Tatum frustrated at free throw count

Justin Tatum is growing increasingly frustrated that the Illawarra Hawks seemingly aren’t being rewarded for attacking the basket after Monday's 91-88 loss to the Adelaide 36ers.

Illawarra ended up scoring 50 points in the paint to Adelaide's 40, but the 36ers attempted 20 free throws to just 10 from the Hawks. That was after a 30 to nine differential in their previous meeting also at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

While Tatum wants his team to make it a focus of trying to score inside, he might need to rethink that with such lopsided foul counts.

"The guys wanted to give a better effort than they did in the first half, and we scored 50 points in the paint and only shot how many free-throws? 10," Tatum said.

"At the end of the day I guess we need to start shooting more jumpers because you don't get rewarded for attacking the paint and that was one thing that we drive off of.

"We're the No. 1 team in the paint scoring but we always shoot the least free throws. We need to figure that out but at the end of the day it was about our effort in the first half, and I applaud my guys for fighting back in the second half."

Part of what makes Tatum such a good coach for this Hawks team is that he has a chip on his shoulder and takes the attitude that the odds are stacked against Illawarra.

When he lays out the numbers, you can see his point on the free-throw differential.

"We scored 50 points in the paint and shot 10 free throws. We always score 50-plus points in the paint and we shoot the least free throws most of the time," Tatum said.

"There's nothing else to get out of it, we find ways to dominate in areas and we feel we should be rewarded if there's extra physicality because some teams have to do something different to slow you down.

"We just have to find a way to get the wins no matter what it is or who's hands it's in, who doesn’t want to see us where we're at. We have to believe and figure stuff out and keep winning."

Tatum added it was an "unfortunate miss" that a potential intentional foul on Tyler Harvey on the last possession wasn't called. 

Having taken the best shots of teams outside the top six, Tatum is now looking forward to a first place battle.

The Hawks remain in top spot with a 15-8 record ahead of playing for that first place on Saturday night when they host Melbourne United, but looking back on their last two losses, Tatum feels they are taking the best shots from their opposition.

The Hawks have lost two of their past four, a shock defeat to the bottom placed Cairns Taipans who snapped a 15-game losing streak before losing in Adelaide to the 36ers on Monday night.

Illawarra did fall 25 points down late in the second quarter but almost pulled off what would have been a miraculous comeback thanks to 35 points and 13 rebounds from Sam Froling, 11 points in two minutes late from Darius Days, and Harvey having a shot at the buzzer for overtime.

While it wasn’t quite to be, Tatum does feel his team has a target on their back when they come up against teams near the bottom of the NBL standings.

"If they're down where they're at and are down where they are, teams who are down at the bottom end of the ladder and might have a slim chance of making the playoffs or the top six they might give an extra effort especially when they see the top team coming in," Tatum said.

"Whatever their sense of urgency is against us, clearly it's not working for them the whole season otherwise they'd be in a different situation.

"So it's about us and it's not about them, and if they play the Hawks every game then they might be in a better situation but they don’t. We are where we're at and we're going to keep figuring out how to stay where we're at."