David Aliu believes that there can be no excuses for Cheshire Phoenix in the coming weeks as they look to secure a play-off berth.
Club captain Aliu hit 20 points in a 89-88 success at Surrey Scorchers on Friday night, a triumph of considerable importance for head coach John Lavery’s side as the race for the BBL post season hots up.
Phoenix welcome Surrey to the Cheshire Oaks Arena this Sunday, and Aliu believes that if the club are going to qualify for the play-offs and take a decent seeding then momentum has to be built now.
“Friday was a big win for us but we need to continue that and take it in to Sunday now because things are getting congested in the play-off area,” said 34-year-old Aliu.
“We need to put together a run and try and get some momentum going into the play-offs, but that’s something that loads of teams have struggled with this season.
“We’ve had a win here, a win there, but we need to start being more consistent and execute better down the stretch so we can be in a good place come play-off time.”
READ: Cheshire Phoenix claim Friday night success at Surrey Scorchers
With the top eight teams qualifying for the post season, Cheshire currently lie in seventh spot, just two points clear of Leeds Force and Plymouth University Raiders who are tied up in eighth.
And while simply qualifying for the play-offs is goal number one for Cheshire, who reached the semi-finals under John Coffino last post season, finishing as high as possible to avoid an early clash with the likes of Newcastle Eagles and Leicester Riders is also important.
“It’s all about match-ups but, to be honest, it doesn’t matter who we play in the first round because you would have to play them at some stage if you win,” said Aliu, who passed the 3,000 career-point mark in the BBL last month.
“It’s not ideal to be playing Newcastle or Leicester early on as they are on a different platform from everybody else at the moment.
“But the likes of Worcester (third in the BBL), we’ve taken the head-to-head with them this season so we know that we can compete with every team.
“We just have to look after ourselves, though, and make sure that we execute well and compete for a full 40 minutes. This Sunday will be tough, Surrey are better than the table suggests, definitely.”
