Bristol Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas has revealed some home comforts helped the team claim their first win on the road in the British Basketball League (BBL) this season.
After suffering their first defeat of the current campaign to Newcastle Eagles (89-78) on Friday night, the Flyers boarded a bus back to Bristol, completing the 600-mile round-trip in the early hours of Saturday morning.
With very little on-court training time available to put things right after a disappointing shooting performance on Tyneside, the squad were soon packing their bags for their next assignment on Sunday - a three-hour journey up to Ellesmere Port to take on Cheshire Phoenix.
If they were tired after all the miles they had clocked up in a short space of time, the Flyers players certainly didn’t show it, as they crashed the offensive glass in a relentless rebounding performance that saw them hold out for what their coach described as a “gutsy” 74-81 win in overtime.
Whilst Kapoulas acknowledged there were “a lot of factors” that led to them making the long trips back and forth from 'Up North', including budget, he maintained it was a “conscious decision” to bring the players back to the West to regroup.
“I think for us, sleeping in our own beds is quite important. We have a good bus, we travel and we have our amazing supporters and volunteers, some really good food on the bus. For us it was a decision - ‘do we stay up and potentially for Saturday?’" he told Bristol Live. “But we made the decision to come back and sleep in our own beds for two nights, which is also very important, to get some familiarity.
“For me it wasn’t about doing stuff on the court, it was more of a mental, concentration thing, going through the game plan and just be ready to play when the ball goes up on Sunday.”
Kapoulas said after the Eagles loss, the Flyers wanted to come out with “energy and passion and to fight for every ball” against Phoenix, and they duly delivered.
Forward Thomas Bell III banished any bad memories that may have been lingering from the 4/29 (13 per cent) shots the team made from beyond the arc on Friday, by draining the Flyers' first two shots from three.
This was a team victory that was grinded out on the defensive end though, with a banged-up Bell III leading the way with 27 points - seven of which came in OT - and eight boards.
The outstanding American forward had to sit the last couple of minutes of regulation time, after a cut above his eye sustained against Newcastle was reopened, drawing blood, while he also picked up a second cut on the other side of his face against Cheshire.
“Caris, our physio, did a great job to get him back into the game” Kapoulas said. “He is an energy guy, he hustles for everything and sometimes you’re going to pick up some bruises and scratches as a result of that. It shows the kind of gritty, tough player he is.”
As a team, the hard-nosed Flyers lead the BBL in rebounding and they showed why against Cheshire, winning 32-48 overall in that category and 11-18 in offensive rebounds.
It’s been a hallmark of this Bristol team since they joined UK basketball’s elite division in 2014 and a side of the game Kapoulas said they “take a lot of pride in”.
“There is a reason why we lead in rebounding and that’s because we go after it, it’s our identity,” the head coach added.
“We always talk about wanting to lead the league in offensive rebounding. When teams talk about Bristol, one of the things they always say is they’ve got to win the battles of the boards. We have guys that just really go after and that relentless [approach] really takes it out of you.
“We might not necessarily be converting from those second chance opportunities or those extra possessions, but that wears you down when you get so many of offensive rebounds. The other team has to defend you for another 14 seconds. Even if you don’t convert on those plays, it has an impact, it takes it out of teams.”
The Flyers' small ball line-up more than held their own against Phoenix. While Cheshire profited from their height advantage in the first half, as star big Will Neighbour backed down smaller defenders in the paint, they got into foul trouble on the other end, as Bell III and VJ King drew contact and got to the free throw line.
Bristol also showed a mental steeliness as they found a way in an enthralling encounter to get the dub. They could so easily have folded as, after the lead changed multiple times, a rejuvenated Phoenix - led by guards Larry Austin Jr and former Flyer Marcus Evans - edged out to a seven-point lead.
But guard Brandon Mahan got hot when it mattered, draining two clutch threes down the stretch. The second of which became a four-point play, after the guard drew contact in the act of shooting for the ‘and one’, and the Flyers were back in front.
After a frantic finish of turnovers, fouls and free throws, the teams were locked at 69-69 at the end of regulation.
In overtime five quick points from Bell - including a tough reverse ‘and one’ lay-up and a left-hand hook off a pretty spin move in the paint - followed by a dagger, catch and shoot, long two from VJ King iced the game for the Flyers.
With the win the Flyers improved to 5-1 on the season, after getting off to their best ever start to a BBL season by winning their opening four games, which were all at home and included the scalp of defending champions Leicester Riders. The team is now second in the league table, behind only the undefeated London Lions.
Kapoulas said: “I think it has been a positive weekend for us. It’s certainly good to finish with a win, this double header away, but there is more [to come] from this team.
“We’re not the finished product, we have a lot of areas to improve on in our game on offence and defence, and we’re just going to continue to do this.
“But certainly to finish with a road win puts any doubters out there that we’re a team that can only win at home, it shows we’re able to do it home or away.”
The games continue to come thick and fast for the Flyers, who face a back-to-back this weekend, starting with a rematch at Leicester on Friday (October 28) before returning to their home at SGS College Arena on Saturday, to do battle with the Caledonia Gladiators.
Travelling with his team on the bus back from Cheshire, Kapoulas said guard Tevin Olison - who missed both the weekend’s games with a finger injury on his left hand - could “hopefully” return to the line-up for the next two, but his recovery was being evaluated “day-by-day”.
The coach also said that point guard Michael Miller, who almost notched a triple double against Phoenix (13 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists) would be assessed after he took a knock to the head.
“We’ve just got to see, we’ve obviously got to be careful with all those type of things, and there is obviously a fear of concussion. But we’ve got to go through testing and make sure everything is alright and go through whatever protocols we might have to, if there was that case," he said.
“So it’s something that we are looking at, and we will keep everyone updated on how it’s going. But both of them [Olison and Miller] are doing well, they’re back on the bus as we speak and they’re enjoying their curry.”
