KEY POINTS:
On the back of five consecutive wins, Hawkes Bay are on a roll in the National Basketball League but the defending champions could just as easily be out of the playoffs hunt.
"I think we're starting to play really well," Tall Blacks point guard Paul Henare said after his team's 88-86 home victory over Waikato in the latest round of matches.
"In the last few games, we've shown a lot of character. That win over Waikato was really satisfying because of how hot they were."
Henare offered the "glass-half-full" take on Hawkes Bay's form. The flipside would show how desperately close they have come to dropping out of the title race altogether.
They are now in a share of second place alongside Auckland and Nelson on 20 points, two adrift of North Harbour.
But the 2006 champions have not led into the final quarter of any of their last four games, even against bottom side Otago. Two of those games - against Wellington and Canterbury - went into extra periods only after Henare worked his magic at the end of regulation time.
Against Canterbury, Hawkes Bay were 19 points adrift with little more than three minutes left before Henare completed the unlikely comeback with a three-pointer as the clock wound down.
Waikato could have extended their streak to eight wins had Pero Cameron's buzzer-beating attempt found its mark.
"We've won some tight games," Henare said.
"We were probably a bit lucky against Canterbury, but we did put ourselves in the position to win it.
"You never want to be in those situations and we would prefer them to be 20-point blowouts. But winning those games has helped build our character and confidence."
Hawkes Bay and some of their veteran stars, including Henare, seemed to have sleepwalked their way through the early weeks of the season, compiling a 5-4 record through the first half of their schedule.
With fate hanging in the balance, three of those headliners, in particular, have stepped forward to rekindle the flame.
As well as hitting Hawkes Bay's two biggest shots of the season - he banked a running left-handed lay-up over American Bakari Hendrix to stave off defeat against Wellington - Henare has compiled two double- figure assist games and is now well on the way to his fourth league assist title.
Reigning Most Valuable Player Paora Winitana has been good all season, but he has lifted his output over the past four outings, and American centre Kareem Johnson has also improved.
"You might talk about me making big plays, but Paora was massive against Waikato," Henare said.
"They hit a couple of back-to-back threes in the last couple of minutes, which should have been backbreakers.
"A lot of teams I've played in or against or been around or seen - those shots would have sunk them. But we stayed really composed. We didn't even call a timeout and Paora came down to hit two massive threes.
"He is shooting the ball at such a great clip, and that is part of the belief and confidence we have in ourselves right now."
- NZPA
