WOLLONGONG HAWKS coach Gordie McLeod was blunt in his appraisal of his side's performance following Friday night's disappointing 61-59 home loss to the Taipans, the two-point defeat the latest of seven straight losses that have left the Hawks on the foot of the NBL table.
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''In the end we suffered in areas that hurt us all season,'' McLeod said. ''We gave away too much possession, too many turnovers and too many offensive boards and it hurt us, and they keep coming back to haunt us week in, week out.''
The Hawks turned the ball over 15 times to their opponents' 10 while grabbing only six steals to the Taipans' 11. When combining second chance scoring opportunities with points scored from turnovers, Cairns amassed 19 points to the Hawks' six, a massive difference that can be attributed to intensity, focus, and the Hawks Achilles heal - consistency.
''We're really struggling to put four quarters together and our lack of focus is hurting us,'' the 2010 NBL coach of the year said. ''We're getting out-worked on the boards and turning the ball over when we're under pressure. So ball control is definitely an issue. You have to give opposition credit for the disruption they cause and the way they are scouting us, but a lot of it is our decision-making and our execution under pressure. We're too sloppy with the ball.
''In the end it's hard enough for us to score without giving teams five to seven extra possessions. So that's hurting us dearly and the only way we can turn that around is to work hard at practice and give some teams a bit of their own medicine.''
While struggling to win offensive and defensive rebounds, the Hawks are also lacking in scoring. They have tallied the least amount of points of any team this season with their usual strong suit, perimeter shooting, letting them down. ''A lot of those shots are good shots, open shots and it's pleasing that we have those opportunities. The disappointing thing is that we're not knocking them down,'' McLeod said.
While quick to analyse the negatives of the loss, McLeod was impressed with forward Oscar Forman, who led the Hawks' points-scoring with 19 points and seven rebounds with point guard Rhys Martin amassing 16 points. However, Friday night saw the bench fail to make an impact.
''We got more of our starters playing to the level that we would expect but that impact from the bench, apart from Tyson Demos who was good, wasn't there, and it hurt us. The biggest thing we're not getting each game night is enough players on each night giving their best.''
