I used to play Div 4 local league we couldn't expect to play D like that and miss wide open shots like that and still expect to win a game. It was abysmal. Lets hope it's just one of those one-off games you have every now and again that no-one can explain and that we can bounce back and continue playing as we had before tonight. But if we play like that against London Capitals we will get beaten by 20 points. Lets hope we can turn it around!! Edited by AP88, Oct 18 2009, 04:07 AM.



20yearfan	Oct 18 2009, 07:32 AM Post #3
All-Star Posts: 1,001 Group: Member Member #23 Joined: July 10, 2006	Oh dear, seems like a good game to have missed! Have been concerned about the defence in other games I've seen and report above confirms this. It was only the second 5 playing D last week v Essex that won us that game. Hope it's just a bad day at the office!!



NYKFAN	Oct 18 2009, 09:07 AM Post #4
Sixth Man Posts: 465 Group: Member Member #150 Joined: July 17, 2006	AP88 Oct 18 2009, 03:55 AM The worst part about it was that Lions weren't THAT good. It was just that Riders were THAT bad. Gotta disagree with you there. Lions were that good, especially on defense but Riders were that bad to i'm afraid. However i dont think Riders fans have anything to worry about as Paternostro wont let that happen again and you seem to have some pretty good players. Just one of those nights most teams have during a season. Would like to add that i thought the majority of Riders fans did their team proud, although i was really disappointed by a few hurling abuse at us in the way section! I know its never nice to lose like that but you didnt see us doing that when you whipped us by 40 last season. Overall i like going to Leicester for an away game as its normally a good, clean, physical game and a good atmosphere.



riders84	Oct 18 2009, 09:38 AM Post #5
Sixth Man Posts: 497 Group: Member Member #3,704 Joined: September 12, 2007	NYKFAN Oct 18 2009, 09:07 AM AP88 Oct 18 2009, 03:55 AM The worst part about it was that Lions weren't THAT good. It was just that Riders were THAT bad. Would like to add that i thought the majority of Riders fans did their team proud, although i was really disappointed by a few hurling abuse at us in the way section! I know its never nice to lose like that but you didnt see us doing that when you whipped us by 40 last season. Overall i like going to Leicester for an away game as its normally a good, clean, physical game and a good atmosphere. I was the dude the shouted the donkey comment at one of your guys and although I shouted that comment, I didn't hear anyone else shouting abuse at you guys. Generally I am loud and proud but I don't shout at the other fans as there's no need to get personal. However, whoever it was that felt the need to start shouting at our table, having been told off for playing with an illegal horn, needed telling. There's no need to argue with the table about something like that and the game was being held up as a consequence hence why I stood and said what I said... The JSSC faithful liked it and the game soon got back underway. Besides which, they then started shouting 'eeyore' during free throws Which I found quite funny so obviously it wasn't taken to literally. Nice to hear some vocal support for your team though, you did yourselves proud
	88 Miles per hour Marty!


Saintpat	Oct 18 2009, 12:23 PM Post #6
Franchise Player Posts: 2,922 Group: Member Member #49 Joined: July 11, 2006	Ok -where to start Quote: There's no need to argue with the table about something like that I didn't argue with the table!! I shouted (so I could be heard) at Daniel and Russell, that I hoped it was OK that I screamed, and if that was all right with them after the Riders player had missed his first free throw. The only person arguing was Russell who screamed at me because he took it personally. Daniel then explained that it was the ref who had given the instructions and that was the end of it. If the explanation had been made when the announcement was made, I would have shouted at Dale instead!! I chatted to both Russell and Daniel afterwards and all was OK. Quote: , having been told off for playing with an illegal horn Not told off. told we would be ejected!! Truly pathetic. And is it illegal?? I don't think it is in the BBL, but we'll see. Even if there is a rule, it doesn't get used anywhere in Europe, where the crowds are much bigger and game has far more prominence. People wonder why basketball is such a minority sport in this country and why the fan base is so small- well perhaps some people should take their heads out of their arses!! Quote: I was the dude the shouted the donkey comment I would have thought anyone with a haircut like yours should be careful who he called a donkey! Did I mind- not particularly, as you quite rightly pointed out, I used an eye-ore chant, water off a ducks back, and I'm far too thick skinned to worry about it. There were other comments as well and some parents must be really proud!!! Quote: The worst part about it was that Lions weren't THAT good. Depends how you determine 'THAT' really. We were good enough to make the scoreline very flattering on Riders. Yes Riders were poor, but our defence helped make them poor, our movement and team play made them poor. Worthing fans also thought they played poorly last weekend- perhaps there is a common factor!!



Saintpat	Oct 18 2009, 12:27 PM Post #7
Franchise Player Posts: 2,922 Group: Member Member #49 Joined: July 11, 2006	Should also add that Nickm's comments are excellent.



AP88	Oct 18 2009, 05:03 PM Post #8
Rookie Posts: 64 Group: Member Member #8,631 Joined: May 2, 2008	Saintpat Oct 18 2009, 12:23 PM Depends how you determine 'THAT' really. We were good enough to make the scoreline very flattering on Riders. Yes Riders were poor, but our defence helped make them poor, our movement and team play made them poor. Worthing fans also thought they played poorly last weekend- perhaps there is a common factor!! Yeah Lions did play well, very well in fact, but I felt that the way we played last night we would have lost to anyone. You don't mind losing like we did up in Newcastle where we played really well and were just beaten by a very good side. The game was enjoyable and depite the result the long trip was still well worth it. I felt last night we were just dreadful and that had we played anywhere near our capabilities we would have at least been in the game. That's not to say that we would have won as you do look to be a pretty good team and have some top class players but we were just so poor. We missed numerous open shots, were awful from the line and gave up far too many easy looks. Some of them were down to good ball movement and well run plays but a others were down to just plain shoddy defence. One that particularly annoyed me was when Youngblood had just knocked down a wide open three, two plays later we let him dribble the ball up and take another one. Thats just being lazy and not getting out to your man. Youngblood has been in the league for about 20 years and we all know that although he is not a top notch three point shooter he's as good that you can't just stand there and watch him shoot. There was a number of times we just allowed players uncontested shots and let players get to the rim with such ease it was painful to watch. I have full faith in Rob though and I'm sure this will just be a one off. (Although I have just spotted the half time score from London!!) Lions look a lot stronger than last season and I would expect them to make the play-offs fairly comfortably with EJ Harrison leading the charge. I'm a huge fan of his and I think he's one of the best players in the league. Edited by AP88, Oct 18 2009, 05:25 PM.



jukebox	Oct 18 2009, 09:27 PM Post #9
Rookie Posts: 91 Group: Member Member #9,955 Joined: November 16, 2008	Saintpat Oct 18 2009, 12:23 PM Depends how you determine 'THAT' really. We were good enough to make the scoreline very flattering on Riders. Yes Riders were poor, but our defence helped make them poor, our movement and team play made them poor. Worthing fans also thought they played poorly last weekend- perhaps there is a common factor!! We would certainly of lost to anyone how we played on Saturday. Point in case the result on Sunday when even with Tack back we played almost the same way. Congratulations to the Lions on their comprehensive and deserved victory but i'm not sure it was down to the Lions being fantastic. That being said a wins a win and with the way the league is shaping up this year every wins going to be crucial.



Ben	Oct 19 2009, 12:28 PM Post #10
All-Star Posts: 1,198 Group: Member Member #1,533 Joined: February 20, 2007	Very disappointing performance as I think we all still expected to win even without Tack. I think our main problems were : too many missed free throws and shots close in and lack of intensity and focus on defence- we left gaps in our zone which often left them open for easy scores. They did cope very well when we switched to a full court press though (as we had to with the game running away from us). The refs didn�t help at all either. The result also shows just how costly that needless ejection was last week- now I�m not saying Tack would have made THAT much of a difference (as the shocking defeat to Capitals yesterday shows!) or that we would have won but I think if we had have had him then it could have been a different game altogether. Even with a deficit like on Saturday you could still see a way back if you have a sparkplug such as Tack on your team (as we saw in the Everton game when we were down 17 in the 4Q) but we just couldn't seem to put a proper run together without him. We gave it a go in the 2nd half but it's no good if you can't get stops at the other end. I have to admit though despite Riders being very poor I was still impressed with Lions. I thought their fans were very good as well (didn�t seem as if our fans were as into it like normal; not sure if that was just down the performance) Didn't think anyone from our team really stood out- Jason top scored and got his usual double double but still missed free throws and shots close in like everyone else and at times lacked focus on defence. His stats could have been alot better if he had have played to his full. Adam did well again when he came on but thought he should have been on for longer. Tony did all he could but with no help and LT did ok but for the missed free throws. Just have to hope we come back with a big win in our next game and show that we are still real contenders forgetting the results this weekend. Edited by Ben, Oct 19 2009, 06:50 PM.



The Land of Plenty	Oct 23 2009, 09:57 PM Post #11
Starter Posts: 546 Group: Member Member #191 Joined: July 18, 2006	I picked the right week for a holiday.... I'll be at Worthing tomorrow where hopefully things will be back on track
	www.ridersbasketball.net The Independent Riders website.


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