08.06.2009
The honeymoon is well and truly over.
The 0800 Easy LPG Hawks are finding the wind beneath their wings again after rigorous back-to-back matches on the road at the weekend.
The basketballers put aside their one-point defeat to the Wellington Saints in Porirua on Friday night to outmuscle the Christchurch Cougars 86-81 in their National Basketball League clash at Cowles Stadium on Saturday night.
It was a great turnaround from the Hawks, considering the Cougars had outplayed them in Napier last month in what Hawks coach Shawn Dennis believed was the use of illegitimate tactics - grab, hold, hit and shove - that was permitted on New Zealand courts.
"Anyone who wants to write us off can do so at their own peril," coach Dennis told SportToday.
"If it [winning championship] doesn't happen this year then so be it but this weekend we really showed we can [beat play-off sides]."
Saints, who lost 76-63 to the Waikato Pistons on Saturday night, will now jostle for 3rd-4th place in the NBL play-offs as the Pistons and Giants will inevitably claim the top two spots.
That means the Hawks could face the third-placed side - Cougars or Saints - away in the play-offs on Tuesday, June 16.
Saints coach Gordie Mcleod said the media and pundits had prematurely written the Hawks off and Cougars head coach Andrew Gardiner echoed his sentiments, too.
A dejected Gardiner said the game was pretty intense but it was obvious the Hawks had come out to play.
"I don't think we worked our offences well enough and their defence was good and they took their clutch shots along the way," he said, adding the Cougars would prefer to secure third spot to play either the Hawks or Harbour Heat.
It didn't bother Gardiner who they would end up playing because they were hosting the quarterfinal clash regardless.
Complacency, he said, wasn't an issue because he expected the Hawks to gel at some stage and they seemed to be peaking at the right time.
The Cougars' morale had taken an uppercut but Gardiner said it was a timely wake-up call.
"We have a culture of winning so we'll reorganise and come back on Monday to train."
Hawks skipper Jeremy Kench (pictured) led by example, top scoring with 21 points, while Queensland import David Cooper contributed 14 and backed it up with 12 rebounds.
Cougars Aussie import centre Tim Behrendorff got a game-high 22 and pulled down 11 boards with ex-Hawk guard Paul Henare scoring 15 with six assists.
Kench said his troops had a point to prove after they were a little soft against the Saints.
"It's about keeping our standards up and building a mental process through training."
Both he and Dennis were aware all that had been achieved without the services of sick American forward Charles "Chuck" Bailey who didn't travel. The coach felt the import would have to work his way back in after sterling efforts from other forwards such as Cooper, Ben Hill and Miles Pearce.
"Chuck will need to get into the programme and work hard. We need that sort of competition for places so I'll be talking to Chuck about that.
"He can either add to that puzzle or take away from it and I believe he will add to that puzzle."
With eight days to go Dennis was more preoccupied with building the Hawks' confidence and the final pool match against Taranaki on Friday night at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, in Taradale, will be the final dress rehearsal.
