Hawks have eagle eye on playoffs
Mountainairs find climb just too tough in regular season blowout
“Yeah, it’s a milestone that [I] have achieved and I’m fortunate to have done that in a career that spans 10 or 11 years so I’m hoping I can continue playing in the next couple of years.”
Fourth qualifiers Hawks play 2018 premiership and defending champions Cigna Wellington Saints in the first semifinal at TSB Bank Arena in the capital city in the 5pm tip-off this Saturday before the Mike Pero Nelson Giants face SIT Zerofees Southland Sharks to decide who will be in the 5pm final a day later.
“Next week is all about which team is performing at that time. It’s onegame elimination so we want to be peaking at that time,” said Bartlett, after the Hawks ended their regular season with a 12-6 record to make a playoffs comeback for the first time since 2014.
The 32-year-old Bay-born guard said they had all week to prepare for the semifinal.
Bartlett was a player in the 2006 Shawn Dennis-coached Hawks team who have won the Bay’s only NBL crown and he yearned for nothing more than another title next weekend. For the record, so were team manager Nigel Prior and physiotherapist Colin Tutchen. “That’ll be the icing on the cake for me. That’s what I want, more than anything,” he said.
Hyrum Harris contributed 18 points for the victors to offer a snapshot of the depth on the bench, which yielded 58 points.
Brandt added another doubledouble 16 points and 11 rebounds to show why Coronel had signed up the Australian National Basketball League champion on his NZ debut.