Flinn was extremely proud of his side's effort in the 92-87 defeat, with the Hawks coming close to pulling off the upset.

The performance came after a victory over Cairns a week ago and Flinn said it's clear the work the side has put in at training is translating into matches.

"We've had some preparation time," Flinn said. "It's been a whirlwind for us, this start to the year. We've played something like six games in 18 days.

"With a young group we're getting time together and can put plans in place and they're executing the plans. Part of our goal is to not give them any surprises when they're on the floor, so it's autonomous. We did that in this match, the gameplan was tight, we executed it well."

While it was Lamelo Ball who grabbed the headlines on Sunday, Todd Blanchfield also produced an outstanding performance to lead the team with 22 points.

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The shooting guard agreed with Flinn, the 28-year-old revealing the entire squad remains motivated to turn the side's form around.

"Our last two weeks of training have been our best trainings all year," Blanchfield said. "We sort of set the standard last week at training leading into Cairns, the guys are getting after it.

"We've got guys almost fighting at training because they're so competitive. We don't necessarily encourage that, but I think that's healthy for a group.

"We're a team that's willing to train like that and we're obviously willing to put it on the floor as well.

"We backed it up with another good week of training this week and we put on a performance like that. Games we've started well, hustled and worked hard, we've given ourselves a chance. We were just unlucky not to come away with a win."

Perhaps the biggest sign of the team's improvement has been their work on defence, with Ball showing considerable growth on that side of the court.

Both Flinn and Blanchfield were full of praise for Ball after he overcame a difficult first half to ignite the Hawks offence in the third quarter.

The performance came after he had 24 points, seven rebounds and nine assists in the win over Cairns.

For Blanchfield, however, the most pleasing aspect of Ball's recent showings has been his effort and desire to improve at training.

"He's a very talented offensive player, but he's come, from where he was when he first came in to where he is now, he's head and shoulder's ahead of where he was defensively.

"He's making better reads on the fly, his on-ball defence, he gets after it.

"He's naturally gifted athletically, he'll be able to make those reads and learn.

"We've got older guys that have been around like Dave Andersen, they've been helping him every day and he's willing to listen, that's the biggest thing. He's come a long way, especially on the defensive end."

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