PREVIEW: Eight game April begins with Plymouth and London

BBL Championship

Regular season concludes with an eight game April, beginning this coming Friday when the in-form Plymouth City Patriots are the visitors to Ponds Forge. And with four double-header weekends coming up on the schedule, the Sharks head down to the Copperbox Arena to take on London Lions on Sunday afternoon.

Friday – Sharks v Patriots – Ponds Forge – 7.30pm

Tickets – B. Braun Sheffield Sharks v Plymouth City Patriots – BBL Championship Tickets, Fri 1 Apr 2022 at 19:30 | Eventbrite

April Easter Bundle Ticket Offer – April Easter Bundle Tickets, Fri 1 Apr 2022 at 19:30 | Eventbrite

Ones To Watch

Antonio Williams – Has been explosive in the thirteen games since he arrived in Plymouth, putting up 18.7 points per game as well as dishing out an eye-opening 9.1 assists.

Rashad Hassan – Experienced forward who has been another key in Plymouth’s rise up the standings. 17.9 points per game with 7.2 rebounds tells its own tale for the former Leicester Rider and London Lion.

Rowell Graham-Bell – Brit product who came to prominence with GB U18s before signing in Spain, Iceland and latterly Germany. Very creditable stats of 14.3 points per game and 6.7 rebounds currently.

Elvisi Dusha – London-born point guard who represents Albania and has played for Surrey, Worcester, Cheshire and the now-defunct London City Royals at BBL level. Racking up 5.7 assists per game at the moment.

Last Meeting

December 8^th 2021 – Plymouth City Patriots (Graham-Bell 21 Hart 14 Carpenter 11) 61 B. Braun Sheffield Sharks (Glasgow Jr 18 Williams 10 Ratinho / Delpeche 9) 66

Sunday – Lions v Sharks – Copperbox Arena – 4.00pm

Watch – www.bblplayer.co.uk

Ones To Watch

Isaiah Reese – The do-it-all guard got London back to winning ways in their 77-74 road victory at Bristol on Saturday. His 16 points and 7 assists were key to the success and very comparable with his season average of 17.7 points and 7.1 assists.

Justin Robinson – The former league MVP came off the bench to record 15 points in the Bristol win in under 20 minutes of action but crucially on 5/8 shooting including 3 three point scores.

Bradley Kaboza – Has impressed with his enthusiastic displays for the Lions recently, adding 11 points to 5 rebounds and 3 assists in Saturday’s win.

Dirk Williams – A rare off-night against the Flyers but still London’s biggest scoring threat with an 18.4 points per game season average.

Last Meeting

February 14^th 2021 – London Lions (Williams 21 Robinson 12 Washburn / Neighbour 10) 76 B. Braun Sheffield Sharks (Johnson / Nichols 21 Koch 14 Glasgow Jr 8) 83

Shark Bites

Since the Sharks win at Plymouth on 8^th December 2021, the Patriots have a 10-7 record having been 0-14 at the time of the original game!

The last 12 games between the Sharks and Plymouth have been split with 6 wins each. Plymouth have won on 3 of their last 5 visits to South Yorkshire.

The Sharks have never won on consecutive visits to the Copperbox Arena to play London Lions. The last time the Sharks won back to back games in London against the same team was at London Capital on 30^th March 2010.

Assuming the Sharks do not play Newcastle again this season, the 5-0 winning run achieved against the Eagles this campaign will be the 13^th time in club history the team have gone 5-0 or better in a season.

SharkNation

Who is joining us on our Playoff journey? There’s a whole host of Sharks basketball in the month of April and if you sign up for our April Easter bundle, you’ll even get fed! (See the link at the top of the page for details). We’ve got 4 huge games in The Tank remaining in regular season and with your support, we hope we’ll be Playoff ready. You were loud and proud against Newcastle – we need the noise once again against Plymouth! Secure your seats and ride the wave with us – It’s time to #FearTheFin !

Image

Adam Bates