The Wollongong Hawks face their moment of truth in tonight's confrontation with the Gold Coast Blaze at WIN Entertainment Centre.
Thrashed 88-60 by the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday night, the Hawks arrived back in Wollongong yesterday afternoon and went straight home to rest and recover for the critical clash with the Blaze.
While their pride took a beating against the Breakers, the Hawks got through relatively unscathed and should be at full strength tonight.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks Victory is vital against the second-placed Blaze.
If fourth-placed Wollongong (13-12) lose tonight, they will be faced with the daunting prospect of having to win next weekend's final-round games against Melbourne (home) and Adelaide (away) to book a place in the semi-finals.
There was nothing awe-inspiring about the dismal performance against the Breakers, but Hawks coach Gordie McLeod was confident his side would drag themselves off the canvas and stay focused on clinching the club's first play-offs berth in four years.
"The positive thing is that we've shown throughout the year that we've been able to bounce back pretty good," he said.
"All year this team has shown a lot of character and a lot of fight, and in this league you're going to take some hits. We've taken a hit and we have to make sure we don't lose our confidence and belief in the way we play.
"We have to evaluate (the loss to New Zealand) and move on. We have to get our recovery protocols in place and come out with a real positive attitude on Saturday night.
"We have to come back and play hard against the Gold Coast."
After turning over possession a massive 28 times in last month's road loss to Townsville, the Hawks spent a lot of time at training on alleviating pressure on the ball-carrier.
But their offensive woes continued against the Breakers and they finished with 19 turnovers.
The word is clearly out among rivals about the Hawks' problems against full-court defence and defensive double-teams, particularly in enemy territory.
McLeod said his side was missing the offensive input of injured guard Tywain McKee.
"On the road we're just struggling without Ty McKee to find ways to score, especially when teams get up and double us and get it out of our point guard's hand," he said.
"We're really struggling with that situation at the moment and we have to find ways to handle it better than we have been."
The Hawks trounced Gold Coast by 21 three weeks ago at WEC and are keen to improve their home record to 12-1.
The Blaze took on Perth at home last night and will only arrive in Wollongong a few hours before tonight's match.
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