Basketball: Hawks raise more questions than answers after fruitless double-header on road

Hawks shooting guard Everard Bartlett stood up against the Rams on Saturday after a night to forget against the Giants on Friday. Photo /Paul Taylor

It's time for the Hawks to start sharing notes with the Blues and New Zealand Warriors on what it'll take to arrest an ominous slide.

For the Taylor Corporation Hawks have only a tiny sliver of hope of making the National Basketball Final Four in Tauranga next month.

Co-skippers Jarrod Kenny and Everard Bartlett face the daunting task of winning all their five matches on the road and relying on the Rams or James Blond Supercity Rangers to choke on all their outings.

The Hawks returned home from the double header yesterday with losses to Nelson Giants on Friday (86-74) and the Canterbury Rams (91-83) on Saturday, making it four defeats on the trot with Hill at the helm after two consecutive wins since he took over from Kirstin Daly-Taylor.

Hawks caretaker coach Benny Hill reached for signs of promise and took heart in his troops showing more effort against the Rams after utter frustration the night before had prompted a pep talk on slipping on the singlet with some pride.

"I found out on Friday we just can't turn it on," Hill said.

He was bereft of ideas on what would change their fortunes but felt one couldn't coach pride.

"We're obviously going to be rebuilding for next year," Hill said as the Hawks again hit the highway, for all the remaining games for the rest of the season, to play Taranaki MountainAirs this Saturday.

Both teams are locked on six points with three wins each but Taranaki are last on the seven-team table owing to inferior averages.

"We're playing Taranaki twice so I'm hoping we'll end up sixth," he said as the sides try to avoid the wooden spoon. The Hawks finished bottom last year.

Hill said the Hawks' last four results had come down to "winning mentally on points".

He understood relegation wasn't an issue because Manawatu Jets were intending to return after two seasons and Bay of Plenty also had designs on a new franchise.

Again, the visitors started sluggishly (23-14) at Cowles Stadium, Christchurch, taking the next two quarters (23-20, 21-20) to pose what-ifs. They played catch-up to try to close the 13-point deficit but despite clinching the final spell 28-23 their effort was in vain.

"It seems to be our nemesis the first half. They killed us on the rebounds and then we crawled back into the second because they allowed us to come back into the game," said Hill, revealing closing out games isn't the Hawks' forte.

"Effort-wise we were a hell of a lot better than the night before."

It pays to note Rams coach Mark Dickel left his two leading scorers, Marcel Jones and Jeremy Kendle, out of his starting five as another player, McKenzie Moore, nailed a triple double (27 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds) for their seventh win this winter.

Kendle claimed a double-double (14pts, 10 rebounds) while Jones, who amassed 41 points against the Hawks in their last face off, added 13.

For the Hawks, Bartlett scored 21 points, Joshua Fox added 18 and Amir Williams fell just shy of a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds.

"We can put a good 20 minutes together but the game is 40 minutes long," said Hill, reiterating the loss to the Giants came through complacency.

He felt Tony Tolovae (12 points, 4 rebounds in 33 minutes) and the bench didn't join the party, especially swingman Anamata Haku who managed two points in 12 minutes.

Coughing up possession when they narrowed the gap proved costly.

He had injected Haku and forward Darryl Jones ( two minutes) in the first half but couldn't find any rhythm.

Guard Dominic McGovan (3 mins) couldn't replicate his efforts against the Giants because the Rams' counterparts have calibre.

Recalled US import Kareem Johnson ( 3pts, 8 mins) would only get better, he said.

Fitness and skills-specific training are on the agenda for the rest of the season.