SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks

Well, I don’t know about anyone else who was at the game yesterday in Chester (there were fifteen of us), but my voice is distinctly unreliable today! 

What a game, though!  The Rocks did brilliantly, especially considering that JJ and Scott were injured, leaving just one healthy player on the bench. 

That win means that there’s still a chance - albeit a very small chance - for the Rocks to get that all important fourth place!  Now, we just need Milton Keynes Lions to lose their last three games.  Hey, it’s the end of the BBL season - we all know that anything can happen at this time of year - especially if the Rocks play as well in their last three games as they played last night. 

 LET’S GO ROCKS!!!

Lauren Heenan

On behalf of all the sponsors, I’d like to say a massive thanks to all the fans (all 2,417 of you) that turned out last night to cheer on the ROCKS before a record crowd, and all live on the telly!!

While the end result wasn’t what we all wanted, the game itself was a thriller, and the atmosphere inside the Braehead Arena was simply electric.  The free thunderstix that we gave out before the game did their job…  the noise levels were fantastic, and the executives at Setanta must have been salivating at the intensity both on and off court - simply put - seriously good tv!!

Obviously, as official web partner to the ROCKS, we’ve got a business interest in seeing the team, and indeed the whole BBL do well, especially now the games are hitting a much wider audience through the TV deal, but speaking purely as a fan (and I apologise to anyone sitting near me last night - I got a bit animated!!) - it doesn’t get any better than last night (other than the scoreline!), rivaling any sports event I’ve been at….

Congratulations to the team for putting on a superb event, and also to the fans…  for showing incredible support, and for MAKING SOME NOISE!!!! 

Gary
NSDesign

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE RESULT, LOOK AWAY NOW.

Congratulations to Guildford Heat, who beat the Newcastle Eagles to win the BBL Trophy this afternoon. 

It was great to see British Basketball back on live TV, and what a game to be televised!  And yes, I was sitting at home, shouting at the TV.  The atmosphere sounded electric, and both sets of fans did their teams proud. 

I’ll leave the game summary to the BBL, but I have to say - the Heat did have an amazing comeback, especially considering that one of their main players, Tony Dorsey, spent the second half warming the bench after committing a technical foul in the second quarter - his fourth foul of the game.  It was also good to see ex-Rock Mike Martin play well for the win.

Hopefully we can hand Newcastle another defeat on Friday.

LET’S GO ROCKS!!!

Lauren Heenan

Well, what can you say?  I can honestly say that yesterday was the first time that I’ve ever been upset by WINNING by 22 points!  Which is a bit daft, really.  Ok, so we didn’t get through to the next round of the trophy.  We did, however, win - comprehensively - against the team that sits at the top of the BBL league table.  And let’s face it, the game was one of the best we’ve seen at Braehead. 

So all in all, there is no reason to feel in the slightest bit upset by yesterday’s result.  None whatsoever.  We now just have to concentrate on the championship, and qualifying for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.  Let’s hope we can do better in our playoff games than the Green Bay Packers did in theirs, last night (sorry Rob!).

 As for the Trophy, well, there’s always next year.

Let’s Go Rocks,

Lauren Heenan

Well, the first two home games of the season are over, and could they have been more different? The first, against the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, was the perfect start to the season, with the Rocks winning by a landslide 38 points. Contrast that with last week’s heartbreaking loss – yes, AGAIN – to the Newcastle Eagles - this time in double overtime.

Ok, so the whole ‘revenge for April’ thing didn’t quite work out the way we had hoped. However, the team played hard, staying on level terms with the Eagles until right at the end of the second overtime period, when the Eagles’ deep bench gave them the edge of having fresh players that the Rocks just didn’t have.  Playing one of the best teams in the BBL, and keeping it tight enough to take the game into double overtime is no mean feat – especially when said team hasn’t lost since their first game of the season.

Another huge plus is that it was a brilliantly entertaining game, and unquestionably the best atmosphere Braehead has ever seen for a mid-week game, with the fans going home almost as exhausted as the players – and with a whole lot less vocal abilities! No technical problems for the DJ, either, although a certain member of the team is missing Chris Brown’s ‘Run It’ during the warm-up. Playing the Birdie Song, however, was an inspired move. Now all we need are songs for the rest of the BBL teams – how about ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ for the MK Lions? Or ‘Cold as Ice’ for the Guildford Heat?

Moving on swiftly, the question then was whether the Rocks could recover in time for a hectic weekend of away games, first facing the Worcester Wolves on Saturday night, and the Milton Keynes Lions on Sunday night. 

The answer, it would appear – at least for the Saturday night game – was yes, as the Rocks maintained their 100 percent win record against the Wolves, and won by their biggest margin of the season so far, a massive 41 points. Unfortunately, on Sunday night, the Rocks’ luck changed yet again, as we saw the lions fight back in the final quarter of the game to win by three, despite Rob’s 30-point haul.

Now we have to look forward to the next two challenges – the visits of the Leicester Riders and BBL newcomers the Everton Tigers. We know the Rocks will put in the effort, and we need to do the same – Braehead can be the sixth man!

LET’S GO ROCKS!
Lauren Heenan