Hawks hit offensive low in loss to United

It sounds harsh, especially from the the world's nicest man Andrew Gaze, but it was an apt description of Illawarra's offensive return in a 75-65 loss to Melbourne United on Sunday.

In what was a grinding clash, both teams struggled from the field, but the Hawks were no chance shooting 31 per cent from the field and an awful 5-25 from three-point range.

Normally among the best shooters in the league, Justinian Jessup (13 points) and Tyler Harvey (11) shot a combined 10-33 from the field and just 1-14 from the perimeter.

Sam Froling had 11 points and 11 rebounds in a double-double, most points coming the final term, but it was a simply forgettable night at the offensive end.

Having forced 18 turnovers and pulled down 20 offensive boards, it was clear where the issues lay and Goorjian said it was the effort of a worn-down team.

"I thought defensively we hung in there and did what we had to do but, offensively, we just looked fatigued," Goorjian said.

"You beat the best team in the league on their court, go home for a couple of days, then come back to their court and try and do it again, it's a difficult ask. We're off to Perth in the next one and I think we've been handed [a schedule] that's brutal and it's really going to test us.

"How we play when we play well, getting the ball side to side, cut, move the ball and finish the clock strong with a good play... it's [physically] difficult. Tonight we just couldn't go where we needed to go physically to get the shots we needed to get against a team like [United].

"The cuts were slow, we took quick shots because the process was too difficult. You look at Tyler's shooting percentage, Deng Deng's shooting percentage, Adel's shooting percentage, Justinian's shooting percentage... they were all shots that were contested and a lot of them were early.

"I know we kept the ball alive with some rebounding but I thought the key was that shooting percentage and [lack of] process to get a good shot."

Goorjian said he'll need to change things up in Wollongong this week to freshen up his side, but said it's not something that can just be fixed with a day off.

"It's not practice and it's not a days' rest, it's a grind of travel and play. It's about a mental [grind]," Goorjian said.

"We didn't play a good game of basketball, but why? There is fatigue there in what we're doing. When we get back home I'm going to have to take a deep breath to mentally freshen these guys up and give us our best chance down the back stretch.

"I think the way our schedule is going the bench is going to be huge. We've been in desperate situations leading into this game, we lost a few in a row and I really tightened the rotations and sat on six or seven guys to get those wins.

"[I'm] just not going to be able to do it with the current schedule. Emmett [Naar] got more time tonight because I thought Tyler was worn, I thought Justinian was worn.

"That's why Isaac White got more minutes than he's been getting recently. I had to go deeper into the bench and those guys are going to become important pieces for us if we're going to win consistently through this back half of the year."

Jock Landale was the unstoppable force, particularly with AJ Ogilvy and Froling in foul trouble, finishing with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Chris Goulding was cold early on but had 12 of his 16 points in the final term to save his team the ignominy of five straight losses and keeping a hold on second spot on the ladder.

It will leave Brian Goorjian with plenty to look at ahead of Friday's road trip to Perth to take on the Wildcats.

It was a sluggish start for the both teams, going a combined 3-15 from the field before the Hawks got hot and shot out to a 14-4 lead and forced Vickerman into a timeout.

United went 14-5 out of it to level up at 19 apiece at quarter-time. The tit for tat continued, with a furious Vickerman calling timeout with the scores locked at 29 and delivering an epic spray.

Goorjian delivered one of his own moments later as the grind continued, Jessup ticking things over to eight points and Landale the focus at the other end with nine.

Goulding moved to four points on a rare slam as the hosts lead swelled to six, with Harvey having the final say of the half with a couple from the line to cut the margin back to four at the break.

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Harvey and Landale traded threes to start the third, but it was Landale who kept it going, taking his tally to 17 as the hosts enjoyed an eight-point cushion.

Emmett Naar added an important four points from the bench to finish another low-scoring quarter that saw the Hawks trail by seven at the final break.

The scoring pace stayed slow to start the fourth but picked up when Goulding had five points, including his first triple, on a 9-3 run that forced Goorjian to burn two quick timeouts.

McCarron extended it to 11 before Froling finally ended his side's drought of almost six minutes but a four-point play finished at the line from Goulding proved the dagger.