Fresh off their SLB Cup victory at the AO Arena against Manchester Basketball, the London Lions returned to the Copper Box Arena with hopes of stamping their authority against the Sheffield Sharks.
The Lions delivered a 20-point blowout, winning 87-67. Chaundee Brown Jr. led all players with 17 points on an efficient scoring night for the entire team. For the Sharks, Dirk Williams led with 15 points, but the team struggled to break through the Lions’ defence.
The Sharks opened the game with pace through guards Nick Kern Jr. and Prentiss Nixon, who split and dribbled around the zone defence deployed by the Lions.
The strategy worked, allowing the Sharks to hold the lead for a while in the first quarter, though they did not finish ahead. The question remained: could such a demanding strategy be sustained for a full 40-minute game?
Unfortunately, the answer was no.
The Lions’ tight, physical defence wore out not just the pair, but the entire team.
London contested what felt like every shot the Sharks threw and consistently closed out on their shooters. When Sheffield failed to make shots, the frustration was evident, particularly on the Sharks’ bench when Kern Jr. was substituted and slammed his hands onto the chair.
Both teams deployed a physical zone defence. The difference, however, was in execution: the Lions capitalised on what the Sharks gave them and took their chances.
The distinction between seeking the right shot and simply taking the first open shot is significant and can elevate a team’s offence.
For the Lions, they started shooting the three-pointer with unusual efficiency, making four out of eight attempts in the first quarter, and finishing the game with ten made on 30 attempted.
All starters recorded a plus/minus of +20 in the game, which is something not common for the home side.
The Lions were selective, not “chucking” the ball from deep whenever they had it, even though their 33% shooting from beyond the arc was slightly below their SLB Championship average.
Even when the Lions cooled off offensively, they managed to keep Sheffield at arm’s length, relying on their defence to prevent the game from getting too close.
There is an old saying in basketball: “Offence wins games, defence wins championships”. While this was not a championship game, this philosophy is being instilled in the Lions by Head Coach Tautvydas Sabonis, who strongly emphasises defence above all.
“Little tight first half, offensively we were good but we let them score too many points,” Sabonis said. “Second half we fixed our defence — 28 points in the second half — and that set the tone for the game. Once we play defence, again, this team is very, very good.”
The quality of the team is known, especially when they are healthy and fully committed to the idea of defence and avoiding “hero ball”.
Sharing the offensive distribution rather than burdening a single player is key.
The bench scoring was eye-popping and proved to be another decisive factor. The Lions’ bench outscored the Sharks’ bench by 22 points, logging 33 Lion bench points to just 12 Sharks bench points.
Let that sink in: with a near-fully healthy team, a bench spearheaded by Tarik Phillip went “nuclear” on the fourth-best team in Britain.
“We have a deep roster, play 12 guys when we can — strength in numbers as coach says,” Phillip said.
“We go in, play defence hard, and the next guy comes in and does the same thing. It wears teams down, and the results show.”
Seeing all of this come together resulted in entertaining basketball that the home crowd appreciated.
As a side note, the school kids are now the atmosphere in the Copper Box, and bringing them to every game must be a priority from now on.
Entertaining basketball allowed the Lions’ players to find their “swag” and enjoy their game, which also fulfilled Head Coach Sabonis’s desire for them not to take their foot off the pedal, but rather, keep pushing.
After the game, speaking exclusively to Sports Gazette, SLB Cup MVP Kameron McGusty spoke extensively about that “swag”.
“That’s the most important thing, whenever you’re having fun, whenever you are doing it with a smile—it brings up the energy. Shots start to go in and you play harder on defence; having that enthusiasm and joy is one of the most important things in basketball”
To keep that fun and enthusiasm will be a test for the Lions as they welcome the Bristol Flyers into the Copper Box Arena on Friday night, seeking to win their sixth game in a row and increase the gap between them and second place in the SLB championship.
