November 2014 James: Poor Defence Cost Us

Worcester Wolves coach Paul James admitted that his team’s first-quarter performance cost them as they crashed out of the BBL Cup against Bristol Flyers on Friday.

The reigning BBL Trophy and BBL Play-off champions suffered a 82-90 quarter-final defeat to the Flyers at the University Arena – meaning they have now failed to make it past the last eight in the competition since the 2007-2008 season.

Despite clawing the deficit back to within just one point in the final quarter, it was too little too late for the Wolves, who were chasing the game from the first quarter after some deadly shooting from outside the arc gave the Flyers an early lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

And James, who has won the competition twice as a coach and once as a player, believes that a poor defensive display cost his side against the BBL newcomers.

“The damage was done in the first quarter when we gave up thirty-odd points,” he said. “It was just like nobody was playing any defence and we weren’t getting any consecutive stops and they were scoring at will.

“If we’re going to let teams do that, then it’s going to be a very long season for us, so we need to sure up some of those holes in our defence.”

“We’re very disappointed but, you’ve got to say, we’ve been beaten by a very good Bristol team,” he admitted.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game. Bristol are a tough team, they move the ball very, very well and they shot the ball better than I thought they could. We had opportunities to try and get back in the game but we just lacked that telling point – we didn’t focus enough to get those buckets we needed.”

Despite the defeat, James remained confident that his side could replicate some of the success from last season, but admitted improvements need to be made for his side to start challenging for honours.

“I see what we do in training and all we have to do is bring that to the floor on game night. It seems at this moment in time that we’re playing harder in training than we are in the games and that’s disappointing in itself.

“So we’ll go back to the tape; we’ll look at it and we’ll pick it apart and critique it. One way or another, we’ll find a way.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t get any easier for Wolves; they host the London Lions in the BBL on Friday, with Zaire Taylor returning to the Arena to face his former side.