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Lyons wants a roaring success in play-offs
Sheffield Sharks head into tonight's play-off quarter-final at Leicester Riders full of confidence after an excellent end to the regular season.
Two wins in three days over Scottish Rocks at home and then at Worcester Wolves ensure that Atiba Lyons' men matched last year's achievement of finishing sixth.
And while this equals the worst-ever finish to a campaign, there is a different feeling going into the play-off with Leicester than there was last season.
This time around the Sharks feel they can beat the Riders and make the final four in Birmingham where they'd be the team that none of the top seeds would want to face. Lyons was fairly pleased with his first season as player-coach at the Sharks, but is expecting a tough game in Leicester.
"Looking back at the season, sixth place finish is solid for the start we had," he said.
"We have had so many close games in the start of the season that if we played now may have different results. As a player-coach there is no way to speed up my learning process and I feel I have come a long way personally.
"The Riders are such a scrappy team that you have to be prepared for a fight.. Bradd Wierzbicki has been having some big scoring games.
Defensively Tommy Swanson is very active in the paint and can cause some havoc. They got the better of us in our last encounter and it will be a great first round game."
Leicester won an overtime thriller 84-75 when the sides met at the John Sandford Sports Centre in November, but the Sharks levelled the series with an 82-63 home win last month.
But it was Riders who sealed the season series with an 87-72 victory at the English Institute of Sport on Good Friday.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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