London Lions and Plymouth City Patriots will certainly know a lot about each other after this weekend as they face each other twice.
James Vear’s side face the Pats at the Copper Box on Friday night – Tickets on sale now – before travelling to the West Country on Sunday afternoon.
Lions captain Justin Robinson is expecting a difficult couple of tests over the weekend:
“They’re coached by a good coach in Paul James, they’ve got a dynamic groups of players and have decent core of British talent” he said.
“They’re scrappy and it was a tough game when we went down there last time. I think we beat them by seven but it was a close game throughout and we need to make sure we’re locked in and take care of business.”
Robinson admits that it will be an unusual situation playing the same team in quick succession:
“It’s a strange one playing the same team twice in three days, but we’re four or more games behind because of Europe, and if it means we kill two birds with one stone, it could work well for us” he said.
“I think Sunday’s game might come down to who makes the best adjustments, and it brings some level of accountability to the players. We need to show that we have the ability to make any changes that we need to.”
Friday's game will be the fourth time Lions have faced Patriots this season, and the weekend's games gives them the chance to complete a regular season sweep against Paul James' team. The two BBL Cup group stage games saw big wins for the Lions, 90-61 at the Copper Box and 101-62 on the road. But the return trip to Plymouth Pavilions saw a much tough test before London came out 101-94 winners as Dirk Williams and Isaiah Reese combined for nine three pointers on the way to 22 point scoring nights. Lions led by three with four minutes to go before finishing strongly and that good performance from Plymouth sparked a four game winning streak for the BBL's newest franchise before they were edged out 80-77 at Cheshire on Sunday.
British Kofi Josephs talent led Pats' scoring with 27 when the teams last met and he leads the West Country team with 20.9 points per game 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Mid-season signing Antonio Williams has helped Plymouth's recent improvement and goes into the weekend averaging 20 points, 7.9 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game and is logging some serious court time having played all 50 minutes in the double overtime win against Bristol Flyers and all 40 minutes in the loss at Cheshire. Meanwhile, Rashad Hassan brings 17.3 points and and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game while former Barking Abbey Academy forward Rowell Graham - Bell pulls down 6.8 boards per game.
Robinson is unlikely to see any court action this weekend, as the Lions’ captain explains:
“I think I’m a week away from playing five-on-five, and it’s frustrating because I thought I was good to play until the scan came back.
“But I’m looking to coming back and playing for the rest of the season and making a run at winning things over the next three months.”
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