GOLDFIELDS Giants coach Stephen Charlton says the reigning State Basketball League champions have reached a defining point in their season.

The Giants have won five games in a row, but are set to battle six top-eight sides in their final eight regular season games in the run home to the play-offs.

Charlton is content with the Giants’ current 14-4 win-loss record – good enough for third spot on the ladder.
But he knows what lies ahead in the next two months.

“We would have hoped to be around that mark (14-4),” Charlton said after Saturday’s 93-85 win over Stirling.

“We’re pretty happy with that. We’ve still got to play Lakeside away, Geraldton at home, Wanneroo at home, Cockburn away, we’ve got four of the top six teams we’ve got to play between now and the play-offs.

“We’ve got it all ahead of us, so we needed to be around this mark at this point of the season.”

The Giants were forced to battle harder than they would have liked for Saturday’s win against Stirling, who have lost their past seven games, but Charlton was happy with the result.

“The credit goes to Stirling for the first three quarters – they really made it difficult and really tough for us,” he said.

“We wanted to free it up and run at them a little more as the game went on and I guess we did that.

“We made an effort to push the ball and you get a couple of cheapies, all of a sudden it pads out your shooting percentage a little bit.

“I think we did a good job in the last quarter of pushing the ball and spreading the floor. We made some tough shots as well.”

Saturday’s win was solid rather than spectacular, with the Giants lifting their rating in the fourth quarter.
“I thought Mike (Haney) was good again at both ends of the floor,” he said.

“Alonzo (Hird) was very good, 10 of 11 from the floor and you can’t ask for more than that.

“Todd (Earle) was good. We put him back to the bench with Shamus (Ballantyne) coming back (into the starting line-up) and I thought in the second half he responded really well to that.”

Charlton praised his players for running out Saturday’s match – their fourth game in eight days – strongly.

“Traditionally, this is as tough a game as any for us coming off a triple-header,” he said.

“Everyone’s tired and you can’t get a decent week in at training.

“It’s always a tough game for us. We knew we were physically tired, muscles sore, heavy legs, again it was testament to the guys’ will that they pushed through it.”

Road to the play-offs:
June 13: Rockingham Flames (home)
June 20: Cockburn Cougars (away)
June 21: Kalamunda Eastern Suns (away)
June 27: Wanneroo Wolves (home)
July 4: Geraldton Buccaneers (home)
July 11: Lakeside Lightning (away)
July 12: Perry Lakes Hawks (away)
July 18: Willetton Tigers (home)

Article by Jarrod Lucas (Kalgoorlie Miner)