Hawks' killer instinct 'went missing'

By Tim Keeble
Updated November 5 2012 - 7:34pm, first published January 18 2009 - 9:56am

A lack of killer instinct cost the Wollongong Hawks once again in Saturday night's 108-94 home loss to Melbourne.Down by four after one quarter, the Hawks fought back strongly in the second period and had one of their biggest crowds of the season (2555) talking up a win after building a 57-49 half-time lead.But that's effectively where the party ended, as the Tigers took control and never really looked like losing once they regained the lead in the blink of an eye in the third quarter."We really needed to put the foot on the throat and have that mentality coming out of the locker room, but we were a bit complacent for whatever reason and they jumped us," Hawks centre Cam Tragardh said."Obviously we're deflated, but tomorrow's another day and life goes on, but we know we can't keep dropping games. We have to draw a line in the sand and I think you'll see 10 desperate guys getting all over Townsville (next weekend)."Melbourne coach Al Westover didn't pull any punches with his half-time speech and the reigning NBL champions kept the Hawks to just 37 points in the second half."I got little upset with the fellas," Westover said."We seemed to lack a little intensity when we got up early. We didn't have that killer in us and there was a lack of concentration. I just didn't want our guys thinking that we've had a lot of games this week and it was going to be too much, so I pretty much challenged them to put forth a greater effort. To come out and win the second half 59-37 on their home court was a tremendous effort and our guys showed great character."After underachieving for most of the season, the Tigers (15-8) have won four straight and are back within striking distance of a top-two finish."Top two has to be our goal," Melbourne forward Dave Barlow said. "After last season things didn't feel the same at the start of this season, but after making those couple of (player) changes, things are starting to feel a lot like last season and it's pretty exciting again."It was a big goal for us to come away with four wins, but it doesn't get any easier for us ... we've got New Zealand twice and the Dragons next week."

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