Mervin James hoping SLB Cup can kick Sheffield Sharks' season into life
MERVIN JAMES hopes a Super League Basketball Cup competition in which he has a personal incentive to atone can help kickstart Sheffield Sharks’ season.
James was part of the Surrey 89ers team that made it to the SLB Cup final in Nottingham last March, only to run into a humming Sharks team that ended its nine-year wait for silverware.
Now James is a member of the Sheffield roster, albeit belatedly after a blood clot a metre long formed in his leg and prevented him suiting up for his new club until December.
Since finally setting foot on the court, the 6ft 7in forward has proved a key cog for a Sharks team that is far from humming at the minute and struggling to find an identity.
Against leaders London Lions on Sunday he was the only player who found success driving the basket and also sprinkled in two three-pointers and five defensive rebounds.
“We knew their game plan would be to box the lane and protect the lane on the drive so we’d worked on that in practice, getting the next read and trying to get the ball to someone who was wide open and could then make the shots,” said James.
Sharks were successful 15 of 30 three-point shots but fell to a 92-83 defeat, their third loss in four – two of those defeats coming against James’ old team Surrey.
“It was frustrating, it all boiled down to defence at the end of the day,” he added.
“We played tough, we tried to play consistent, for the most part we fell short. We’ve just got to move onto next weekend now.”
That is a SLB Cup quarter-final against Cheshire Phoenix back at the Canon Medical Arena.
The rivalry between the two teams has been growing in recent meetings and James has extra motivation to progress.
“I want to go back and win it back this year,” he said. “As a team, we’re still gelling, putting everything together where you feel like you’re working like a robot. We’ve got to find it now.”
Despite things not flowing on the court as a collective, the 25-year-old is settling in Sheffield after the initial health scare.
“It was tough, I really didn’t understand what had happened until I got to the hospital and they told me what happened,” he explained.
“I’d had a blood clot form from sitting down and not moving around on a flight.
“It ran from mid thigh all the way down to my calf muscle, about one metre long. It’s not nice to hear that.”