Tara Murray
Keilor Thunder is starting to fit the puzzle pieces together in the National Basketball League 1 South competition.
After losing a number of close matches, the Thunder had won two of their last four matches, heading into the weekend’s match against the Ballarat Miners.
Thunder coach Liam Glascott said the group was starting to play the way that they knew they could.
“We’re going into every game believing we can win in this league,” he said.
“The morale is really good and at practice you can see the belief and the trust in each other. Hopefully we can get some wins now in the back end of the season.
“It’s a week to week thing. Hopefully we can put ourselves on the other end of those close games.”
Glascott said with injuries there had been changes to the way they play and who was playing what role.
He said the last couple of weeks had been good on the court and at practice.
“It was about having an understanding of what we want to do,” he said. “We’ve had some big guys out.
“We’ve made a couple of adjustments in areas that have helped. We’re starting to look like the team we did in the pre-season.”
One thing the Thunder has looked to make changes to is their rebounding. Glascott has previously said that rebounding has been one of their biggest concerns.
“We’ve been a bit better but in the two recent losses, it was nowhere near where it needed to be,” he said.
“We’ve tweaked where we position ourselves in offence and the on the defensive side, the effort and intensity is getting better.”
In a bonus for the Thunder, Abiola Akintola is set to return to the court on the weekend.
Glascott said Akintola had done his first full practice in 10 weeks last week. With four games in eight days, he said they would ease him in, playing him in just one game in each of the next two weekends.
He said they were also hopeful of some positive news for injured guard Zac Triplett.
“He’s got to see the surgeon, but we’re hopeful of getting him for the last four to five rounds, depending on what Melbourne United want,” Glascott said.
“He’s in good spirits and is at every game and every session. He’s good to have around.”
The Thunder, who sit third bottom, are due to face the Ballarat Miners and the Melbourne Tigers on the weekend.
Glascott said they were both very winnable matches.
