"We thought we might be able to get away with it by forcing the ball into Bowman, BJ Anthony and [Bryan] Davis' hands but they responded."
The hallmark of a champion team, he said, was their ability to produce winners when their best offensive weapons were silenced.
Webster, he said, was the best player in the country and he got free, robbing the Hawks of ascendancy.
"They just had answers all night long. The concern for us was not being able to generate points on the paint."
He labelled a season-low game total of 65 points as "very un-Hawks like basketball".
Bryan, Bowman and Anthony were "monsters on the board".
"With our quickness and slashers we were unable to counter it so we have to give credit to the Saints.
"I didn't think we played badly. The Saints were just up to the task."
The lack of rebounding strength was evident at the beginning of the year for the Hawks but Baldwin lauded Dustin Scott and fellow US import Kareem Johnson for their efforts all year.
In the grand final, Johnson claimed 14 rebounds but was relatively quiet in the scoring with eight points.
Shooting guard Everard Bartlett had a game-high 23 points while Scott added 15 points and eight rebounds.
"You can't be a different team for one game than you are for the whole season," Baldwin said.
Baldwin championed the "brotherhood" among the Hawks who were undefeated at home and established the franchise's best record of 15-3 as minor champions.
"We'll try to find some positives among all those horrible negative feelings we have."
