Sa'eed Nelson reveals how Sheffield Sharks bounced back from 0-4 start

Head coach Atiba Lyons had two spare spots on the 12-man roster – still does – but there was no panic move into the player market.

He trusted his players, and there was a determination from within the camp that the best remedy was to knuckle down on the practice court.

"It was the same old, same old for us, just coming in and practicing hard,” said Sa’eed Nelson, one of four new recruits made in the summer.

"In that situation you don’t forget about the losses, but you’ve still got to move on.

"There’s 30-odd games in a season and rough spells happen, so you’ve just got to practice your way through it."

The strategy worked. Sharks won their next four games, getting back to an even record with last Friday’s marquee win over the previously unbeaten London Lions, the British league’s representatives in European competition this season.

Sharks couldn’t make it five in a row on Sunday, failing to build on a 35-20 lead midway through the second quarter against reigning champions Leicester Riders, whose adjustments on defence and unerring accuracy from three-point range turned the tide dramatically.

"It was a tough game, we started off strong and then they went on a run and we started missing shots we would normally make,” Nelson told The Yorkshire Post.

"They got hot and it was tough to come back from.

"All you can do in those situations is keep playing. They went up by about 15 but there was still eight minutes left in the game. We were up by 15 in the first half and they walked it back. Anything can happen, it’s a game of runs, so you’ve just got to keep playing.”

After a hectic schedule of six home games in four weeks, Sheffield now have two weeks off with the whole league on pause for the GB international break in Newcastle this weekend.

"Going into the break having won four straight and with this defeat now, we’ve got plenty to work on,” added Nelson, pictured, a 24-year-old point guard from New Jersey. “We’ll have a couple of weeks of practice and get back to it.

"You can see that we’re settling in now. We had a good pre-season in Portugal, finding each other and connecting with each other. Then to start the season with four straight losses is tough, so to then bounce back with four straight wins shows that we are putting pieces together.

"We’ve still got a long way to go, it’s a long season. Even with Sunday’s loss we’re still looking up.

“We’re a work in progress, but we’re getting closer to what we can be and I don’t think we’re the best of what we can be yet.”

Nelson scored six points against the Riders and having spent the last two seasons playing professionally in Germany, he is enjoying the faster pace of the British basketball.

"It’s a very high level, the game here is more up-tempo,” he said. “It’s more guard-friendly and that suits me.”