Gareth Murray knows he has no time for injuries over the next couple of months.
With two vital World Cup qualifiers for GB over the next few days – the first is today against Israel – followed by the Commonwealth Games in just six weeks time, Murray knows he must be in top form.
A recent cortisone injection in the 33-year-old’s knee has got him back to full fitness and the Glasgow Rocks players admits that he cannot wait to embark on what will be a hugely significant two months.
Murray is an integral member of the GB squad which is striving to qualify for the World Cup and having lost their first two qualification matches, the Scot is in no doubt as to the importance of today’s away game against Israel, as well as their second consecutive away-from-home match, on Sunday against Greece.
“These are really important for us," he said.
"They’re must-win games so we’re going in with confidence but as we’re away from home, that makes things a little bit more difficult. But if we want to make it to the World Cup, these are definitely the type of teams we need to be beating.”
Following the World Cup qualifiers, Murray will have little time to rest, with Team Scotland travelling to Australia for the Commonwealth Games in just a few weeks time.
The Scots have been drawn in a pool with England, India and Cameroon and Murray is not in the mood to talk down his team’s chances, with the goal of returning to Scotland with some silverware very much on his mind. “We know England, who will be our first game, well – we know what kind of level they’ll be at, we know their coach and we know the players so that’s a game that we have to win if we are to have any chance to move on to any more success," he said.
"In terms of going up against India and Cameroon, they’re pretty unknown quantities for us – we don’t know much about them at all but we’re feeling good.
"The expectations within the players is that we want to get to a medal game – there’s no doubt about that. And we feel like we have enough talent and enough experience to do that.”
Murray is the one and only member of the squad who has any Commonwealth Games experience having been part of Team Scotland the last time that basketball was in the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
And along with Olympian Kieron Achara, the two veterans will be leading the way. “Kieron and I have the most experience so we have that in the bank and I definitely feel like we have a role to play to keep the younger guys grounded and not get distracted," he said.
"This is what we’ve been going for over the past few years and now we’re almost there, we need to take advantage of that and make the most of it – we can’t just go out there and mess about.
"We’ve got to stay focused and make sure we’re ready for every game and I feel like me and Kieron can be the two guys who can help the team prepare well so that we are ready to go.”
The Scots have been thrown into somewhat disarray with last week’s announcement that head coach Tony Garbelotto had been sacked by Basketball Scotland. Murray, though, is too experienced to be distracted by anything that is outwith his control and the current predicament merely means that he may have to have a little more input to the team – something he is entirely comfortable with.
“Right now, the players don’t know that situation so we don’t know what’s going to happen," he said.
"We just need to concentrate what we can control though. With things like offensive and defensive drills, these things can be worked on with the players – we don’t necessarily need a coach to walk us through that.
"It’s good if a coach has his own philosophies and his own plan but all of the guys on the team know what we want to do anyway. So for us and for whoever comes in as coach, it’s more about game-type situations rather than getting players ready for the games because we all know how to do that ourselves. So we're still feeling positive about things."
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