KEY POINTS:
Dillon Boucher is facing up to the fact he may miss the NBL playoffs for the first time in his 13-year career after the Auckland Stars were dumped 110-99 by Hawkes Bay at ASB Stadium.
The result booked the Hawks' semifinal spot and also secured Nelson's playoff berth.
The Stars' slim playoff hopes now depend on Waikato losing both of their remaining games, against Harbour Heat on Wednesday and Taranaki on Friday.
"You never can give up hope but, when you are relying on other teams to lose, it is not a good scenario," Boucher said.
"We should have taken care of business [on Saturday night] and we didn't do it. I'm very, very disappointed at possibly not being in the playoffs.
"My whole career I've been in the playoffs and this is the first time I've missed out. I know a lot of other guys are in the same boat as me.
"It is heartbreaking but the Hawks are a great team and they'll push for a title again this year. We've got to hold our heads high."
Saturday's game was a fitting metaphor for the Stars' entire season. A faulty scoreboard meant the match was delayed for about 10 minutes. When it finally started, Casey Frank won the tip-off only to have play halted immediately when the scoreboard clock failed to click into action. The Hawks then won the second tip-off and scored with ease.
Trailing 45-52 at halftime, the Stars staged a fightback to surge into a nine-point lead courtesy of a 20-4 run.
But when coach Kenny Stone went to his bench the Stars lost their momentum and their lead was just a single point at three-quarter time.
The final quarter was one-way traffic, with the Hawks putting the game to bed with a 22-4 run of their own.
Frank and Boucher raced against time but the switch had been flicked on the Stars' season well before Aidan Daly, Paora Winitana and Andrew Rice put the result to bed with a volley of late free-throws.
"We haven't finished well," said Boucher of the five losses in their last six outings which have torpedoed the team's season.
"We've had a lot of up and downs, we've had imports come and go and our structure just hasn't been there. And ... we've had a lot of injuries. Casey and myself have been injured for the last month or so and teams have just denied Lindsay [Tait] the ball, which has made it tough for us.
"We've relied a lot on our young guys and they've stepped up but we haven't had consistency ... and that has contributed to our losses."
Boucher admitted the mid-season walkout of imports Tashaan Forehan-Kelly and Danny Lambert had affected the team more than first thought.
"Initially we won two games in a row so we didn't think it was a factor but, looking back, especially in Tashaan we lost a quality player.
"But we can hold our heads high. We've had some great games where we have definitely been the underdogs. [On Saturday] we were probably the underdogs again and I felt like we played with a lot of pride."
The Stars' final match is against Otago at ASB Stadium on Thursday night. If Waikato beat Harbour at North Shore Events Centre a night earlier, the Stars will only be playing for pride.
