The fact the Illawarra Hawks have not won back-to-back games in over 18 months is not lost on the players.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But co-captain Tyler Harvey stressed after taking part in a competitive scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon that the Hawks were concentrating on the positives heading into this Sunday's stoush in Brisbane against the Bullets.
One of the positives Harvey was referring to was Illawarra's last-start win over the New Zealand Breakers, which coincided with Justin Tatum's first game as interim head coach.
The win on November 19 took the Hawks' win/loss record to 3-7 heading into the December 3 clash against the sixth-placed Bullets who have won five of their 12 games to date.
"We're focused on the positives, obviously we know [the record]. We have to forget about the New Zealand game and focus on this game," Harvey said.
"The wins will take care of themselves, we got to focus on playing the right way day in and day out, that starts with practice and it will carry over to the game.
"We feel that if we can do that, the results obviously will take care of themselves. And if we play our game, we have a good chance of winning."
Harvey said learning to play the 'Hawks way' under Tatum has been helped by the extended break between games but stressed there was still a lot to work on at both ends of the court.
"Training has been unbelievable. Everybody came in after our win with a desire to just want to get better every single day," he said.
"JT has done a great job organising practice and guys going after it.
"We got guys one through 13 that can play so practice is competitive day in, day out and our energy has been unbelievable.
"We're trying to worry about us, obviously scout [Brisbane] but we have to fix things in a short amount of time what JT wants to implement in our offence and defence.
"It's not going to come overnight for us, it's going to take a couple of practices to get used to our new schemes but we apply that defence with the offence we have going I think we are going to create a good rhythm and flow."
Harvey said the players had responded well since Tatum took over from sacked coach Jacob Jackomas.
"We have no choice. This is our job. We're fighting for our lives out here so you have to respond," he said.
"JT has our back and we have his back so we're going to do everything we can to win games."
Harvey said it was still early in the week but the Hawks coaching staff were working on a game plan to beat Brisbane.
"The coaches have an unbelievable scout prepared for us, it's our job to follow it.
"I know they will have film and everything locked down for us to implement in the game and we just got to go out there and do it.
"They've done a great job with the New Zealand scout, and we started talking a little bit about the [Brisbane] scout today.
"They're a great team. It's a tough place to play as well but I think with the game-plan that we will have I think it will work out."
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
