The Taylor Hawks have stepped back on to the training court, battling through injuries but preparing for the toughest stage of the National Basketball League (NBL) season – two trips to the South Island, combining four matches in 10 days.
The injury woes were highlighted last Wednesday when the Hawke’s Bay side were beaten 103-76 by the Taranaki Airs in New Plymouth, with former Hawks star Derone Raukawa among the opposition.
It was the fifth time in 10 games that the Hawks had been beaten by more than 20 points, Isaiah Moore claiming 26 points for the Hawks on the night, but with little other back-up in a game in which his side were never in front and were down by 19 points at one stage before the end of the first quarter.
They recovered with the last nine points of the quarter but with Taranaki in front 26-15 at the first break, the hosts continued to control the game, taking the second quarter 26-21, the third 28-20 and the last 23-20.
Despite the record of four wins and six losses and sitting eighth heading into the second half of the season, the Hawks have the fourth-highest average of 92.9 points a game.
Moore, whose points against the Airs came after a haul of 33 in the previous match, a 101-79 loss to the Franklin Bulls on the home Pettigrew Green Arena Court in Taradale, is second-to-top on average points per game with 23.9 points, headed only by Franklin Bulls import guard Luther Muhammad.
Moore is also second-to-top on average assists at 7.9 per game, and fifth on steals, while Josh Roberts tops the rebounds at 13 per game.
Missing last week were Keanu Rasmussen, Balin Casson and Rapid League MVP leader Tommy Ferguson, who are all injured – and with Ferguson facing the possibility of missing the rest of the season, depending on the outcome of his injury diagnosis.
The combination necessitated the recall, again, of club general manager Jarrod Kenny, in his 14th season playing for the province. While he’d never give up the chance of a game, it was “unfortunately” the case, he said after his 22 minutes on court.
The Hawks now head south to play the Nelson Giants for the first time this season, in Nelson on Thursday, the Giants coming fresh from a 10-point win over the Bulls in Pukekohe on Sunday.
Two nights later in Christchurch, the Hawks play defending champions and joint leaders the Canterbury Rams, aiming to avenge a 20-point defeat in Taradale on April 20, heading home afterwards but then getting back on the plane a few days later to fly to the deep south for June 6-8 matches against the Southland Sharks and the Otago Nuggets, two of the sides beaten by the Hawks in earlier rounds in Taradale.
Meanwhile, the Hawks remain in second place on the Rapid League development teams table, looking for a win over leaders the Giants.
Results to date: lost 91-70 v Tauranga Whai, beat Southland Sharks 107-80, beat Manawatū Jets 92-89, lost 104-84 v Canterbury Rams, lost 111-104 v Wellington Saints, beat Tauranga Whai 105-74, lost 120-96 v Auckland Tuatara, beat Otago Nuggets 116-105, lost 101-79 v Franklin Bulls, lost 103-76 v Taranaki Airs.
Remaining games: May 30 v Nelson Giants (A), June 1 v Canterbury Rams (A), June 6 v Southland Sharks (A), June 8 v Otago Nuggets (A), June 15 v Nelson Giants (H), June 20 v Wellington Saints (H), June 26 v Taranaki Airs (H), July 4 v Franklin Bulls (A), July 6 v Manawatū Jets (H), July 19 v Auckland Tuatara (H).
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.