Nick Westby looks ahead to this weekend's two-legged SLB Cup semi-final between Sheffield Sharks and Bristol Flyers
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00:00What's the form of both teams going in?
00:14Sheffield are in really good form. Joint top of the Super League basketball standings with
00:1911-4 record. They've won the last two home games here at the Cannon Medical Arena beating
00:24Cheshire and Manchester. They're not playing brilliant. They've had a lot of chopping and
00:27changing. They've lost two players. They've had to bring Scotty Lindsay and Ricky McGillin
00:31so they're still integrating them. And they've not played back-to-back games on a weekend
00:35yet with the two new players. So it's going to be an acid test regardless of whether it's
00:39the BBL at the SLB Cup semi-final. But they're in good form. This is the strongest they've
00:45been for a number of years and the best chance of winning silverware in the Championship
00:50or in the Cup that they've had for a number of years. So they're in great form. Bristol
00:54are very erratic. They're in Europe, which is what Sheffield Sharks are aspiring to be
00:59in next year. They're playing a lot of mid-week games and it's affecting the games in the
01:04British scene. They got to the final of the BBL, the SLB Trophy recently and lost that
01:09and didn't turn up. Then at the weekend they scored 59 points on Friday, 122 points on
01:14Sunday. You just don't know what you're going to get.
01:17In terms of Sheffield, there's a lot at stake for them because it's been a while since the
01:21last one of the trophy, isn't it?
01:22Yeah, 2016 going back to the playoffs that our good friend Mike Tuck was MVP in. So nine
01:28years now, I've had a bit of criticism because I keep mentioning it in the pieces that I
01:32write. But this is their strongest chance for a number of years. Vaughan Millat came
01:36in in the summer before the BBL collapsed and SLB emerged from the ashes of that. He
01:42was primarily just the principal owner. So more money has gone into Sheffield Sharks
01:46this year. It's given Atiba Lyons, the head coach, a chance to build a deeper roster.
01:51So they're in a lot stronger position. Joint top of the championship and semi-finals of
01:57the BBL Cup, which you would say the favourites to win in. So it's a really good chance. With
02:02Leicester and Surrey in the other, it's as good a chance as they've had for a while.
02:06Given the upheaval last year, given all the changes that did take place, will Sheffield
02:10be happy with how the season has gone so far generally?
02:13I think they will be, yeah. The trophy campaign didn't go well at the start of the season.
02:17I think they were 4-4 in that and out, so they missed the semi-finals. Last year they
02:21got to the semi-finals of the play-offs. This has become a bit of a stronghold, they're
02:27excellent on the home court. They might have lost once in the league here this year, but
02:31that's about it. Last year they won at least 80% of the games. So they're excellent at
02:34home, it's how you can pick up on the road. But yeah, this is a lot stronger team than
02:39it has been in recent years, a lot deeper.
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