TAIPANS coach Alan Black says Cairns can not use the absence of star guard Stephen Black as a "crutch" to excuse their recent NBL struggles.
The Taipans have slipped to sixth place on the NBL ladder – with a 5-5 win-loss record – from second place just over a week ago after three consecutive losses.
Their offensive splutters have been highlighted during that time and while they are adjusting to life without Black, who is battling a potentially season-ending back injury, coach Alan Black said that excuse would not wash long-term.
"We’re obviously missing Stephen but we can’t sit on that crutch for the rest of the season," Black said.
"He may not come back and we’ve got a very talented team anyway.
"That’s no excuse, we’ve got enough players in this roster and enough talented people that we can get around that and still win games."
The Taipans’ 89-87 loss to Wollongong on Saturday night gave it consecutive losses to the Hawks who have pushed into the NBL’s top four on the back of those victories.
"I look at our roster against the Hawks roster and the way we’d been playing prior to the last couple of games – we should win these ones, there’s no doubt about it," Black said.
Not having Black Jr’s offensive prowess did not "absolve" others from trying to do a better job.
"From myself down to whoever, we’ve got to do a better job than we are," coach Black said.
"We owe it to Cairns and to the Taipans in the 10th year and the fantastic fans. We owe it to everybody to turn this around and be better than that. We are not to sit there on a crutch and say we were this and we were that and what the reasons are. We’ve got to get it done ourselves, that’s as simple as it is.
"Starting (today) we’ve got to get back on track and be better."
The Taipans experienced a frustrating night on Saturday, their shots failing to drop as they attempted to end an exhausting five-game fortnight with a win.
The Taipans finished with just over 44 per cent from the field on Saturday but Black said that was not the sole tale of the match.
"I still think that we got 10 points up (in the first quarter) and we had a five-point lead at halftime," he said.
"We surrendered that lead within probably two minutes of the (start of the) third quarter.
"That was sort of similar to what happened last time we played the Hawks, in the last quarter we just surrendered the lead meekly. We’ve got to fight."
