Glasgow Rocks coach Sterling Davis admits a little internal analysis has made a huge difference in keeping his team’s British Basketball League title hopes alive.
Four wins out of five have tightened the resurgent Scots grip on third place headed into tonight’s clash with Cheshire Phoenix with the American refusing to concede defeat to leaders Leicester Riders in the chase for the championship.
And although Davis’s own players were loudest in their self-criticism during their post-Christmas slide, it has spurred the coaching staff into making the subtle tweaks required to get the Rocks firmly back on track.
“What it does identify is we have players who want to win,” he said. “That’s great for us as coaches because if there’s a problem, you’d rather they identified it and then tried to fix it themselves.
"But one of the things I’ve tried to see is where we’ve gone away from the things that were working for us early in the season rather than rushing to change everything around.
“The biggest thing I found is we’ve not been as efficient in our ball movement, getting all the guys involved. Sometimes on an offence, two or three guys weren’t involved at all and that’s not using all the talent at our disposal.”
That applies firmly to sixth man Anthony Elechi who has shone in spurts but disappeared frequently despite averaging 11 points and six rebounds from varying spell of time on court.
And Davis readily concedes a need to get more out of the American rookie’s emerging talents by helping him to become an even greater scoring threat.
“We’ve got to get him the ball more,” he admitted.
“But it’s about him being in the right position to receive it as well. He’s probably our best inside player but he’s starting to better understand where his spots on the floor are. The good thing about Anthony though is he’s never stopped being an excellent defender even if the shots aren’t dropping.”
Elsewhere, second-placed Newcastle Eagles host Bristol Flyers while fast-improving Worcester Wolves meet London Lions.
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