CITY of Birmingham Rockets captain Martyn Gayle looks back at last weekend’s dramatic win at Newcastle – where he hit the winning shot with seconds left on the clock – and looks ahead to Saturday’s home game against Bradford with the play-offs in sight. You can buy tickets for the game HERE
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LAST week’s overtime win at Newcastle was the reason why I love basketball and continue to play it.
It was a much-needed victory and keeps us in the mix for the play-offs this season.
But as for an explanation of why we won, it wasn’t so much our skillset as the fact that we had become fed up of losing.
I think we’d all had quite enough of that, and not getting games over the line after being so close with recent performances. That resilience really shone through.
We just said that ‘We’re not giving anything up today, we’re not losing this game’.
So, we all made the shots that we were supposed to make.
But it was a thrilling finish and, for me, that high, adrenaline rush, those endorphins, it’s what basketball is all about.
🚀 Just three regular season home games remain…
Rockets are back at home this Saturday as Coach Smith’s side welcome Bradford Dragons to Nechells in a 7:30pm tip!
Let’s bring playoff basketball back to Brum!#WeAreRockets pic.twitter.com/6mZXsSa8wJ
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) February 26, 2025
I was happy to make the winning shot, although a few of my former Newcastle team-mates said they wouldn’t be talking to me any more!
It’s always good to lead from the front and by example. So yeah, I really enjoyed that game.
When we look back at the game and see the high level and how tight it was, I think we understood how much it meant and how hard fought it was.
For it to go into overtime shows in itself, that both teams were well-matched, we were even.
🤩 The game winning shot. @MartynGayle delivers from beyond the arc to grab the win!
With 8 seconds on the clock and Rockets trailing by two at the end of a breathless overtime period, the skipper sunk a trademark triple to give Rockets the win against his former side! pic.twitter.com/duNYh6Kdia
— City of Birmingham Rockets (@cobrockets) February 22, 2025
There were some amazing performances all around the squad, but we all chipped in equally. We’re all pieces of of the puzzle.
Now the players in training have been saying we can go on a run of our own for the last leg of the season. Let’s win these games that we’ve got, try and get into those play-offs.
Saturday’s win has re-ignited our season and now we are back home again this Saturday against Bradford.
We have something to aim for in each one of our games – and we still have to play close rivals London. It’ll be a good one for us and we need to get something out of that game.
The D1M standouts confirmed!
More: https://t.co/2MBEXmmYjn pic.twitter.com/P8jRWy64UH
— NBL (@NBLengland) February 25, 2025
Hopefully we can still come out of this season with some silverware. We had a good cup run early on in the year, but now we want to end the season on a high.
Bradford will be different to how they were earlier in the season. Not so much in terms of roster, but in mindset. They’re on a little bit of a winning streak to try and salvage their season. They’re very experienced players and some we know personally.
But we hope the fans will get behind us as they normally do and we can give them another win.
