The Rangers boasted a line up that would have made a Tall Blacks or NZ Breakers starting five any other day - Breakers skipper Mika Vukona, point guard Lindsay Tait, guard Corey Webster, guard Reuben Te Rangi and swingman Eric Devendorf tipped off.
US import centre Terence Roberts came off the bench with the likes of captain Dillon Boucher, not to mention Brook Ruscoe and Joshua Bloxham.
"We ourselves, Saints and Southland have all the Tall Blacks but to be competitive in this league you have to have quality," said Green after the match.
"No disrespect to the Hawks but unless you have that sort of five you won't be competing for the final.
"Yes, you might be able to win one game but you need the talent so it's simply market forces at work here," he said as the Hawks defied the odds to field a team this winter under coach Kirtsen Daly-Taylor but lost their import Chris Porter a few rounds into the season to injury.
For Green, it hardly matters where teams are sitting on the table right now. As long as they make the cut for the top four he isn't worried about their results.
"The big picture is the championship so if we make the playoffs we're happy. Last year we were fourth and it was no big deal."
While he had his marquee players on the court last night for healthy spells it was only because the protagonists wanted to keep the rust off, as it were.
"They wanted a bit of a run and a blow out so it's good for their confidence but, normally, I wouldn't have played them that long," he said, intending to inject some of his young blood in the Hawks' last game at home on Friday night assuming they beat the Sharks in Invercargill the night before.
On the flip side, Hawks stalwart Willie Burton, who has a vested interested in the home team because son Alonzo plays, is proud of the team.
"The boys are playing hard. Yes, they're undermanned but the bottom line is they can't compete with the super stars of the league this year," Burton said. "They've got a lot of heart and they're leaving it out there on the court all the time."
He didn't want to debate the merits of whether the Bay franchise should have invested in another import but suffice it to say he felt the Hawks were making the most of what they have.
"An import would have made a lot of difference but will we make the playoffs?
"Probably not so I think in hindsight it's a good time to give a lot of young players the experience to get ready for next year," Burton said, urging the PG Arena faithful to fill the gold-coin donation season in the hope of spurring them to victory in their last home game.
Daly-Taylor didn't expect to win but neither did she anticipate 98 points although she was mindful Green's philosophy was to win a team had to score more than the opposition.
"We struggled with their press ... and we couldn't put any flow on to their offense but turnovers killed us - 27 to their nine, that's the game," she said, echoing Burton's sense of realism in the gulf of talent.
"They're still good enough for the learning process to not make 27 turnovers."
Webster claimed a game-high 31 points while Devendorf and Tait added 22 and 20, respectively, and Roberts added 16 points.
For the Hawks, Kareem Johnson scored 22 and took nine rebounds while Alonzo Burton nailed 17 and Darryl Jones 11.
