LAST week Newcastle Eagles took the first step towards exorcising the demons of last season. Joe Chapman plans to take another in Liverpool tonight.
The Eagles travel to Mersey Tigers in the British Basketball League in very different circumstances to their previous meeting.
Then, Tony Garbelotto’s side were Newcastle’s nemesis, beating them in four out of six matches en route to three BBL trophies and knocking the Eagles out of both cups. It left them trophy-less for the first campaign since 2003-04, and did player-coach Fabulous Flournoy’s motivating for him.
“It’s a challenge to get up every day knowing we have something to prove. That’s why we all came back,” said top-scorer Chapman (pictured below), whose Achilles injury was a major factor in the barren campaign.
“We’re doing it on a daily basis and as one of the leaders on the team I have to make sure the guys are ready. Me and Fab went down with injuries last year so this is our bounce-back year. We didn’t win anything last year and when I got injured we were on a 12-game winning streak. We fell from grace a little bit.”
Financial trouble which led to the break-up of the team mean these are tamer Tigers. While the Eagles top the table, their hosts have just four points from six games. But as long as former Eagles coach Garbelotto is calling their plays, Chapman knows they cannot be underestimated.
“They damaged us last year so it doesn’t matter who they’ve got out on the court,” he said. “They’ve still got the same coach, so we just have to prove to ourselves we’re better than them. It was a big thing for them to win like they did last year with all British players. Coming back this year we wanted to match up with them and try to go after them.
“But they still have the same name on the jerseys and that’s what we see. They knocked us out of the Cup and the Trophy last year, so I’m sure we’re going to be ready to play. They have an edge. Tony’s a good coach, he’s been around a lot. He’s always seemed to coach well against us so we have to be always prepared for whatever he’s going to throw against us.”
Last week the Eagles booked their place in January’s BBL Cup final in Birmingham, putting right another wrong from last term.
“When we reached the Cup final that was really huge for us,” he said of the aggregate win over Leicester Riders. “We haven’t won it since 2006.
“Last year we went down to Mersey and tied the game, then had to come home and play here.
“It was the same situation this year with Leicester. We knew we’d been here before, now it was time to get over the hump. Teams were knocking us out in the semi-finals of every competition and we’re better than that, a better team and a better organisation. We’re finally realising our true potential of how we want to play.”
Newcastle are 7-0 in the league, their best start to a BBL season. With three games left, they could go into the Christmas break unbeaten, but Chapman says it is not that which is driving them on.
“Not unbeaten, just improving every week,” he said when asked if it was a goal. “That’s the most important thing. We’ve got to learn where we’re going wrong while we’re winning instead of while we’re losing.
“I was surprised five straight (wins) was a club record. In my first year we won 23 in a row!”
Durham Wildcats are also in BBL action this evening, with MK Lions their hosts for a 7.30pm tip-off.
