Preview: Bristol Flyers v Manchester Giants

From bbl.org.uk

After two difficult games last weekend, Bristol Flyers are aiming to get back on track this coming Saturday.

Defeats at Worcester Wolves and at home to Newcastle Eagles, made it four in row for Flyers, but they have an opportunity to halt that slide on Saturday as they host a Manchester Giants side struggling away from home.

“I think we can take a lot of positives from those defeats last weekend,” said Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas.

“We were playing without Doug Herring, who is out for the season, and also Doug McLaughlin-Williams, one of our other top scorers, who suffered a hamstring injury.

“We competed in both games and the guys stepped up, which is very positive. Although we were not able to secure the wins, I’m very pleased with the effort.”

While McLaughlin-Williams is hopefully back this weekend for the visit of Manchester, the search for Herring’s replacement is almost at an end.
“We’re very close to announcing a player and we hope to do so by the end of the week,” added Kapoulas.

Whether or not the squad is bolstered by the weekend, Kapoulas sees the visit of Manchester as a game his side must win.

“It’s one of those games, especially as we’re looking to make the Play-offs, which we need to win.

“We’ve lost four in a row and we need to come out of this game with a good result.”

He added: “Manchester is a very capable basketball team and everyone will need to step up, be ready to defend, and I think it will come down to adjustments during the game.

“We need to make sure that when the game is on the line, we’re at our best.”

Last time they met:

Manchester Giants 73 Bristol Flyers 82 (BBL Championship, Lucozade Sportsdome, 12/10/2014)

What they say:

Giants forward David Watts: “We will have to have a good week of practice and focus on keeping Bristol’s guards out the lane and getting out to their three-point shooters, on the defensive end.

“Offensively we will have to continue to play smart, team basketball and use our defence to get out and run.

“Bristol, like any team, are tough at home and road wins have been a weakness for us in the past, but we're focused on changing that and becoming more consistent defensively.”

Tickets for tonight's game at the SGS WISE Arena are available to purchase on the door this evening.