Hawks 67 Saints 102
PG Arena, Napier
It's up there with the aliens invading professional golfer Michael Campbell's body.
HBS Bank Hawks import Brian Greene metaphorically cast the pail into the well of despair to the echo of an all too familiar thudding sound.
Pulling the bucket up, Greene sporadically spilled the contents to make sense of yet another shocker after the Wellington Saints thumped the Hawks 102-67, beating them in every quarter of their Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) match in Napier on Saturday night.
"I don't know, man. I don't know [what's wrong]," Greene said, shaking his head at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Taradale, as the Paora Winitana-led hosts languish with two wins from eight matches and collecting their fourth loss on the trot.
The slasher scored 19 points and gathered seven rebounds but found no joy.
"It's not even about the points. I could have scored zero points and the outcome would have been still the same," he lamented as the Tab Baldwin-coached Hawks never looked like winning after trailing 29-13 in the first quarter.
If the Saints resorted to physicality in last year's NBL playoffs to oust the Hawks, on Saturday night they were a touch of class.
With Lindsay Tait calling the shots, the visitors outplayed the hosts in every facet - from points in the paint to rebounds and never relinquished their lead.
Import Bryant Markson scored a game-high 22 points, missing out on a double-double with nine rebounds.
With the Hawks failing to find much love from the rim in the first half, Wellington's Corey Webster added 18 points. Import Andrew Warren chimed in with 17 while Tait contributed 15 points and seven rebounds.
"It's frustrating, man, because we have a great team and a great group of guys so we're way better than what's showing on the scoreboard.
"As coach Tab and captain Paora say, we've just got to continue to play."
Like a man hoping to find a residue of reason at the bottom of a beer mug, Greene grappled with what's going horribly wrong for the Hawks who need nothing short of a miracle to make the NBL playoffs.
"Just like the coach says, 'we need to fight, man'.
"We didn't come out tonight with the intensity of fighting like a collective.
"Regardless of playoffs or no playoffs, it's about how you perform so you're as good as your last game."
Baldwin talked of changes after returning empty handed from the Deep South the previous weekend but Greene felt the Hawks didn't do anything different on Saturday.
"It's not about the style, man. It's about the will for us to get out there to compete."
No complaints this time. No blaming referees, no nothing.
"They were the better team with a great night's shooting and they were punching us in the face collectively," he said, something Baldwin had impressed on the Hawks at halftime.
Greene was bereft of ideas as to why the Hawks were flightless on the rebounds.
"It is one of our downfalls. Our coach has emphasised that during our practice.
"For us to be lacking on the defensive end is unexplained."
At the scrimmages the balls were dropping but come game time it was a case of the yips, although young Alonzo Burton came off the bench to drop two clutch three-pointers from four in the last quarter.
Greene said it wasn't anyone's fault but it was imperative to continue working hard.
"The only way we can make up for these losses is with a win.
"Somehow we've got to come together as a unit to fight." Half way through the season, the Hawks should be moulding their playoff systems but Greene said they were still trying to find their identity.
"That's something we should be doing at the beginning of the competition," he said, adding that pointing a finger at Baldwin wouldn't be fair.
"We're all professionals so we don't want the game to end like this but for some reason our gelling and commitment during the game aren't there."
Losing any game during his life hurt because it was never an option.
"It was like no game I've ever played in."
Agreeing the solution to turning their fortunes around can probably be found in the horoscope section of a newspaper, Greene said it was about pride and how the Hawks would finish the season. "Don't give up. It's plain and simple, just don't give up.
"We give up and we'll end being 2 and 14 so we just can't give up."
Tait said it was the Saints' third game in a week, including bursting the bubble of leaders Otago Nuggets, so he was happy fatigue hadn't kicked in.
"We weren't tired but we were kind of in the rhythm.
"The Hawks haven't played for a week but things went all right for us tonight."
The former Tall Black said offensive firepower wasn't an issue this year but they needed to work on their defence and rebounding, something they did with aplomb against the Hawks.
Having Markson, Warren and Webster step up made his job much easier.
"We played solid in the D but they [Hawks] also missed some shots from the open so that happens," he said with a laugh.
That Saints coach Pero Cameron employed captain Damien Ekenasio, the Saints hitman in last year's NBL playoffs, frugally (8:12) also spoke volumes.