'Iso ball' Hawks get smacked by Kings' Carr

• All 165 games of the NBL27 season in one list
• Every NBL27 roster, squad list and projected depth chart
• Every injured NBL player, with expected return dates
• Hammer Time: Who is leading the league in dunks

Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum says his team has to "hold the fort down" until they add an extra import player to save their season after a 108-82 drubbing at the hands of New South Wales rivals the Sydney Kings at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

Makur Maker rewarded Tatum for propelling him into the starting line-up, continuing his hot form since joining the Hawks with 24 points on top of seven rebounds and three assists, but it was nowhere near enough as Illawarra couldn't ba ck up from their impressive win over Melbourne United last round.

Six players scored in double figures for the Kings with import big man Andrew Carr having a breakout game in his first NBL season with a monster double-double of 16 points and 20 rebounds, while star point guard Kendric Davis also had 23 points and 14 assists.

Still with an import spot to fill after the early departure of Darius Days, Tatum said the Hawks "were right there" in locking in a replacement.

"We're working every day, on the phone every day, doing our best to find the best piece available that's going to fit this group on and off the court," he said in his post-game press conference.

"So we're right there, we're right there. We just got to hold the fort down."

Tatum said some of his players resorted to "iso ball" which cost them against the suffocating defence of the Kings while Milton Doyle continues to struggle to produce for the Hawks.

"(The game) probably changed sometime in the second quarter, where they started to pull away a little bit as far as us turning the ball over," he said.

"We went into some iso ball here and there and they just turned their defence intensity up and find a way to get easy baskets.

"Just us, at times, going rogue offensively.

"I got guys, at times, that feel that they can or haven't touched the ball in a while, like to go get a shot up instead of trusting the offence and making Sydney work on the defensive end.

"Clearly we haven't (figured out how to use Doyle) right now, but that's something that he's striving to get to and then we're working with him diligently to see how we can make him more effective or get him to a spot to be more effective.

"It's just a process and unfortunately, it's a tough end for us right now being 2-7... But I still have a thousand percent faith in this group to be able to bounce back Saturday."

Kings coach Brian Goorjian praised the efforts of his bench players and admitted the Hawks were a dangerous team coming into the clash after the victory in Melbourne.

Goorjian said Carr, whose double-double included 16 defensive rebounds, has been a significant reason behind the team's improvement throughout the early stages of the season.

"I think all the guys know, (it's his)first year, and he's young and he's never played overseas before, and we see it at practice, not only do we got a great locker room guy and team guy, but he's a really good basketball player," he said.

"(He's) multi-skilled, can guard multiple positions, can make decisions with the dribble, can play with his back, we're pretty fortunate there, and that was a big, big, big signing, with the loss of Tim (Soares), who was so great for us last year, so we feel he's only going to get better, and it's been a constant.

"If you go to the first game and you go to the last three, even though we haven't been great, we've been getting better, and he's been a big reason for that."

Illawarra host the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday while the Kings play away against United on Sunday.