An already challenging season for the Goldfields Giants men’s squad has worsened after twin NBL1 losses on the road against cellar-dwellers Bunbury and Mandurah last weekend was further marred by a knee injury on Sunday to US import Lafonzo Smith.
The Giants slumped to 11th place in the 14-team standings after lowering their colours against Bunbury, 94-81, in Saturday night’s opener before handing Mandurah their second win of the season, 120-106.
Barely three weeks ago, Giants coach Scott Manton was confident his group had turned the corner after an inconsistent start to the season by upsetting Perry Lakes, 79-77.
Instead, the team has lost four straight games and are facing the prospect of Smith being sidelined for an extended period.
The full extent of Smith’s injury was not known on Monday.
Manton, however, conceded that there was little room for error as the squad dropped two games and percentage outside the top-eight — especially if Smith was out of action long-term.
“It looks like a serious injury at this stage,” Manton said.
“Lafonzo was having a very good game on Sunday, but just reached for the ball on the baseline, over-extended his knee and obviously came down with some serious pain.
“He left (the stadium) in a wheelchair, is staying in Perth at the moment and management are doing what they need to do to follow-up with doctors, referrals and hopefully getting him in for an MRI — just to see the extent of the damage.
“We definitely know he’s going to be out for a period of time.”
Manton was critical of his players’ willingness to absorb pressure in games and said the two losses negated the benefit of three upcoming home games in a row.
“Saturday night was a case of not understanding what we needed to do and how to execute, which was most frustrating because for a while there, we just didn’t have any fight,” he said.
“In the moments that mattered throughout the entire night, we didn’t appear to be up for the challenge.
“Things went against us, which is a common theme over the past few weeks, but not through any lack of preparation which was as good as you could expect it to be.
“We had two solid hitouts during the week, it was really clear what everyone had to do and our (regular) scouting was done.
“Unfortunately under the spotlights and the game-night pressure, we trained better than we played.”
In terms of what lies ahead for the squad, Manton was brutally honest.
“At the moment, if we were to make the eight, we’d possibly be just making up the numbers,” he said.
“That’s a reflection of the season we’ve had, constantly trying to put the right pieces together and building some continuity.”
With an overall win-loss record of 5-10, the Giants lead only Bunbury, East Perth and Mandurah in the standings.