Day: 3 April 2016

Basketball: Win proves elusive for Hawks at home

Basketball: Win proves elusive for Hawks at home

 

Hawks forward Arthur Trousdell tries to make a pass with Sharks player Anamata Haku breathing down his neck. PHOTO/Paul Taylor
 
By Anendra Singh

The Indigo Hawks will have to see if their luck changes on the road in the next round after coming up shy against the Southland Sharks in Napier tonight.
The SIT Zerofees Sharks beat the Hawks 101-87 to claim their second victory over the hosts in the NBL this season.
The Hawks remain winless and will have to see if the league is kinder to them on the road.
The visitors brought some hustle in the third quarter to lead the Hawks 77-58 in what proved to be decisive in the game although the Hawks won the final spell 29-24.
The hosts came back from 25-14 first-quarter deficit to trail by 47-40 to the at halftime.
However, in the third spell the visitors went into overdrive with a 30-18 statement that the Hawks had few answers for.
US import forward Kareem Johnson top scored for the Hawks with 21 points while Hawks Bay-born forward Arthur Trousdell offered 18 points and collected six rebounds.
Trousdell gave the Pettigrew-Green Arena faithful something to cheer about when he turned around to drop a basket under pressure from the Sharks defenders on the halftime buzzer.
Matt Te Huna scored 14 points and made three assists while fellow guard Willie Stinnett added seven.
The Hawks won the second quarter 36-22.
For the Southerners, Australian import swingman Nick Kay has registered a double-double 29 points and a dozen rebounds, seven defensively.
Point guard Derone Raukawa offered 24 points, Bay-born Everard Bartlett added 20 points and provided seven assists while imposing centre Alex Pledger added 13pts and 8 rebs.
The Hawks started the spell slowly but coach Kirstin Daly-Taylor made some changes from the bench to provide some movement and impetus to their cause as they trailed 11-15 deep into the spell.
However, Sharks coach Judd Flavell had a chat with Raukawa to run away with a 25-14 lead at the buzzer.
Sharks import guard Jordair Jett is out injured but watching from the bench and so is Hawks counterpart and co-captain Chris Porter.
Hawks guard Paora Winitana, again, didn’t play because of his religious beliefs.

Basketball: Pack mentality vital says coach

Basketball: Pack mentality vital says coach

 Saturday, 02 April 2016

LISTEN UP: Hawks coach Kirstin Daly-Taylor wants her players to take ownership of their roles. Here US import Kareem Johnson is all ears. PHOTO/Paul Taylor
 
By Anendra Singh
SO what is the mindset of the winless Hawks basketballers as they reload against the Southland Sharks in Napier tomorrow?
“Look, losing sucks and we’ve lost four,” says coach Kirstin Daly-Taylor of her Indigo-sponsored troops before they host the SIT Zerofees Sharks at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Taradale, in a 5pm tip off.
The Aidan Daly and Chris Porter co-skippered hosts are coming off an agonising 99-96 overtime loss to the Canterbury Rams following defeats to the Wellington Saints, Mike Pero Nelson Giants and the Sharks at the arena.
From Daly-Taylor’s perspective, the Hawks need to bring a pack mentality to break that hoodoo in the National Basketball League.
“Some guys are playing well individually but that just won’t do it,” says the former Olympian, especially after returning from training late on Thursday night to discover the Sharks had beaten the Saints 95-87 in overtime at ILT Stadium, Invercargill.
The imposing trio of US import guard Jodair Jett (33 points), Nick Kay (23) and centre Alex Pledger (18) were the chief destroyers.
Therein kicks in Daly-Taylor’s edict of slipping on knuckle dusters, not individually but collectively against a Southland production line that is ensuring the NBL keeps shuffling its pack on who occupies the top rung on the ladder.

The former Tall Fern has impressed on her players to double mark the likes of Jett, Pledger and Kay although she’s aware Derone Raukawa will be another one to contain even though the Saints kept the elusive guard on a leash on Thursday for just eight points.
“When one of their stars takes on our one we want to have someone behind him.”
She reiterates the Hawks “are very deep” on their bench in the absence of “stars”.
Jett, a former St Louis Billiken player, is the toast of round three after the statistics he posted against the Hawks that make him just as adept in rebounding and making assists.
It troubles her that the Hawks have seen their 10-point lead erode to a two-point one on the foundation of something as basic as a block out.
“At the back of the court we can’t make too many mistakes.”
For Daly-Taylor it’s simply a case of making the Sharks feel increasingly uncomfortable in the arena, which must be under scrutiny for the number of losses on the trot at home in any NBL season.
The post-mortem examination against the Rams shows 43-40 halftime score received a boost from an Alonzo Burton bucket from downtown.

“And then we had some crazy shots, Aidan’s technical and we’re down 14 so that’s disappointing.”
Daly-Taylor is adamant the answer to the Hawks’ woes is employing “high-percentage” basketball in a “play-by-play” approach.
“We have to make sure we don’t flair out and do too much individual stuff.”
That translates to the Hawks playing to their strengths without fail to “put the right person in the right place”.
The Cantabrians alluded to possessing a sense of mental fortitude that saw them eclipse the Hawks in overtime and tomorrow the hosts can do with spades load of that. From where Daly-Taylor is perched on the sideline it’s simply a case of her men taking ownership of their portfolios.
“If you’re shooting the ball then finish it, don’t pass it down to someone else. Don’t over pass to someone who happens to be in a worse position to shoot a basket.”
She believes it is imperative the Hawks keep doing what they have been doing but, essentially, “keep it together”.
Unfortunately Hawks forward Darryl Jones is again unlikely to start because of injury.
“We’re also managing Aidan’s 37-year-old knees.”
However, Daly-Taylor reckons it’s an opportune time for some squad members to get on the court.
Everything said and done, she feels the Hawks know too well how the New Zealand Warriors felt until they broke their drought in the NRL last weekend with a win.
“You know, we’re just so stoked to be in the NBL right now,” she says, after the new Hawke’s Bay franchise quashed rumours to enter the league amid speculation the province wasn’t going into a hiatus this year.
Franchise board chairman Keith Price, in appointing Daly-Taylor, had stressed the need to reinstate a winning culture but also nurturing homegrown talent.