CLIPBOARD TALK: Hawks coach Liam Flynn makes his point. PHOTO/Warren Buckland
IT WAS a contagious case of a similar ailment from round one except it was on a different night, as the Hawks lost at home again yesterday.
The IMS Payroll-sponsored Hawke's Bay franchise team's game resembled peak-hour traffic at the Stortford Lodge roundabout in Hastings as they slumped to an 85-63 loss to the Wellington Saints in Napier.
Those trying to drive through the lanes of contention at the Pettigrew-Green Arena hesitated at the exit points of the roundabout, the indicator lights weren't always switched on and when they were, regrettably, not everyone picked up on it.
New Hawks coach Liam Flynn, like a frustrated traffic officer, vented his spleen at the referees for the most part of the second half but the Hawks were a contributing factor to the log-jam situation.
It didn't help that at halftime the Hawks' two imports, Suleiman Braimoh and Zachary Atkinson, had already picked up three fouls each, although they did well to stave off further attention in the second 20-minute spell.
That simply meant when the Wellingtonians came to party in the second half the illustrious rebounding pair were reluctant to tango.
Co-captain Paora Winitana, in the loss against the Nelson Giants last Saturday, talked up the big "D" but, frankly, last night it was obvious the hosts' guards need to lift their game on the offensive end if they are to pull themselves off the bottom of the Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) table.
But co-skipper Jarrod Kenny reiterated Winitana's mantra of putting up the shutters to allow them to make offensive runs.
"You can't take a look at open shots and make them when you're always going up against a set defence.
"If we can get some defensive starts and get out on the floor for a run to get some easy buckets, we'll get some sort of flow, but to grind away against a set-up defence is tough and I think that showed again tonight," Kenny said.
While the imports have NBL experience, he felt they had come from other leagues abroad so they were in the throes of adjusting to the calls here.
"I think as a team we've put them under a bit of pressure and we're not quite in synch yet," Kenny said, adding the Hawks were taking a beating on the perimeter and were asking the biggies to cover for them too much.
"As guards, the more we play together more and the more we do that, the more we'll understand each other and those two will be fine."
It's early days in the NBL, though, as the Hawks host the James Blond Waitakere Super City Rangers at the PG Arena next Saturday.
"The crowd has been awesome and we certainly appreciate their support, so they make a big difference," said the former Tall Black.
Saints swingman Leon Henry was unstoppable for the visitors, claiming a double-double game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds with two steals to boot.
Import Craig Corey added 21 points and took six rebounds as well as two steals, while ex-Hawk Dion Prewster chimed in with 11 points and point guard Lindsay Tait backed up with nine points and as many assists.
Unwanted Hawk import Kareem Johnson of Napier said it was nice to return to the PG Arena to claim a victory, albeit in the opposition singlet.
"The guys played hard and luckily we came out with a win," Johnson said modestly, as the Saints had six players scoring more than 50 per cent from field goals compared with just the imports for the Hawks.
The forward, who is still waiting for Kiwi citizenship, said coach Pero Cameron's plan was always to do a solid job on defence.
"The boys did a pretty good job of shutting out the big imports," said Johnson, who has won an NBL title with the Saints.
For the home boys, Atkinson top scored with 16 points and made five rebounds, while Braimoh posted 12 points and claimed seven takes off the glass. Kenny added 10 points and fellow point guard Marco Alexander scored nine points and grabbed four steals.
The Hawks trailed 22-14 at the end of the first quarter, conceding a rash of fouls as the Saints hustled and moved the ball around the court to create tension.
However, with barely two minutes into the second spell it was Alexander who got the high fives and chest slams from his Hawks teammates after two successive steals from counterpart Tait, dropping a basket from downtown (19-25) to prompt Cameron to call a timeout. Not long after play resumed, referee Dallas Pickering had a few words with Braimoh and human cannonball Damien Ekenasio, who also is Saints skipper.
Soon after, Tait lost the bundle again and Braimoh made the Saints pay with a dunk to level 25-25 but it was false promise of a revival.
Hawks guard Alonzo Burton sank a three-pointer but, like last week, did not do enough on his 21:07 court time.
Ditto Winitana (24:06) for a point, Anamata Haku (19:17) six points and Morgan Natanahira (18:21) two points.
Perhaps what stuck out most this quarter, ending 38-34 (20-16 to Hawks) in favour of the visitors, was the benching of the two imports amid some further head-shaking fouls (Darryl Jones on four in just as many minutes although that is his portfolio).
The Hawks had a staggering 18-6 lead on fouls when they went into the locker room at halftime, to finish 23-14 at fulltime.
The Saints returned to extend the score line to a 14-point margin (50-36) in the third quarter amid a comedy of unforced errors.
The forgettable spell ended with a resounding 26-10 (64-44) lead to the Saints and, one could argue, the writing was already on the wall.