BASKETBALL: Hawks lose final by one point

HAMISH BIDWELL
It's Christmas Day. You've spent months looking forward to it and have been hardly able to contain yourself in the final days as Mum assembles this year's array of presents around the tree.
Imagine your horror come the big morning when you race downstairs to find all the presents gone. But even worse, when you go out onto the front lawn you're greeted by the sight of the smarty kids from over the road yahooing and carrying on with a bundle of presents that look suspiciously like the ones that were on your list.
That would go some way to explaining how the 0800 Easy LPG Hawks were feeling as the Auckland Stars Waitakere cavorted around Pettigrew-Green Arena following their 69-68 win in the Primo NBL final.
The streamers and confetti were all there, but the party hats belonged exclusively to the Stars as they won their second NBL title on the road in as many years.
There were the familiar platitudes from the Hawks camp about next year and last night being a learning experience, but this was a team in agony. A team that felt almost physically sick as they watched Auckland fufill the time-honored tradition of cutting down of the net from the hoop.
"Yeah, you've summed it up right there," said guard Paora Winitana.
"It's pretty tough to be watching that, but you've got to give credit where it's due and they played awesome tonight. It's painful to watch, but you can't dwell on it. You've just got to pick yourself up and start preparing again.
"For three-quarters of the game the momentum was ours but a few easy turnovers led to dunks for them and the whole momentum changed. It was a great night, but we have to remember then cutting down our net and taking off that trophy."
"Yeah definitely," agreed captain Paul Henare.
"I'll never forget seeing them celebrate on our home court. It is gutting to lose at home because we had to self-belief to win this game."
In terms of describing the match itself, it's very difficult to do it justice. From the pre-match build-up that included a spine-tingling eyeball-to-eyeball haka between Winitana and Auckland's Valance Teratana, to some ugly pushing and shoving midcourt in the final seconds, of which Stars coach Kenny Stone seemed to be the instigator.
Then there was Winitana's successful midcourt back-to-the-basket heave on the full-time buzzer that would have given the Hawks an astonishing two-point win had it been launched a split second earlier. But they're peripheral things.
On the night, the Stars coped best in the extraordinarily loud atmosphere to walk away with the spoils.
"It went the way I thought it would," said Hawks coach Shawn Dennis.
"The bottom line is that to win a championship, it comes down to a game of mistakes and the team that makes the fewest wins. Unfortunately for us, we were beaten in that stat.
"It's just such an empty feeling. I mean at the end of the day, who remembers who comes second."
Well, if no-one else does, these Hawks certainly will because the chance to win it all on their home court may never come again.