BASKETBALL
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Wollongong captain Oscar Forman is warning his players not to look past tomorrow's NBL clash with an in-form Townsville as the Hawks prepare to tackle two must-win games in 24 hours.
The Hawks host the Crocs in Wollongong before they head to the Kingdome to take on Sydney Kings on Saturday night.
Forman said it was important the Hawks enter tomorrow's game with nothing but the Crocs on their minds.
"'We prepare for one game," Forman said.
"Townsville's the first game; you worry about that you go to business.
"As soon as that siren goes, you worry about your recovery and preparation for the next game but until then it's all about Townsville."
The bottom-placed Crocs, 7-13, are one of the NBL's hottest teams after three straight wins including the upset of the season against leaders Perth last week.
The Hawks, also 7-13, are flying high after a 102-80 win over the second-placed Adelaide 36rs, making tomorrow's match an unlikely bottom of the table blockbuster.
"The last few weeks they've really been putting some stuff together and they're running their offence really well," Forman said.
"They've been hitting shots - [Steve] Markovic is a big danger, he's hitting four or five threes a game.
"They've got a beast inside in [Brian] Conklin; they've got shooters who spread the floor and they get a lot of their stuff in transition.
"That's a little bit similar to Adelaide last week," the Hawks skipper said.
Forman said the Hawks must continue the aggressive approach they showed against Adelaide
"The great thing was we weren't passive; we were aggressive," he said.
"Adelaide are great in transition but we ran it straight back at them and gave them their own medicine so that's something we need to do this week."
Just 1840 people witnessed the Hawks' best performance of the season against the 36rs and Foreman called on Hawks fans to help lift the side into the playoffs in the coming weeks.
"We're at home for four of the next five games and we've got the most home games out of any team in the league," he said.
"For a do-or-die team at the moment, it's great for us and we can take confidence from that.
"The people that are coming have been loud and we absolutely thank them but 1800 is not enough to help us have a home court advantage.
"We need at least 3000 people in here to have it make a huge difference to us."