Rob Marsden: Time for us to produce backlash in the derby

It doesn’t mean we went up there to be whipping boys. They weren’t on top form going into the game, having lost three of their last five games.

By the end of the game, though, they were back in full flow and we just couldn’t handle them, losing 90-65.

They were seething with the run and they made sure they put it right. Right from tip-off they were the aggressors and we couldn’t keep up or stop them in transition, they were so much faster than us.

We knew how to get at them but just couldn’t execute it. We needed to start strong early again, if we had done that I think they would have got nervy and their heads would have dropped.

That didn’t happen, we were the ones that were struggling to put points on the board and stop them doing the same.

It is hard to judge how well we did compared to the game against Bristol, we were really poor that night.

Despite the loss and the gap, I thought there was a stark improvement in performance offensively and defensively.

You have to remember the opposition we were playing against and the fact they can make any team look ordinary.

We certainly got to them and, in the third especially, we had them on the back foot and we clawed it right back.

I don’t know if they thought they could just come out and roll us over again but we weren’t going to let coach Newby down again.

We rallied and found our range and suddenly we were the aggressors and we caught them cold.

We tried to keep it right to the end but they are the type of team that can hurt you in a flash and they did that, within a minute they were back up comfortably.

But, there is no other game to put things right than against our local rivals the Sheffield Sharks. I, for one, cannot wait for it.

I love playing against the Sharks, and being a local Yorkshire lad from Doncaster this is the game I always look for.

Our record against them isn’t great but we did beat them on the opening week of the season for the first time.

I hope to get that great feeling back on Sunday night. There will be no better feeling to right the wrongs of the last few weeks by beating them.

They have improved since we beat them and they beat us on their floor in front of the BBC camera’s in December.

We were without Jermaine (Sanders) that night and we missed him out on the court. But now we have a full roster, we are determined to win the series. The boys have been focused in training. A bit more than usual, maybe, because I have been in their ears making sure they are all ready for Sunday.

It is a huge game in our season, with where we are sitting in the table so a win is a must and I, for one, am ready to hit the floor hard.

One key thing that got us over the line against the Eagles a few weeks back was the fans. They were unreal that night.

We need that same electricity to raise us to the next level and beat the Sharks again.

I called the Eagles win and would like to sit down next week and say the same knowing we had turned over the fourth-placed Sharks.

l Spare a thought for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Western Conference.

They suffered a 13th straight loss as they went down 112-103 to the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Denver Nuggets, however, equalled the NBA record for three-pointers as they stunned leaders the Golden State Warriors.

Denver hit 24 threes in their 132-110 victory to level the record set by the Houston Rockets in December.

Nikola Jokic returned a triple-double (17 points, 21 rebounds and 12 assists) while Kevin Durant scored 25 points for the Warriors, whose ninth defeat of the campaign equals the amount of losses they suffered in the entire regular season last year.

INTERVIEW: Arif Ahmed