The Perth Wildcats won all four of its games during January and that earned Rob Beveridge NBL Coach of the Month honours and while that is a nice pat on the back that he is proud of, he is more focused on maintaining the strong form of the team from over that period now starting this Friday night in Cairns against the Taipans.
Having closed out 2011 with big wins over New Zealand and Townsville, the Wildcats began January with home wins over Melbourne and Gold Coast, then won a thriller in Sydney and finished out the month with a thumping 32-point victory at Challenge Stadium over the Crocs.
That led to Beveridge being named the Coach of the Month for January and while such awards are the last thing on his mind, it's always nice to receive some acknowledgement.
"If you are going out for accolades or things like that then you are in the wrong business. That's not what coaching is about. It's about trying to make other people around you better, but in saying that it's always good to be acknowledged," Beveridge said.
"It's a tough gig being a coach and a lot of the time generally it's the players who get all of that. It is nice to get a pat on the back every now and then and I will take this as a pat on the back from my peers. I'm pretty happy about that."
With the Wildcats going on such a good run through January, Beveridge knows that it took a lot of work from everyone involved to end up on a six-game winning run including the last two games of 2011.
"The guys are really coming together and we went 6-0 over a period of time when we were playing some great basketball. I think the players are just going to that different level and that helps, but we have been working so hard for such a long time," he said.
"The support staff are working their butts off and so are the strength and conditioning, and medical staff trying to keep their bodies right. It's all about consistency and we had that during that period of time so that's why it has happened."
Not only was Beveridge named Coach of the Month, but forward Jesse Wagstaff was also given Player of the Month honours and the coach was delighted for him.
"Jesse is all about consistency. I've always said that he is going to be a great player and I think he just lacks a bit of self-confidence at times," he said.
"With him being selected in the Boomers that has been fantastic for him and that that has helped trigger him a fair bit. This season he has definitely had some great games, but that consistency for the last month was very special."
As for what Beveridge feels was the turning point for the season, he highlights the December 17 loss on the road to Gold Coast that the 'Cats were able to bounce straight back from and win their next six games.
"The turning point for us was the Gold Coast game when we gave up that 20-point lead. That really hurt as a team and we did a bit of soul searching after that," Beveridge said.
"We talked about how if we were going to be a legitimate team we've got to get better and not just talk about it, but have some action. That's what we did and it was all about action rather than just talking about it."
The Wildcats now return to the road to face Cairns on Friday night looking to win on the Taipans' floor for the second time this season, and Beveridge knows that his team now actually likes playing away from home which is evidenced by a 7-4 record so far this campaign.
"The way you win on the road is to do it when you are good enough. We are getting to a stage of being a very good team," Beveridge said.
"Whenever we have played Cairns it has always been on the back end of a road trip and that's always been the case in the last five years. For us to actually beat them the last time was fantastic so we go in with a lot of confidence that we can beat them up there."
