BASKETBALL: Fired-up Hawks too hot for Heat

AMISH BIDWELL
Was that a swagger we saw? A bit of aggression? What's going on with those Hawks? They're normally so clean-cut and polite.
But not last night. No, without co-captain Paora Winitana and playing a Harbour Heat that everyone was tipping to end the 0800 Easy LPG hawks' reign as NBL champions, the boys from the Bay brought it. In spades.
Yep, the nice-guy routine got put on ice for 40 minutes as the Paul Henare-led Hawks adopted the "over my dead body" approach that separates champions from pretenders. A lot of the time the Hawks prefer to beat you with skill and athleticism. Last night's 85-76 semifinal win at the North Shore Events Centre was about getting it done any way you can.
"We talked a lot this week about showing a bit of mongrel and being more forceful out there. That's something you don't see a lot from us, but I said to the guys that I wanted Harbour to look into our eyes and see we meant business," Henare told SportToday from the victorious dressing room last night.
"The biggest thing for me is that this is what I play basketball for. The playoffs are what it's all about and it's so much fun that you can't help but play with intensity. Plus, with our bishop (Winitana) being out, I knew I had to stand up, as did a few of the other guys.
"Shawny (Dennis) talked all week about someone always stepping up in the playoffs and being that X-factor and, obviously, Everard (Bartlett) was that person for us in the first half and then Arthur (Trousdell, pictured right) in the second.
"I'm just looking at the stat sheet and Arthur had 17 points and 15 rebounds and that's just absolutely fantastic in a game like this."
Which was a relief all round. Dennis knew they would finally produce the defence their past success had been founded on. He just wondered where the points would come from without Winitana.
"Everard (18 first-half points) was great and I thought Arthur had his best game ever in the NBL," Dennis said.
"Offensively, he's been absolutely fantastic at practice over the last few weeks, but he's struggled at times with his defence. But because he made a big step up with his defence, I was able to leave him out there for longer and he was able to show what a threat he can be offensively.
"He's been virtually un-guardable at practice over the last few weeks and it was nice for him to be able to produce that when it really mattered."
But what about Henare? It's one thing to be the designated leader, but entirely another to play with the authority that he did.
"He's inspirational, isn't he? Pauli is every coach's dream," Dennis said.
"He's epitomises what leadership is all about and you couldn't ask for a better captain. He's a very proud man and he took enormous pride in winning a championship for this province last year and he wasn't going to let that title slip away tonight."
* Result: Hawks 85 (Everard Bartlett 18, Arthur Trousdell 17, Paul Henare 16, Kareem Johnson 12) Harbour Heat 76 (Nat Connell 16, Brent Charleton 13, Oscar Forman 12, Tim Behrendorff 10).