KNOX Raiders coach Matt Shanahan has questioned his players' desire to win after they lost the opening two games of their South East Australian Basketball League season on Friday and Saturday night.
The Raiders lost to Bendigo Braves 77-74 in Bendigo on Friday night and then fell to Frankston Blues 82-76 at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday night.
CJ Massingale was the star in both games with 24 points against the Braves and 29 against the Blues but the Raiders struggled to maintain their defensive pressure.
The Bendigo game was delayed by almost an hour after electricity to Bendigo Stadium and surrounding houses was cut due to an accident.
A late finish in Bendigo didn't help the Raiders' cause heading into the Blues game, but Shanahan refused to use it as an excuse, instead questioning his side's desire after the loss to the Blues.
"I'm disappointed, to be honest," he said. "When you talk about talent, on paper I would say we have more talent [than Frankston] but when you ask who went after it more, then you would have to say they wanted it more and that is disappointing more than anything. You can make excuses but you have to be able to get it done. Some of these guys aspire to be professionals, some of them are professionals, so I don't think travel was a factor."
Shanahan said the Raiders had yet to come to terms with the game plan he was trying to launch and had not played good enough defence against the Blues.
"It's going to be process this whole season, we just want to continue learning and getting better," he said. "As long as we are not continuing to make the same mistakes I can live with that.
"Defence is a major concern with us at the moment, so we need to knuckle down and work on that this week.
"I would have liked to think we are in decent enough condition to get those things done defensively, so it comes down to having a little bit of desire and wanting to get it done. I don't think we did that."
Teenage guard Greg Page was a major contributor against the Blues with 13 points before fouling out.
The Raiders host arch-rivals Kilsyth Cobras at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday t at 8pm.