New-look Leicester Riders start the season the right way

With the rebuild of the squad complete and the season now well underway, the Leicester Riders have started the season very well, maybe even better than expected.

The Riders have kicked the season off with a 4-2 record, which has been very impressive considering the rebuild of the roster that’s included a lot of players’ first taste of the professional game. Sandwiched in between the two losses, these two coming in the first game of the season and the most recent game against the Giants, was a very impressive four-game win streak which included some great wins on the road to Bristol and Newcastle.

The less said about the first game of the season the better. It was clear that the team were still getting used to playing together. Can’t take anything away from Cheshire though, a fantastic away performance and really punished us at crucial times, hitting 18 threes to run away with the 24-point win.

After a relatively comfortable win against the Patriots, Riders travelled down to Bristol in what is always a tough game. It proved to be quite the opposite, with the Riders having an astonishing 37-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. With the addition of Caleb Asberry to the starting five, Riders had a lot more energy and purpose in transition. It all started at the defensive end, with everyone contributing and everyone perfectly in sync to prevent the Flyers from scoring. This led to great opportunities in transition and on the fast break offensively with six threes in the first quarter.

This is a massive strong point of this young, athletic Riders team. Getting stops on the defensive end and getting out in transition on the fast break before the defence can settle.

After the win in Bristol, a tough trip against Newcastle followed. Unlike the Flyers game, this game was pretty much even for the whole game. So many lead changes with the constant back and forth between both teams. One of the highlight plays of the season came from Caleb Asberry with a huge chase-down block. With the score tied at 78 late in the fourth, Jaren Holmes hit a huge three to give the Riders the lead. Followed up by a Sam Idowu three, the Riders never looked back. A very resilient, professional away win in what was arguably the best performance of the season.

A routine win at home to Surrey was next and then the loss to the Giants was disappointing having equalled them for the first half, but they ran away with it in the second half which was understandable with this being the second game in a back to back.

After the season's first two games, Coach Rob decided to mix things up in the starting lineup. He opted for the full rookie starting five. Xavier Pinson, Jaren Holmes, Caleb Asberry, Miryne Thomas and Braelen Bridges. This may have been a slight surprise due to their lack of experience in the professional game but it is clear that they are all very talented basketball players and have gelled really well together.

It is such an exciting team to watch, with each player bringing different qualities to the team. The ball handling and defence from Pinson, the strength and scoring from Holmes, the speed and passing of Asberry, the finishing and length of Thomas and the solidity and touch around the rim of Bridges, really does combine to make a really solid starting five.

The bench has given the team really valuable minutes, with Kimbal doing Kimbal things, Lall has struggled offensively at times but has provided some great defensive plays in recent games. Idowu has sort of filled the Adekoya role from last season playing as the 4 or the 5, giving solid output on both ends of the floor.

This team has made a very exciting start and game after game the chemistry will build and every player will get more and more comfortable on the floor. The ceiling of this team is very, very high.

There are some tough games coming up in the next set of five, with two battles against the Eagles, an away trip to Caledonia and a big game against the Lions. With the other game coming against Surrey, if the Riders can maybe pick up 3 wins, 4 being quite optimistic, this would be a fantastic start to the season.

I would love it if we could beat London, love it.