14/12/2001
LJ back to drive the Riders

Nurishment Leicester Riders today welcomed point guard Larry Johnson back to their roster ahead of their two top-of-the-table Northern Conference clashes this weekend. In a related move, the Riders have de-registered forward Tim Moore.

Johnson was the Most Valuable Player in May's BBL Championship Final at Wembley as he led the Riders to basketball's biggest prize for the first time in franchise history.

"Who wouldn't be excited in bringing back the Wembley MVP?" said Head Coach Billy Mims. "Last season he was our point guard, our quarterback if you like, he ran the team. We tried to get him back this summer and we're delighted to have done so now.

"Last season, from Christmas on, we had the best record in basketball and the combination of Larry and Ralph Blalock in the backcourt was a principle reason. We felt we had the best backcourt in the BBL last season and now we have reunited them."

Johnson averaged 20 points and 4.40 assists per game last term whilst shooting at 55.80% - the best of any guard in the country - as he helped the Riders to glory in the ntl National Cup and BBL Championship.

Moore has averaged 25.40 points and 9 rebounds in his five outings for the Riders, before sustaining a mysterious ankle injury. Despite struggling to walk and having a lot of fluid on the ankle, there appeared to be no breaks or tears.

"The worst thing about Tim's injury is that our doctors and physios worked so hard on it but couldn't really see what was wrong," said Mims. "It's a devastating blow to lose Tim like that, especially as we've already had to cope with injuries to Ralph Blalock, Jermaine Brown and Karl Brown who've all missed games this year."

Johnson is set to begin his second spell with the Riders in a first v second Northern Conference clash at Loughborough University against Chester Jets (7.30). Riders then travel to third-placed Westfield Sharks Sheffield on Sunday (Ponds Forge, 4.00pm) to cap a huge weekend for the club.

11/12/2001
Moore races into All Star pole position

Tim Moore entered the BBL All Star ratings this week a staggering six points clear of anyone else at the top of the Northern Conference.

Moore has a rating of 58.00 with the next best in the North being Newcastle's Shawn Myers at 52.05. The best the South has to offer is Rico Alderson's 52.73. Moore, aside, a six point gap would usually cover about ten players.

Moore has averaged 25.40 points and 9 rebounds per game in his five outings for the Riders, whilst shooting at 57% from the floor, 40% from behind the arc and 81% from the line.

The ratings are a combination of statistics and star qualities, with the top ten players in each conference automatically for the All Star Game in January. Moore is currently the only Rider in the top ten with Ralph Blalock, Billy Singleton and Jermaine Brown just outside. Blalock and Singleton will fancy their chances of moving into the top ten when their performance against Birmingham comes into play.

Moore entered the ratings for the first time this week despite not playing at the weekend, as the ratings are published on a seven day delay from the games and therefore his last game for the Riders took him to the minimum required to qualify.

10/12/2001
Mims: 'We must prove we belong at the top'

Billy Mims, Head Coach of the Nurishment Leicester Riders, is celebrating his team’s rise to the top of the BBL Championship Northern Conference for the first time, but he says that the hard work is ahead of them to stay where they are.

Leicester’s 88-68 success at home to Pertemps Bullets Birmingham on Sunday evening was enough for Riders to leap-frog Chester Jets into first place. It was the first such occasion for the Riders since the league was divided into conferences in 1999 and before that, Riders had not topped the table since October 1990.

Coach Mims was unsurprisingly delighted. “It’s an accomplishment to be where we are at this point, because everybody knows that we have struggled to get here this season. It’s very satisfying. We are proud of what we have achieved and happy for the fans.

“But let’s be honest, we are top right now because we have played more games than anybody else! Obviously, Chester are still front runners and Sheffield and Newcastle are in the thick of things as well. I’m still proud of the fact that we are top and if we can get everyone healthy and get everyone on the same page, then come March, look out!”

Riders success was achieved despite an injury to Tim Moore, who has damaged his ankle – a worrying development for Coach Mims.

“We don’t really know what’s wrong with him, but he’s hardly walking right now. It’s bizarre. We have done just about every test imaginable, but we can’t figure out what’s wrong. It’s very worrying. It doesn’t look likely that we will have him back for this weekend.”

Riders play back-to-back BBL Championship games this weekend, including a head-to-head with second-placed Chester Jets on Saturday night (tip-off 7.30pm). Whichever team wins that game at Loughborough University will take top spot in the North.

It gets no easier on Sunday afternoon either, as Riders travel up to Yorkshire to take on the Northern Conference’s third-placed team, Westfield Sharks Sheffield. That game is at Ponds Forge ISC and tips-off at 4.00pm.

Mims concluded, “This weekend is a huge weekend for us, because if we are going to prove that we belong at the top of the conference, or belong in the top four, we’ve got to beat Chester and Sheffield.”

07/12/2001
Moore out with 'weird' ankle knock

Tim Moore looks set to miss both Riders BBL Trophy and BBL Championship encounters this weekend with an ankle injury. He is thought to have sustained the injury against Derby last weekend, but rather than healing since then it seems to have got progressively worse.

The injury has baffled the doctors and physios who have looked at it and was described by coach Billy Mims as "the weirdest ankle injury I've seen in my 21 years of coaching."

Moore will definitely take no part in Saturday's game against Brighton which is effectively meaningless for the Riders as they cannot qualify for the trophy quarter-finals and is highly unlikely to play against the Bullets on Sunday.

"I'll not say he's definitely not playing on Sunday," said Mims. "If he is capable, then he wants to go, as he knows we have a chance to go top of the North. But in reality we want to make sure we don't risk losing him for next weekend when we face two big Northern Conference games against Chester and Sheffield."

Moore had an x-ray on the ankle which revealed no fracture of any bones and an ultrasound scan of the tendons show no tears.

"There going to do a few more tests," explained Mims. "But its not sprained, there is no bruising, no swelling, no disfiguration, no fracture, no tendon tear - we've no idea what's wrong but he can't walk on it and they nearly had to give him crutches. He doesn't even really know how he did it.

"There is a lot of fluid in between the tendons, but to quote the radiologist 'there's something going on we just don't know what it is!'

"We're just hoping it responds to treatment. It could be the tendon is stretched where it meets the bone - it is still attached to the bone - but he'll need an MRI to check that. If it doesn't respond to the treatment we'll have to go down that road next week."

06/12/2001
Black day as Giants are withdrawn

The following statement was issued by BBL on Thursday 6 December:

The British Basketball League (BBL) announced today that the Manchester Giants franchise has been cancelled and they have been withdrawn from BBL competitions.

Consequently, the Manchester Giants' home game against Derby Storm, due to take place on Sunday (9th December) at 6.00pm, will not take place.

However, Saturday's fixture (8th December) away to Thames Valley Tigers has been replaced with Thames Valley Tigers versus Kinder London Towers in the BBL Championship (tip-off 6.30pm).

Also, next Wednesday's fixture (12th December) away to London Leopards has been replaced with DG London Leopards Kool Kats versus Thames Valley Tigers (tip-off 7.30pm).

The statement ends a week of speculation over the future of the franchise after they failed to fulfil their fixture with London Towers last week citing financial difficulties. It is a sad end to a club which was a founder member of the BBL and who only 18 months ago were crowned champions.

As a result, the Giants will be removed from all BBL competitions and their record expunged. This means that Riders scheduled home match with Manchester next Thursday (13th December) has now been cancelled.

The removal of matches with the Giants makes Riders 7-5 in the Conference and 0-4 in the Trophy.