Macaulay looks ahead to May Madness Finals

Lions' coach Vince Macaulay is looking for his team to repeat their stunning first half against Cheshire Phoenix when they face Plymouth Raiders in the BBL play-offs semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

The game at the Morningside Arena in Leicester tips off at 7.30pm and is live of Sky Sports, with the second leg scheduled for 48 hours later at the same venue.

"I didn't think we played well in the first leg, turning the ball over 17 times" said Macaulay.

"The defence Phoenix put in place took a while to dissect, but we made the adjustments and the result was there for all to see. That was our best half of the season. People forget that this is still a new team and it takes time to get things into place, but it was the kind of performance we're capable of repeating and we may need to repeat to beat a tough Plymouth side."

The 95-60 second leg win completed a 42-point aggregate for Macaulay's side and came thanks to a first half barrage from three point territory and London drained an incredible 13 of their 22 shots from downtown, but the Lions' coach expects a tougher test against a Raiders side they defeated to win the BBL Trophy.

"They're a tough side physically and that's something we need to match" he said.

"I think [Ricky] McGill is trying to break every scoring record while Marcell [Morsell] has been a natural scorer both at Plymouth and when he was with Newcastle.

"They've got a really solid bench with people like [Elvisi] Dusha and Will Neighbour who are potent weapons, while Ashley Hamilton is always a dangerous guy to face."

Macaulay has a good idea what his side need to do if they are to overcome a Raiders side who finished third in the regular season table.

"We need to continue playing our running game and push the ball" he said.

"We need to make sure they're key men aren't all firing at the same time. Ashley hit 29 against us in a game we won and McGill was able to get 30 in the Trophy final but we still won the game."

The small matter of a global pandemic has seen the BBL play-offs have to take a different format than planned with the idea of best-of-three games temporarily abandoned in favour of two-leg ties, but Macaulay isn't concerned with the new-look tournament: "It is what it is" he said.

"Last season we wanted three games but I still think back to the '90s when Giants won the first game against Birmingham before losing in front of 14,000 at home, but no one showed up at game three because the British sporting public don't get best-of-three.

"We have social media now, so it might be different, but we're playing in this format and we need go out and make sure we keep our winning run going."