Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas has tipped Justin Robinson's form to swiftly rise after the Illawarra import had a poor night on the floor against the 36ers on Saturday.
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The point-guard's shooting was ice-cold in Adelaide, going 1-15 from the field, as the hosts notched up their first win of this campaign by prevailing 89-80. Illawarra had led by 13 points at three-quarter time before the 36ers - on the back of teenager Trentyn Flowers' superb form - surged home in the last.
Robinson was evidently struggling in just his fourth game back for the Hawks following a lengthy stint on the sidelines due to injury. He played just once for Illawarra in 2022/23 before being ruled out for the entire NBL season after suffering a meniscus tear in his right knee.
"He had a bad night - players have bad nights - but we played him down the back stretch. That way he's our point guard and we've got to ride that wave with him," Jackomas told reporters post-match.
"But he's not going to be down too long, and we've just got to stay upbeat. We've got to let him grow in his role - he hasn't played in a while - so he's still getting back to playing constant games that matter. It was a tough day for him - I'm not going to kick him, he knows it was tough.
"Looking at it (game statistics), it's worse than I thought. But we've got to take it for what it is and he's a better player than that."
The result continued a tough road stretch for the Hawks, who went 0-2 in two days, following a 103-73 defeat to the JackJumpers on Thursday night.
However, there were some positives to emerge in the 36ers game. Sam Froling led the way with 21 points and five rebounds and Gary Clark mustered a double-double (14 points, 10 boards), while Next Star AJ Johnson made his second appearance since arriving in Wollongong.
Hyunjung Lee also had some valuable minutes on the floor after recovering from illness, while Jackomas was happy with the efforts of both Dan Grida and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk.
"Lee has been sick, so it was a question of how much we were going to get out of him. We were trying to get him out there with no practise for the week, so I thought he tried," Jackomas said.
"Obviously Grida's come on quite a bit but there's still quite a lot of game experience that he needs to obtain, even though he's been in the league forever. Wani is trying to find his feet, not just as a guard but as a scorer too - I was happy today that he was able to make a shot. And AJ played some minutes today and I thought his stint was good.
"We've got a lot of developing pieces here. Grida has obviously been in the team a long time but hasn't played, Lee's come in and is figuring out how to play in this team. Wani is changing his role and there's AJ, so it's about figuring that out which is a little bit difficult.
"But everyone has their rotation issues. Everyone is doing that at this time of year and it's getting easier."
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