James bears down on history with Wolves

Paul James is acutely aware he is bearing down on history with Worcester Wolves.

The play-caller is now 80 minutes of action away from sealing a first ever spot in a showpiece final.

“It’s a massive opportunity for the club,” acknowledged James.

“You look at the owners who’ve been involved for so long and they’ve never been to a final.

“The club also has got fans who have been there from day one who have never been there.

“The one thing that I stressed when I got originally arrived, was that to get to finals, you obviously have to get to semi-finals, first.

“We’ve done that three years in a row now and every time you do that, you give yourself a chance of getting to the final.”

Blocking their path to history are the BBL Trophy holders, One Health Sharks Sheffield.

And, James is looking forward to getting his team onto the floor against their last four opponents.

However, he won’t be tempted to focus too much attention on the dangerous BJ Holmes, who took the MVP award at the Trophy Final last year.

He insisted, “I actually think Sharks are a very solid all-round unit.

“The likes of Colin Sing, Zach Gachette and Mike Tuck are all very, very solid players who can put up big numbers in their own right.

“I don’t think we can actually focus on any one player, it’s got to be a collective and a team performance.”

He added, “We’re looking forward to it and it’s two massive games for us.

“Maybe the loss against Newcastle came just at the right time, because we’re not a very happy team right now.”

Wolves play the first-leg of the semi-final on the road at the EIS tomorrow night, with the return fixture pencilled in for next Wednesday at the University of Worcester Arena.