Tip-off: Friday, February 24, 7.30pm (local), WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

TV: ONE 10.30pm (check local guides)

Last time they met: Gold Coast 91 (Worthington 25, DeLeon 13, Gibson 13) d Wollongong 50 (Ubaka 12, Coenraad 10), Round 18, 2011/12, Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre

Back to the future
After Gold Coast’s last disappointing loss, coach Joey Wright went back to some old-fashioned training techniques to instil toughness.

Shortly after, his team unleashed a five-game winning streak where they allowed opponents just 61.8 points a game.

Last round the Blaze’s defensive application went missing for large parts of their loss to Townsville and Wright thinks they slipped back into the habit of thinking offence first.

“What was particularly disappointing was it was rampant throughout the group, it wasn’t just one person,” he said.

“I think they had made up their minds that ‘I’m going to have a good game tonight’.”

Me first?
Wright accused his team of being “a bit selfish”, and pointed to 10 missed free throws and eight turnovers in the first half as sure signs his team wasn’t switched on.

“There were 42 times where we pushed the ball and shot it, or made one pass and shot it. They only did that about 20 times,” he said.

Ahead of this week’s away-home double against Wollongong, Blaze training is set to be intense as a reminder of the effort level required to make the iiNet NBL playoffs.  

“As a coaching staff I don’t think we did a good job of preparing them for this game,” Wright said in last Sunday’s press conference.

“We pulled back a bit and didn’t push them as hard as we should have.”

Manhandled
That’s bad news for the Hawks, who copped the brunt of Gold Coast’s fiercest defence in a 91-50 thrashing the last time they met.

“They manhandled us” Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.

“There was no way we were going to be able to run and execute the way they were defending.”

With this game in front of the rejuvenated “Sandpit” crowd, McLeod will be campaigning for quicker whistles, but his team will still have to do a much better job of navigating the Blaze’s fullcourt defence.

After the Round 18 debacle, McLeod focused training on the discipline needed to maintain composure against disruptive defence and this appeared to bear fruit in their past two games against New Zealand.

Progress?
In their first six contests against the fullcourt pressure of New Zealand, Perth and Gold Coast, the Hawks averaged almost 18 turnovers a game, but coughed up just 12 a game against the Breakers in the past fortnight.

McLeod knows finding answers to the Blaze will be a tougher task for this season’s Hawks.

“Sometimes you get totally taken out of what you’re trying to do by someone who’s got the wood on you,” he said.

“At the moment Gold Coast have certainly got the wood on us. They’ve given us a smack each time.”

The wrap
Last week’s loss leaves the Blaze trailing the season series against both Cairns and Townsville, meaning they can afford few losses for the remainder of the season if they want to qualify for the playoffs.

Blaze veteran Stephen Hoare acknowledged the Hawks will have a score to settle after combined losses of 66 points to Gold Coast this season.

The rebound count in those games was 76-52 in the victor’s favour, combining with Wollongong’s high turnover rate to allow the Blaze 16 more shot attempts per contest.

Just as importantly, the Hawks’ defence allowed the Blaze to take 75 per cent of their shots from two-point range, well above the league average of 68 per cent.

Without significant improvement in these effort areas the Hawks will taste another big defeat.

Prediction: Blaze by 8