Hawks coach Rob Beveridge has urged his embattled troops to show some accountability on the glass in game two of their final series against the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday afternoon or risk elimination from the NBL title race.
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Illawarra’s finals future will go in on the line at WIN Entertainment Centre after they were out-hustled and out-bustled by Adelaide in 93-78 defeat on Thursday night. A determined 36ers outfit finished with a commanding 56-40 advantage on the rebound count, including grabbing a massive 18 offensive boards.
It allowed the hosts to dominate the opening match of the finals series and gave the Hawks virtually no chance of winning, according to Beveridge.
"You cannot win games unless you rebound, it is as simple as that," he said.
"They are a great offensive rebounding team.
“They get on the glass every single time. They get after it. They did that and that allows them to get momentum and things like that.”
Hawks forward Tim Coenraad, who was outstanding on a losing side with 26 points, agreed with his coach’s assessment.
“If we are going to make a conscious commitment or a concerted effort it has to be on the glass,” he said.
“If we give up 53 rebounds, it is very hard to win. As a team if we have a team to block out actually block out [we need to do it]. Part of that stems from their penetration. They have got guys that follow Sobey and Randle in and they get tips. They found their identity and we need to find a way to stop them getting on the glass and on the rim.”
