Tara Murray
Defence will be the key for the Keilor Thunder early in the National Basketball League 1 South season.
The Thunder, which has had a disjointed off season, started its season with an 88-73 loss to the Knox Raiders.
Coach Liam Glascott said that they were hurt for not coming to play for a full 40 minutes of basketball.
“It was good to be back, but it was not the result we were hoping for,” he said.
“The group is slowly coming together. The off court chemistry is good, but on court it will take some time.
“Our ability to defend the pick and roll and some Spanish action, was what they wanted to do and we didn’t rotate.
“They pushed things in the third quarter and we weren’t able to execute.”
Zac Triplett top scored with 23 points for the Thunder in the loss as the starters did a lot of the heavy lifting.
Glascott said they believed they had a lot of scoring power, but it was about making sure they defended well and executed the scout.
The Thunder weren’t at full strength for the season opening, with only 12 of their 15 man squad available, with some of those on minute restrictions.
Glascott said it had been tough, but a lot of other teams were in similar positions of the team coming together late.
“We still have one more piece to add to the group,” he said. “One player we haven’t announced.
“We only had two and half weeks as a team before game one.
“We didn’t get everyone together as quick as we would have liked.
“There were NBL commitments, holidays, visa issues and some niggles. It means some of the young guys have got an opportunity to see where they are at.”
Glascott said Cruz Beasley was the most impressive of the young guys in game one, playing nearly 10 minutes.
Beasley is returning from elbow surgery, with Glascott saying he and some of the other younger players had the opportunity to seal their spots in the program.
The Thunder were set to be back in action on Friday night in the first of two matches for the weekend, both after deadline.
The Thunder were set to host the Ballarat Miners on Friday night before facing the Melbourne Tigers on Saturday night.
Glascott said with the season more condensed they were going to see a lot more double headers.
“We were lucky that we didn’t get any mid week games, but there’s a lot more back-to-back matches,” he said.
“Of the 14 rounds, eight of them we have back-to-back matches. Hopefully we can get the win on Friday night and then back it up on Saturday.”
The Thunder’s women’s team was also set to face the Miners and Tigers on the weekend.
