The Hawks led by 12 midway through the third quarter only for Taipans star Scott Machado to orchestrate a stirring comeback and 101-95 victory for the Snakes to tip-off the NBL Cup.

It was the second straight game in which the Hawks have been bogged down in the third term, posting just 11 points to surrender another 12-point cushion and find themselves trailing down the stretch against an injury-hit Sydney last week.

They did enough to see off the Kings but were made to pay for the lapse against Cairns, slumping to their third loss in their last four outings ahead of Monday's clash with New Zealand.

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Re-integrating his two stars Cam Bairstow and Deng Adel into the rotation after injury-hampered starts has proven a juggling act and Goorjian admitted post-match that the streaky nature of his side's performances is becoming a concern.

"I thought the end of the third quarter really was depressing," Goorjian said.

"That's [about] how I rotate bodies or how I use bodies. Do you use your timeouts and keep your starters in there, or do you use what you think is your strength, your bench? Now we've added two guys to the rotation so we don't look as fluid as we did at the start of the season.

"I've got to get Adel into the rotation, I've got to get Cam into the rotation.

"Long-term that's going to make us really good but, right now, it has been choppy.

"I'm stuttering on that sideline a little bit as far as how I rotate bodies so some of it falls on my shoulders."

Bairstow has managed consecutive double-doubles with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the Hawks last two games in 23 and 24 minutes respectively, but Adel earned an unwanted NBL record in going 0-15 from the field on Saturday.

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The club's marquee signing did manage five assists but finished with just two rebounds on a forgettable night.

Goorjian is confident his star will click into gear, but said scoring can't be the former Cleveland Cav's priority as he looks to re-find his best after frustrating injury lay-offs.

"I just think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself and now they're really laying off him," Goorjian said.

"He can shoot the ball, but one of the things we've talked about is he needs to get involved in the game on the glass, get to the foul-line, get a steal, get something to loosen the game up.

"The depressing part for him was at halftime was not the o for seven or o for eight, it was the fact that he had one rebound.

"It was probably the issue we're talking about with the whole group.

"We were offensive-orientated and we needed to get stops.

"Regardless of whether he's hitting his shot or missing his shot, he can really help us, like Justin [Simon] can, at the defensive end of the floor and on the glass.

"We didn't get that done with those two.

"I think he'll loosen up from the perimeter if he gets some easy stuff and [on Saturday] that didn't happen."

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Goorjian will have his full complement on deck for Monday's clash with the Breakers, allying injury fears for skipper AJ Ogilvy, who played just eight minutes on Saturday.

"[There's] nothing wrong with AJ I just elected, on those [Cairns] shooters, to go small," Goorjian said.

"I think if you watch the NBA or the Euroleague, you've got to have two line-ups.

"Now that we've got Adel healthy I'm going to play some small-ball with Justinian [Jessup] and Justin in that four spot to try and run and pressure and open the game up.

"Then I can come back with the bigs.

"It's no fault of his own, I just tried to open up the game.

"We've got Cam to rotate into this as well, Sam [Froling's] been playing really good so he just got kind of got pushed out of the rotation.

"He's playing well, that was just a decision on my part, there's no health issue or problem with him at all, I just elected to go another way."

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