Illawarra Hawks coach Goorjian left scratching head after Bullets defeat

Goorjian was critical of some of his side's decisions, in both offence and defence, as the Hawks were defeated in a thriller at John Cain Arena.

With his side in Melbourne for the ongoing NBL Cup, Goorjian said fatigue may have been a factor in some poor decisions made.

"I thought we were horrendous on decisions on the push of the ball," he said.

"We didn't want to play them on the half-court, we wanted to play them on the full-court, we wanted to get stops and run. We didn't want them playing system basketball and we got opportunities there in the third and fourth. In the second, we got out on the break and I just thought our decision-making was horrendous."

Goorjian was also disappointed with Justin Simon's decision to go for a lay-up under heavy pressure from Brisbane's defence late in the fourth quarter. Simon missed the shot, with Deng Adel then sending Victor Law to the free throw line. Jessup missed a subsequent attempt at lay-up, with Simon called for an unsportsmanlike foul, allowing the Bullets to ice the game from the line.

"The deciding factor was the last possession. I was just shocked, everybody knows with 15 seconds to go, you pull that thing out and get the last shot of the game," Goorjian said.

"I think that typified us on the run tonight."

Read more: Red-hot Law fires Bullets to thrilling NBL Cup win over the Hawks

In a see-sawing battle, Illawarra took a slender 51-49 advantage heading into half time.

However, the Bullets came out firing in the third quarter, going on a 14-0 run to break the game open. Law, who finished the night with 29 points, was in devastating form during that period, scoring 11 points.

In the end, that run proved the difference between the sides.

"They made an adjustment at half time on the pick and roll, we were doubling it, and they popped long on a clear side. And it took us three possessions to call a time-out and get a change there. And then I thought we steadied the ship," Goorjian said.

"That falls on me, I was probably a little slow reacting to that. But we did fight back and get back in the game, and get our lead and get the opportunities we needed to win. The game was going to go with runs, and that was a bad one.

"But we fought our way and got back. When we got leads early or came back, in the up tempo play of the game, there were some really bad shots. We've been really good at pushing the ball and getting ball movement, and maybe that's a sign of fatigue. The decision-making falls into the mental side of this.

"But again, we had the ball with 15 seconds to go in a tied game. It's kind of where we wanted to be after being in that kind of a hole, we worked our way out of it, fought back a second time and had the ball with an opportunity to win. And we made a bad decision."