Illawarra Hawks coach Rob Beveridge has labelled his team soft after blowing an 18-point lead in Saturday night's 79-77 loss to NBL title hotshots Melbourne United in Wollongong.
The Hawks had subdued the star-studded Melbourne outfit for three quarters before going into a shell in the final period and crashing to their 10th loss in 18 games.
"We were soft," Beveridge said.
"Our game plan and intensity level was such that we dominated that game for 36 minutes. We executed to a tee, except for the last five minutes which was absolute crap. It's really, really disappointing.
"All we did was protect the lead and we went to water."
After three straight wins heading into the Round 13 clash, the loss has dented Illawarra's top four prospects with 10 games remaining.
"I'm pissed off at them, because we have to get some mongrel out there and if we harden up we'll beat anybody on our day," Beveridge continued.
"You can't just roll over like we did at the end and have no hardness. It's a big hiccup because this league is so close that if you drop games like that, it can really hurt.
"I'm speaking emotionally and I'm not apologising for that because this was a massive game for us and we were the better team tonight but we didn't put the foot on the throat when we should've.
"I'll pat our guys on the back when they deserve it and kick them up the arse when they deserve it."
Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman praised the performance of new import Carrick Felix, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds in his second game with the club.
"For Carrick to close out the whole fourth quarter and have such an impact, it's great for his confidence and our team to know what he's capable of," Vickerman said.
"He's a high character guy who's just slotted into this team no problem."
Melbourne are sharing top spot with Perth and still have forwards David Andersen and Majok Majok to return soon from injury layoffs.
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