So far our team has managed to get only a single away win. In search of a second, we will head to Dabrowa Gornicza to take on MKS.
Piotr Blechacz and his team have awaited a league win for a month and a half. On the 7th of December, we defeated HydroTruck Radom 76:70. From that moment on, a string of 8 losses was all that we got. In terms of away matches, only 1 out of 11 such endeavours ended in a win (Tricity derby). A chance to turn the tide will be this Thursday at the Dabrowa Hala Centrum.
MKS has had a bad entry into the Energa Basket Liga this season. Six losses were noted at the very onset. Adding to that the previous pre-maturely ended campaign, coach Alessandro Magro and his team were not able to win in over a year! The board was patient, however, and did not terminate Magro. The change finally occurred. Our rivals are one of the top 8 teams, with a 10-13 bilance and being certain of remaining in the ekstraklasa. A great achievement, considering the long stretch of bad luck. Especially since their star player - the British Sacha Killey Jones (19 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2 blocks) is unavailable since November due to a serious knee injury.
Lee Moore (18.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists) has become team captain since then. The 25-year old is the best player in the league, with his eval score being 22 per match. Moore is a great stealer, with almost 2 balls stolen on average. A great move was contracting the frontcourt Malcolm Rhett (14.7 points, 5.9 rebounds). The center has moved from Gliwice recently. Elijah Wilson (13.7 points, 3.2 rebounds) is a threat from long range, who is quickly rising as one of the offensive leaders in the team. Polish playmaker Andrzej Mazurczak (10.3 points, 4.5 assists, 1.3 steals) is in a good disposition, which resulted with him joining the National team. Michal Nowakowski (9.6 points, 4 rebounds) is well ingrained in the team. An average of long-range throws delivered by him is 4, a high score for a forward. The bench is closed by two foreign players: Serb Milivoje Mijović (8.4 points, 5 rebounds) and Lithuanian Vytenis Cizauskas (8.3 points, 3 assists) and the experienced Marek Piechowicz.
Both teams need this win. MKS needs it to guarantee their place in the playoffs. Gdynia needs it to stay in the Ekstraklasa. Who will be the victor? Find out on Thursday, 28th of January at 17:30 on Emocje TV.
