Three big road losses already in NBL27 has coach Adam Forde knowing that the lack of resilience the Cairns Taipans are showing has to stop now and he's going to find out in Melbourne on Saturday if they are willing to dig deep and respond.

Cairns lost a third straight road match to start the season with the New Zealand Breakers beating them 98-75 in Auckland on Wednesday night.

Straight after the game, Forde didn’t mince words in explaining where the team is at just four games into an NBL27 that promised so much.

"We're not in a good spot at the moment and the big thing is that it's all on the mental side and I'll wear that," Forde said.

"We knew this stretch was going to be a tough part of the schedule and it doesn’t get any easier in a couple of days, but there's no game that's gonna be easy and this was a moment to really build some resilience and we don’t have that.

"There's things that compound, sure, but where we're at is that we don't answer the challenge and there was good indicating signs early on, but right now it's about finding something that works knowing that guys need to sacrifice something within themselves, and each other.

"It's about building some resilience and we don't have that, and we're battling some ghosts at the moment, and it's all gonna be a good topic to look back on and say this is a crossroads for us where we recognise where our deficiencies are, and we improve on it.

"Or it ends up being a long season and again, I wear that and that's on me and how we've prepared this group, and we have to be a little bit more robust."

The Snakes might have had a solid home win against the Tasmania JackJumpers last Wednesday night, but now in the three road games to start the season they have lost by 21 points to the Sydney Kings, 14 to the Adelaide 36ers and 23 to the Breakers.

What Forde is seeing from his team is disturbing so early in the season with a lack of resilience to dig deep and do what's required defensively, and the focus to execute what they are trying to run offensively.

That was all clearly evident at Spark Arena on Wednesday night with Parker Jackson-Cartwright allowed to do as he pleased for the Breakers and the Taipans looking disjointed offensively putting up just 75 points on 39.7 per cent shooting.

The problems have been aired, now Forde knows it's up to the players to respond if it means enough to them.

"It's all upstairs, and it's about trying to find that balance of instilling the confidence to also manage what true accountability is," Forde said.

"The things that we review in video is all on the physical side and we can clean those things up, and there's missed opportunities of where we can look to find better options, and then there's a bunch of shots that didn’t drop with a level of hesitation with some guys.

"It's all to do with the confidence side of things and it's about trying to find that balance."

Forde knows that a team featuring the experience of Jack McVeigh, Keanu Pinder, Jaylon Brown, Jonah Bolden, Sunday Dech and Shaun Bruce not to mention the other talent on board shouldn’t be performing as they are.

As a result, he is expecting the right response in Melbourne against United on Saturday.

"I am (expecting a response) and it's got to be the darkest before the dawn, and it has to be in a pretty shitty spot and right now it feels kinda crap," Forde said.

"The guys are in there saying the right things and you see it on their faces, and they're not a bad group and they all get along, but I think we need to be at each other a little bit more.

"There needs to be that level of robustness and it's one thing to praise when things are going well, it's another thing to really truly hold each other accountable.

"That includes me and what we want to do on our day-to-day at practice, and we'll change a little bit, but it's important that we don't drastically throw everything out because then it just shows that we don't back what the playing group is or our style of play.

"We've gotta get down in stance, we've gotta defend and rotate, and the actions are there but you've really got to commit to it. You really have to commit to some of these actions and rotations, and how we want to defend.

"When we have hesitation on trying to protect our own, there's a level of selfishness to that, and when we go down to try and win it with Hail Mary shots on the offensive end, there's a level of selfishness.

"True accountability is keeping everybody in check with both sides of the ball."

Second-year Taipans guard Reyne Smith had 10 points and three rebounds in his 14:36 in the game against the Breakers and echoed the thoughts of his coach, and is confident the Snakes can turn it around.

"We've got a game against Melbourne on Saturday so you can say all the right things after a game, but you have to take it into action and I guess that's where you find out on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to that game and I'm hoping all the guys respond," Smith said.

"It's only Round 3, it's early days and I think if we're going to pack up the season now, I don't know what we'd be doing here. I have every reason to believe every guy in the locker room takes in what was talked about after the game, and responds the right way.

"There were times in that game where we were getting stops but down the offensive end we weren’t scoring, and there were times we were scoring but then couldn’t get a stop so I think both those things go hand in hand.

"You have to take the same level of pride in both executing what you want offensively and going down and doing it on defence too especially if your offence isn’t rolling.

"You saw it in the last quarter when they got whatever shot they wanted and got themselves into rhythm, and just weren’t missing, so we have to take pride in both offensive and defensive ends."

Chris Pike

'Bad spot' Snakes need to find resilience