They face the Jets again in Palmerston North on Saturday after the Hawks match.
So are the Cantabrians an unknown quantity even though they don't exude the glory days of the 1986-94 Rams?
"We watched a little bit of film on them so we know their front line [players] well but we'll still need to scout their bench a little," Hawks point guard Jarrod Kenny said last night after training.
"We don't know a hell of a lot about them but we know what they like to do and what hands they want to go to," Kenny said of a side who have former Hawks player Jeremy Kench at the helm as captain.
The Rams are returning from a two-year exile after the Christchurch Cougars stepped in under the tutelage of former Ram player and coach Andrew Gardiner from 2009-10.
The franchise ceased to exist after the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch.
Kenny, 28, emphasised the Hawks have lost their other two matches on the road (Pacific Jewellers Wellington Saints and OceanaGold Nugget Otago) in overtime.
While they have had a propensity to get off the starting blocks a little slowly, he felt they were conscious of it and hoping to reverse that trend.
"No one likes to start slow but we had a couple of good starts in Dunedin and Invercargill."
The Hawks, with five wins and two losses, have so far been the best three-point shooting team in the NBL (38.8 per cent) with shooting guard Everard Bartlett hot when US imports Dustin Scott and Johnson can help free up the lanes for some elbow space.
Winitana and Kenny are not shy to join the party and apprentice point guard Marco Alexander has been a revelation when he chalks up some time.
"Kareem and DJ [Jones] both trained tonight but Kareem was a little bit sore," Kenny said, mindful Winitana and bench player Anamata Haku are equally adept at slotting into Johnson's small forward position if required.
Kenny, who trained with the New Zealand Breakers' greater squad as an injury reserve player, is keen to retain his berth with the Tall Blacks this year.
"I was in Auckland fulltime from July with the New Zealand team for two months," he said.
Kenny trained with the Breakers from September to February.
After the NBL he also has his sights on making the ANBL or going abroad - something which remains a new frontier in his career.
"I've got three to four good years left [to make the teams] but the older you get, the harder it is to get in."
The Rams this season have grappled with the offensive demons, posting just one victory from five games.
They have signed up former US-born Jets player Marcel Jones to their roster and he is expected to start tomorrow amid expectations the naturalised Kiwi will boost their 80.2 points average to date this season.
Jones averaged 20.2 points for the Palmerston North franchise last season, grabbing 7.5 rebounds a game.
He will, no doubt, be shooed into the starting five to beef up the contribution of import guard Glen Dandridge and forward Richie Edwards.
The former Wellington Saints small forward, who is reportedly eyeing a berth with the Tall Blacks for the impending World Cup, returned late this season after a spell in Italy with Pallacanestro Cantu.
There he averaged scant minutes (9.6) of court time in the their league but his contribution in the EuroCup accentuated his value.
Rams had a little scare last week with their import forward Matthew Rogers picking up a knee injury which stymied his input to 15 minutes in the 93-87 defeat to the Fico Nelson Giants.
Rogers sets the pace in the NBL in the blocking department, albeit one more than the next best (2.6).
