New Not Satisfied With Fourth Place
After the Marshall MK Lions have enjoyed the most successful
season in their history, with their highest league finish
and first ever trophy, veteran centre Mike New is of the belief
that they could have achieved more ahead of their BBL Championship
Playoff quarter-final against the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks
live on Setanta Sports 2 on Wednesday (7.30pm).
Another trip to the National Indoor Arena beckons if the
Lions were to beat the Rocks, and New took time to reflect
upon the season and look ahead to this crunch game.
"We think we should have finished higher that fourth,"
he said, "but it's still a successful season for the
club in the whole scheme of things.
"We have the hand we've dealt ourselves, and we blew
a lot of chances to finish higher. We've lost a lot of games
that have come back to haunt us. That is no one's fault but
our own, but we've got to be positive and optimistic.
"It's been a good season, but we're starting all over
again on Wednesday, and we need to gain some momentum."
New is expecting a difficult time when the Rocks, with whom
he spent two years between 1998- 00, arrive for the game on
Wednesday evening,
"It's always a tough game when we play them. We need
to come out and be ready, and also be very aware of their
three-point threat. Almost all of their players are a threat
from outside the arc, we need to defend them honestly and
not go to sleep on anyone."
New sees point guard Rob Yanders and player-coach Sterling
Davis as Rocks' main threats,
"Obviously, Yanders is a fantastic player and leader.
He's a real clutch player, he's not afraid to make the big
plays, or to set them up for other people. Sterling's done
an outstanding job in his first year as player/coach; he's
found a good balance between playing and coaching. It's not
easy to do both, and to get a hair's-breadth away from fourth
spot is excellent."
While Lions have won two of the three games between the sides
this season, New remembers the 22-point home beating the Rocks
inflicted on his side in February, and hopes that they have
learned from it,
"They caught us flat that day, and shot really well.
If they shoot well and we don't, we have no chance of beating
them. They couldn't miss that night, and they stopped us getting
out and running. We need to be wary of that, and make sure
we hustle back and play good defence."
New is the coach of the Lions' new basketball academy, and
he will hope that the seniors can emulate the success that
one of his teams experienced recently as he coached the u-14s
to the national championship after an unbeaten season. Naturally
he was delighted with that,
"We played extremely well, especially in the semi-final.
I think they were a bit nervous in the first half of the final,
but we got the game-plan right, and put their big men in foul
trouble. It's a fantastic achievement for them."
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