Prentiss Nixon lays out what Sheffield Sharks need to do to secure back-to-back play-off wins against Leicester Riders

That’s the message from forward Prentiss Nixon, who is also tasking the Sharks to concentrate on getting the little things right in order to help them win and force a deciding game three in Sheffield on Sunday.

Not much to ask then, but if you want to survive and advance past the quarter-final round, that’s the standard you have to hit.

Sharks reached those heights for much of the opening three quarters of game one back at the Canon Medical Arena last Sunday night before suffering a mid-fourth-quarter collapse that they never recovered from which allowed Leicester to pinch game one and negate the home-court advantage Sharks had earned by finishing fourth to Leicester’s fifth in the regular season.

The mood in the Sharks locker room this week has been one of not feeling sorry for themselves and as the week has progressed, the objective on Saturday night in Leicester has become clear: keep free-scoring Teddy Allen quiet but not to the detriment of ignoring other players, come up with the big plays when it matters most, and play on any pressure the Riders might suddenly feel.

Illinois=born Nixon, 26, who has brought energy from the bench since joining in November, said: “It’s going to be a tough game, it’s going to be loud, especially a close-out game.

“No matter where you are in the world, what league you’re playing in, when it comes down to basketball a close-out game is always the toughest so for them to try and close on us at home they’ve got to come out with some energy and intensity. That means we’ve just got to come in and match that intensity and when it comes down to crunch time we’ve got to make some plays.

“At the end of the day we’re down 0-1, so the pressure is not on us. There is a pressure on us but not as much as it’s on them, especially playing on their home court. We’ve got to come out with intensity, a sense of urgency and make sure we don’t come out slow.

“We’ve got to swing first. It this was a heavyweight bout we want to land our punch early in the game.

“Then get into the fourth quarter, get some stops on defence and make some plays.”

Because of the British Basketball League’s wider broadcast deals in certain markets in the United States, Nixon expects people from back home to be watching his team’s progress this weekend.

“I think we’ll have a lot of people tuning in back home and we’ll have a slew of people making the journey to Leicester Saturday night cheering us on,” he said.

“I’m excited for this game, excited for the moment and ready to compete at a high level and get this thing back to Sheffield on Sunday night.”

If Sharks do win on Saturday night it is an immediate turnaround for game three back on home court at the Canon Medical Arena.

Sunday’s tip-off time is either 3pm or 6pm depending on how results in other quarter-final ties go on Friday night.

Whatever time it is the club has a race on to get bums on seats for the deciding game, although tickets are on sale via the club’s website now and will be refunded if game three is not needed.

And from a team perspective, the challenge will be to get back home from Leicester, do whatever recovery they can and go out and beat the Riders again to advance to the semi-finals.

“It’s the same situation for both teams,” said Nixon.

“Game three will come down to a battle of the mind, being cerebral in how you play, and really just locking into the small details, because it’s the small details that will help us win this basketball game.

“At this point of the season, we can’t make any excuses - we’ve just got to lace it up and hopefully we come out on top.”

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