BASKETBALL - HAWKS
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Wollongong captain Oscar Forman insists the Hawks aren't mired in a confidence crisis heading into Sunday's duel with the New Zealand Breakers at WIN Entertainment Centre.
The last-placed Hawks dropped to 1-4 with Thursday night's 21-point hiding from Adelaide and are lacking chemistry and composure at both ends of the floor.
Some players appear to be unsure of themselves on the court, which Wollongong's opponents have noticed.
"We thought we could confuse them a little bit," Adelaide guard Adam Gibson said after beating them.
"That was a focus for us."
After starting the season with a win over Townsville, Wollongong have lost four straight. The clash with the Breakers will be their sixth game in 16 days.
Forman said the short turnaround between games will keep his team from dwelling on the heavy beating from the 36ers.
"As a player, you're excited to get another chance as soon as you can," the 14th-year forward said.
"You don't want to play a game like that and go through a week of training and have to think too much about it and work out where you went wrong. You want an opportunity to quickly rectify it.
"If we can come back and play a much better team game on Sunday, that can heal a few wounds. Going 1-1 for the weekend is a lot better than 0-2."
One of the glaring needs for Wollongong is offensive balance. Only two players scored in double figures against the Sixers. That was after they had three in double digits in a loss to Cairns and just two in the previous week's loss to Perth.
"The teams we're playing against are getting six and seven guys in double figures and we're not having an even spread," Forman said.
"As the game goes on it's becoming a lot easier to stop us. We need to understand it's harder for teams to stop a lot of guys rather than a couple of guys."
The Hawks should now be more efficient, he said.
"We've been together long enough now that we should be a little more advanced than we are," he said.
"Everyone knows we're a system-based team, so it's just getting to that point where we're comfortable in the system, and getting there as quick as we can. We need to have that understanding of playing with each other and all being on the same page.
"It's one thing to run an offence in training when [coach] Gordie's [McLeod] there to stop it and tell us what to do. It's another thing to be able to do it when the lights are on against tough defence and the crowd's against you."