In basketball, defence is about attitude and offence is about precision.
The Otago Nuggets have been sadly lacking in the latter, with coach Alf Arlidge at a loss to explain why his side shot so poorly during its 80-63 loss to the Southland Sharks in Invercargill on Saturday night.
"We had some good looks but just couldn't hit any shots," Arlidge said.
"I'm at a loss. I really don't know why. I don't know if it is the step up to the national league . . . I just don't know."
The Nuggets' scoring percentages have been consistently poor this season but reached a record low at the weekend, with the side landing 20 of its 68 attempts - a paltry return of 29.4%.
There were some mitigating factors.
The camp had a disrupted build-up with injured centre Antoine Tisby cut from the squad and replaced by John Barber.
Barber arrived in Dunedin from Detroit on Friday afternoon.
He produced a jet-lagged performance, landing just one of his 10 attempts from the floor.
Captain Sam To'omata could not find his range, missing nine of his 10 attempts.
And Tom Rowe, Riki Buckrell and James Ross all got good looks at the basket but missed their share of scoring opportunities.
"John was just tired," Arlidge explained.
"He fell asleep at the aftermatch function he was so tired. He showed some brilliant athletic ability and defensively he did some good things.
"And Sam probably put too much pressure on himself."
The Nuggets' problem of drifting off for a quarter struck in the second spell this week, with the Sharks outscoring their opponents 18-9.
The home side cruised to a comfortable 17-point victory which could easily have been worse had coach Richard Dickel not run the bench for the final 5min.
"We just seem to go to sleep. Perhaps it is because we have not played the game enough at this level."
More than 2000 fans swelled Stadium Southland to watch the derby, and it made for an incredible atmosphere, Arlidge said.
A lot of the crowd dressed in orange and the support was very vocal.
Tyler Amaya top-scored for the Nuggets with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
While Barber could not get the ball to drop, he grabbed 10 rebounds and two steals and swatted the ball away for two blocks.
The Sharks relied on their two United States imports, with Mike Helms scoring 24 points and Rene Rougeau 19.
The pair also made 20 rebounds between them.
The Nuggets have a bye this week and Arlidge said the camp would take a hard look at areas where it could improve.
"We are going to sit down next week and do a lot of work on what we think we need to do.
"At the end of the day, we want guys like Tom Rowe, Sammy [To'omata] and Matt Trueman to step up."
In other matches, the Hawkes Bay Hawks beat the Christchurch Cougars 76-72 in Napier on Friday night.
The Cougars bounced back the following evening, but needed overtime to beat the Manawatu Jets 106-101 in Palmerston North, and the Harbour Heat dispatched the Taranaki Mountain Airs 92-83 in New Plymouth on Saturday.
Cam Falconer (35 points) and Jeremy Blair (28) powered the St Kilda Saints to a 112-57 thrashing of the Magic 2 in club basketball on Saturday.
Lewis Barclay added 22 points for the Saints, who established a huge lead by winning the second quarter 30-9 and the third 34-14.
Elton Cotton poured in a game-high 25 points for the City Rise Bombers in their 98-70 win against Otago Boys' High School.
Teacher and former Nuggets forward Brent Matehaere led the school team with 24 points.
Tom Allen (23), Eddie Manco (19) and Jordan Small (18) led a balanced scoring attack in the Magic 1's 96-85 win against the Andy Bay Falcons.
Tom Giles had 23 points for the Falcons, who held a two-point lead at halftime but fell off the pace.
There were wins for both Ajax and Ajax Black in the recent round of women's club basketball, with Renee Johnson scoring 16 points for Ajax in its 92-52 win against Magic A, and Hannah Gentle scoring 17 for Ajax Black in its 56-37 win against Varsity A.
Dayna Turnbull had 19 points for the students.
