The Hawks are in last place on the NBL ladder with one win over Nelson Giants on April 9 to break a 24-match losing streak but the Giants have eked out two wins although the former have only played six matches compared to unbeaten leaders Wellington Saints who have 10 to date.
The hosts have a score to settle today after a gut-wrenching 99-87 overtime defeat to the Rams here on March 19.
"We've grown a lot since then," says Tolovae who emphasises they didn't have the services of little general Kenny on the floor nor the presence of big man Amir Williams.
"We really have to concentrate on Marcel Jones and [Jeremy] Kendle because they really hurt us in that [previous] game."
That stability and presence form the Perth Wildcats ANBL title-winning point guard and US import centre should test the mettle of Rams coach Mark Dickel and his men.
Crunch the numbers and Kenny has the edge on Kendle but the teams have conversely defensive ailments that need addressing.
The prescription for the Hawks is to serve trespass notices to jaywalkers in their driving lanes while the Rams need to shut shop on gifting bargain-basement package deals to oppositions from their three-point perimeter.
Tolovae, who moved to Sydney with parents Leuaina Bayer and Michael Tolovae when he was five, sees this season as an opportune platform to launch his fledgling career as a regular in the NBL, the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) and the Tall Blacks.
"I'm trying to impress Paulie," he says of Napier-born national coach Paul Henare. "If I make the Tall Blacks it'll be my biggest achievement."
Averaging close to about 30 minutes a game and having started in all six outings, the 2016-17 Sydney Kings player, who had a stint with Illawarra Hawks the season before, believes Daly-Taylor has handed him a portfolio that offers him freedom to be aggressive at both ends and to collect from the rims anytime he gets a look in.
"A lot of people I'm guarding are scorers so I have to concentrate on defence," he says of guards who are capable of dropping a dime into a parking meter from yawning distances in a carpark.
The Sydneysider relishes the small-town existence that staves off the big-city distractions to let him focus on everything basketball.
"Sometimes it's hard to find a team where everyone gets along. My team [the Hawks] get along pretty well, I think, where we all hang out and muck around" he says of bonds that transcend the courts of contention.
"You fight for your friends rather than people you don't really care about."
Daly-Taylor has given him some positive reinforcement following one-on-one sessions during the Easter weekend, amid countless scrimmages, that he is on the right track.
Tolovae says their victory got the Hawks "over a hump" to inject a sense of self-belief, more than anything else, to keep racking up wins.
The task will not become any easier for the hosts who are playing their sixth game at home on the trot but will play the remaining seven of the last eight encounters on an unrepentant road.
Tolovae, who proudly wears his cultural tattoos, has a Samoan father and a Samoan/German mother. He still visits family in Auckland.
His maternal uncle, Marvin Bayer, chucked him a ball in Sydney when he was 10.
"He and mum ran me around with a basketball because they used to play it," he says of the former state level representatives.
Not long after graduating from Bass Hill High School Tolovae thought he could make something from the code.
An American coach, Ed Smith, spotted his prowess at a youth development centre scrimmage and put him on track for a US scholarship.
Tolovae ended up at Virginia University in Charlottesville as a freshman only as basketball had folded that year.
Former Kiwi-born ANBL guard Luke Martin encouraged him to ply his trade in the NBL.
As post-sport insurance, Tolovae hopes to complete his business degree.
"I'm also thinking about being a policeman so, hopefully, it'll be an easy transition," says the bloke who lives with his girlfriend, Lia Chapman, in Christchurch.
