Reading Rockets face arguably their toughest weekend of the season when they face National Cup winners, Bristol Academy Flyers in a crucial league game at Rivermead Leisure Complex on Saturday (6.30pm tip) and National Cup Runners up Manchester Magic in the National Trophy Semi-Final at the Amaechi Basketball Centre on Sunday (5pm tip).

 

Rockets go into the game off the back of a comfortable win over basement club, Tees Valley Mohawks last weekend where they beat the team from Middlesbrough by 101-60 under new Head Coach Matt Johnson. Johnson took over last week after the release of Serbian Coach Sasa Punosevac and stated he was fairly pleased with his side's performance although there was still a lot of work to be done during the rest of the season. He said, 'We had a good win over Tees Valley after a difficult week at the club. We have now put that behind us and are concentrating on the task in hand and the future ahead which still looks very exciting for us. Coach P installed some great things in our team and it is now my job to build on those and getting the team playing the way we know we can.'

 

Rockets face a Bristol team who defeated the Berkshire Club's other opponent this weekend, Manchester Magic in the National Cup Final where they overcame the Lancashire team by 63 points to 61 after overtime and Rockets Team Analyst Ben Fisher knows they will pose a big threat to his team especially after being beaten by the Avon team on two occasions already this season. He said, 'Weekends don't come much tougher with the two teams we are facing both National Cup Finalists! Saturday's game against Bristol is a crucial league game as both of us are on 5 wins and 5 losses, and we will be looking to turn around the one point defeat we suffered at the beginning of the season at their place. Having won the National Cup last weekend will mean spirits and confidence will be high within their team and their organisation who thoroughly deserved the first trophy of their history. Bristol has one of the deepest rosters in the league this year so we will need to do a good job not only on the likes of McLaughlin-Williams and Streete who have been prominent in their attack but also the other players involved in their rotations as any one of them can step up and give them something on any given day. We are confident going into the game that we can get the result we want providing we play our game!

 

Rockets then travel to Manchester on Sunday to defend the National Trophy which they have won for the last three years. Rockets have already faced the Magic this year in the league where they were beaten comfortably at Rivermead, however, after their National Cup defeat and the loss of influential point guard Brandon Kimbrough Rockets Team Analyst knows that it is a game that the Rockets will be highly motivated for. He said, 'The trip to Manchester on Sunday is an extremely tough draw for us in the National Trophy Semi-Final. However, because we have held the Trophy for the last three years it is a competition we always look forward to and will give the players added motivation to go and perform and hopefully secure a place in our first final of the season. But it's going to be tough! Despite Manchester still being without the services of Brandon Kimbrough they still have two stand-out players in their team in the shape of Stefan Gill and David 'Tin Tin' Watts both of whom we know a lot about. Their wins without Kimbrough have been more about the rest of their team through this period so we will need to make sure we do a good job with our match-ups and exploit areas we feel will prove advantageous to us. It is always a difficult game up at the Amaechi Centre and it will be interesting to see how Manchester respond to their Cup loss - we hope that the improvements we have made since our last game against them will hold us in good stead going into the game.'

 

The Rockets begin their double-header weekend at the Rivermead Leisure Complex on Saturday when the game tips-off at 6.30pm against Bristol.