Wolves Star is Best in the BBL

Worcester Wolves point guard Zaire Taylor has been awarded the considerable honour of being named as the BBL’s Molten Player of the Month for December. With centre Will Creekmore already achieving similar recognition for October, this means that Wolves players have nabbed two of the league’s three available monthly awards.

December was a highly-successful period for the club as they posted a perfect four-win record, and pivotal to that success was the play of Taylor. First up was a 100-86 dismissal of Durham Wildcats on their own court, a game where he put together tidy numbers of 16 points and six assists, as well as tormenting the opposition with five ball steals.

Next the Wolves hosted winless Surrey United, and there was the luxury of fringe players being given increased court-time. Despite playing in little more than half of the game, Taylor was still able to serve up seven assists and grab another five steals, on the way to the inevitable victory.

The strongest test during December came with the visit to the University of Worcester Arena of fellow title-challengers, London Lions. Taylor and his colleagues showed little regard for their opponent’s ambitions, stamping on them early and going on to record a decisive 93-64 triumph. 16 points and another eight assists were the standout numbers for Taylor.

The last weekend of 2013 saw Birmingham Knights make the short journey down to Worcester. This was the match when Taylor’s statistics really shone out as he almost secured the rare feat of a triple-double. He served up a majestic 15 passes for his teammates to convert into scores, added ten points of his own, and snatched seven rebounds. Just as against Surrey, the ease of the 102-72 victory allowed Wolves’ Coach Paul James to withdraw him early from the action, denying him his individual statistical triumph.

James was thrilled to see Taylor become the second of his summer signings to receive the BBL’s top monthly award, saying: “Zaire is a delight to coach. He has an uncanny vision for the game. As well as being capable of getting his own points, he has the ability to raise the play of others. As an example, in our last game against Manchester he placed the ball perfectly into Will’s hands for scores on three successive occasions. And that’s without mentioning all the times he steals the ball off our opponents. They must hate playing against him.”
Wolves’ supporters will have an early chance to show their appreciation for the efforts of Taylor this Friday evening when Durham Wildcats visit the University of Worcester Arena (tip off 7.30pm).