The attack comes on the heels of James Blond Supercity Rangers player Mika Vukona allegedly grabbing fellow Breakers teammate Tai Wesley by the throat on Thursday, as both copped a game suspension.
That aside with Stinnett's claustrophobic marking, there's no arguing against the collective eight-count knockout blow the visitors delivered to deck the Hawks in their 84-67 win at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Taradale.
Will Hawks coach Kirsten Daly-Taylor and her men lift themselves off the canvas in the next round against the Rangers in Auckland on Friday night?
Fail and the count of 10 will mount against the Airs again at the PG Arena on Sunday at 3pm.
Captain Aidan Daly and his hapless Hawks are eight and oh on the trot. Somehow you get the impression any kind of win to snap them out of their nightmare run will be enough to table as progress in this winter of despair.
Daly said the Hawks were putting themselves into positions of winning games but not taking them.
"It's, you know, hills and valleys, ebbs and flows that tend to occur.
"Our flows are good and we look good. We're doing all the right things but our efforts are too deep for us at the moment."
Silly mistakes are proving costly but Daly felt defensively the Hawks were good because they were forcing the Naki to make high-percentage shots from the outside with meagre returns.
The turns from offensive transitions, he said, gave the Airs some easy buckets.
"We have to learn from the mistakes a lot quicker and jump on the fly a lot better," he said, adding the final score did not reflect an accurate picture of the game.
It was imperative that bench players maintain what the starting five establish.
"Most starting fives cancel each other out to a degree so the bench end up making the big difference with little impact players. It's when the intensity of the starting five doesn't change that you will start winning games."
Daly said it was great to see the half-full PG Arena faithful weren't "just running for the hills yet".
"We've still got a lot of games to go yet and if we can just turn the corner anything can happen."
Taranaki big man Daniel Miller claimed a match-high 18 points and nine rebounds while fellow US import Marcus Johnson scored 16 and collected nine off the boards.
O'Riley scored 10 points while captain Aaron Bailey-Nowell added nine and backed it up with 10 rebounds.
For the Hawks, US import forward Kareem Johnson is on a ride of consistency since veteran Chris Porter returned to America. He nailed a double-double: 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Guard Alonzo Burton scored 12 points while Paora Winitana and Darryl Jones added 10 each.
The damning statistics for the Hawks were conceding 26 points from turnovers and allowing the visitors to claim 68 per cent of their points from the paint.
NBL debutant Marcus Johnson said he had arrived from Los Angeles mindful of the Airs' mediocre seasons.
"We want to change the culture and bring some wins out in Taranaki," he said, revealing players were pushing each other under coach Ross McCains.
Under the leadership of "gentle beast" Bailey-Nowell, they were thriving.
"He's tough when he needs to be and a good guy and friend off the court."
Johnson said the Airs were able to lock down defensively under pressure but make plays when it really counted.
"I love New Zealand. I love the culture out here," said the 28-year-old, who disclosed the Airs' ambition of making the playoffs with four wins to date.
The jury's out on the pointless, last-placed Hawks' slim chances, which would require divine intervention.
