Tyson Demos.
NBL
The Wollongong Hawks won't offer a weary Townsville Crocodiles any mercy in tomorrow's stoush at WIN Entertainment Centre.
Townsville took on reigning champions New Zealand last night in Auckland and will fly back to Australia today to prepare for their third game in a week.
It's a different story for the fresh and fit Hawks, who haven't played since beating Cairns on the road eight days ago.
Two-time Olympian Glen Saville made no secret of Wollongong's plans to test the Crocs' stamina.
"When a team is playing the second game of a road double and travelled a lot, you always have to do that, without a doubt," the Hawks' 19-season forward said.
"We've got extra days of recovery and preparation up our sleeve, so we'll definitely come out and play up-tempo if we can.
"Our league has some guards with some pretty good quickness, so with [Hawks guards] Rhys [Martin], Adris [Deleon] and Lance [Hurdle] rotating around out there, it's given us a pretty good look.
"If the game needs to slow down a bit, that's the style we'll adapt to as well, but we'll definitely look to test out their legs."
After giving up 76 points in their opening-round win over Sydney, the Hawks conceded a miserly 58 in the triumph over the Taipans.
Saville believes his side can go a long way this season if they replicate last week's defensive effort on a regular basis.
"Defensively, last week's game wasn't the best from a spectator's perspective, but we're not going to apologise for that," the 36-year-old said. "We're going to disrupt teams as much as we can. That's part of our system.
"Even last season, the two teams that played in the grand final were the two teams that disrupt the best. It's the style of our league now, teams applying a lot of pressure up the floor.
"We probably don't do it a hell of a lot in comparison to Perth and New Zealand, but we do switch a lot and zone a lot, so that requires a lot of communication and effort and we'll continue to do that."
Hawks guard Tyson Demos will play his first game of the season tomorrow after successful knee surgery six weeks ago.
"Tyson's had a pretty good week and it'll be good to have him back to do his thing," Saville said. "If he gets an opportunity I'm sure he'll be keen to come out and give it a really good crack."
Saville said the Hawks would not spend all their energy on stopping Crocs import and former Hawks star Gary Ervin.
"We're familiar with how he plays, but there probably wouldn't be too much focus on him," he said.
"They have some pretty good shooters and we have to be wary of those guys like [Pete] Crawford and [Mick] Cedar.
"We're taking things in our stride and we realise it's only two games into the season. We're playing good team basketball, which we had through the preseason. We get a lot of comments about how well we're doing, so there's a good feeling among the team at the moment."
