London Lions put Liverpool to the sword 78-49 in the British Basketball League on Saturday afternoon. The hosts have now won five consecutive games and sit top of the table with twenty-six victories from thirty-two matches. Liverpool's single game this season ends in another heavy defeat.
And here's the thing — you can see the shape of the game from the opening quarter. Liverpool turned the ball over twenty-five times while London committed just five. By then the visitors were already playing catch-up, and the rest of the match was simply damage limitation.
What struck me watching was how London controlled the glass without dominating possession. They grabbed only thirty-six rebounds to Liverpool's forty-one, but their efficiency was night and day. Twenty-seven field goals from sixty-six attempts against seventeen from fifty-six. To be fair, Liverpool's two successful three-pointers from twenty attempts told the whole story of a shot selection problem.
Eighteen steals for London against four for Liverpool means the visitors were constantly playing a man up. The turnover differential alone — twenty to one — accounts for most of the twenty-nine-point margin. London worked a short corner here and there, but it was the transition game that killed the contest.
The result extends London's lead at the top of the standings. Liverpool, with zero points from one game, have hit a wall before the season has properly begun. The Lions now hold the tie in their own hands — though this is a league, not a knockout, and the real test comes with the tougher fixtures ahead.
