Dash Daniels, Yannis Morin and D'Shawn Schwartz gave Josh King what he wants from his South East Melbourne Phoenix players but he doesn't think he's asking too much from the rest – to play with energy, toughness, pride and to fight and compete.
Everything was in line for the Phoenix to continue their momentum on Sunday at John Cain Arena.
They had just won their past two games by a combined 46 points, they had eight days in between before hosting a Tasmania JackJumpers who'd played a gruelling game in Launceston on Friday night and lost two more key players to injury in the process.
But what King saw from the outset was they didn’t play together well enough, he didn’t like some of the body language, and simply didn’t give the effort he expects.
They did fight back from a 22-point deficit to give themselves a chance, but that only papered over the cracks and afterwards, he lamented on how his 4-6 group is looking almost a third of the way into NBL27.
"We have guys who have been winners and know how to win but I wouldn't say we are 100 per cent together right now," King said.
"When we when we are, we're really good and we can be really good. Hopefully that's my job to get us there at some point quickly so that we can be the best version of ourselves."
Ultimately, what King is asking for from his group is to just go out there and fight and compete, and to give their all.
Sure, there's a game plan to follow and plays to run, but when the basics aren’t being done right, then none of that really matters and that's what frustrated King because he saw his team getting outworked and outhustled by the JackJumpers.
There were individual positives including Dash Daniels being +16 in his 23 minutes while Yannis Morin was strong with 13 points, four rebounds, three steals and three blocks, and D'Shawn Schwartz had his best game with 27 points on 10/16 shooting.
But King wants to see a strong team performance, not one relying on individuals carrying too much of the load.
"If we'd have came back and won this game, we'd have covered up a lot of the mistakes and things we've got to get better at," King said.
"We need to see the things that are giving us problems in review and a lot of that is just straight line drives. Why can we do that in the second half, but not the first? We need to figure out why we can't put close to 40 minutes together. That's a problem.
"At half-time, I told them that I didn't like their body language, that was the biggest thing and I didn't like our look and our energy on the bench.
"I thought everybody was making mistakes and told them not to look at the scoreboard and to play the way we're supposed to play.
"That's the toughest part as a coach, you can't really make adjustments when you're not doing the things you're supposed to be doing.
"A lot of what we do is play with energy, play with toughness, play with fight, play with pride. I don't think that's a lot to ask for, but in this day and age, it seems like it is sometimes a lot to ask for, which is unfortunate."
As for Daniels, the 18-year-old was one player that King did feel comfortable with having out there who would give full effort and was doing what was required of him.
He finished with seven points, four assists and two rebounds, but was limited to 23 minutes because of foul trouble, and did end up fouling out, but King knows it shouldn’t be left to a teenager to be setting the standard.
"Dash got in a little foul trouble in the first half, but he's a young guy and we're relying on an 18-year-old to bring us energy," King said.
"Which is good and he should be bringing us energy, but we need our guys with more experience to show him the way. He doesn’t need to be showing them the way.
"I think Dash has had a great season so far and we need him to continue to get better, and to push him, and we will."
It was quite the mixed afternoon for the three South East Melbourne imports too.
French big man Morin continues to be a strong defender and interior presence, and King can't ask for any more from him.
Schwartz has been solid all season so far defensively and doing the team things, but his offensive game got rolling on Sunday for 27 points with five rebounds and two assists.
But the form of guard Skylar Mays continues to be a concern who played just 14 minutes for four points with 1/6 shooting.
"We need him to play better and he's capable of playing better but how far away he is from that, I don't know. We need to help him, but he's capable and it'd be nice to get him there," King said.
"I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, Yannis Morin has played at high-level places across the world, probably more than almost anybody in the league outside the NBA guys, he's got unbelievable experience.
"He's played big-time games, big-time atmospheres and has played against high-level players. That's why he's here and he's providing a lot of energy for us but it can't be two or three or four guys.
"We've got some guys that are providing energy, but maybe not playing well and again, a guy like D'Shawn Schwartz, who's played unbelievable today.
"It hasn't always gone his way this year but that's why he's getting rewarded right now. We need guys to focus on how they can help the team."