Semifinal push for Hawks
Saints v Hawks First NBL semifinal 5pm, Wellington
IF you think American import Jamie Skeen doesn’t seem to have hit first gear just yet then join the club.
In fact, the Taylor Corporation Hawks power forward will be the first to admit that.
Questions pop up. Is Skeen holding back for the Final Four of the Sal’s Pizza National Basketball League this weekend?
Is Hawks coach Zico Coronel under-playing him in the hope of unleashing him on an unsuspecting Cigna Wellington Saints in the first semifinal tipping off at 5pm at the TSB Bank Arena in the capital city?
But who else to answer those questions than the bloke who hails from North Carolina.
“I wouldn’t say Zico’s holding me back. If anybody is holding himself it’s myself,” he says. Okay, why?
“I guess I’m just not playing right. I need to play better.”
Mmm . . . all right. Ask the Pettigrew-Green Arena faithful in Taradale about Skeen and they’ll be keen for him to pull finger sbecause come 5pm today it’s then or never this season.
No doubt, the 30-year-old holds himself accountable but for someone who stands at a shade more than two metres and packs around 100kg it’s fair to say Hawks centre Angus Brandt could do with some beef to help the Hawke’s Bay franchise do the unthinkable — win its second NBL crown.
“I can play better,” he says with a grin. “I will play better.”
He reiterates. It’s not Coronel holding him back or his teammates.
All right but the NBL has a history of sending their imports packing if they don’t front up but the bloke with the size 16 shoes who played for the Chicago Bulls during the 2012 NBA Summer League seems to have run that gauntlet just fine since arriving here on his birthday on May 2.
“Honestly I don’t think it’s a big deal on how well I’m playing because we’re winning,” he says after the Hawks won six on the trot, including their final regular season game in Napier last Saturday, to finish the season with a 12-win, six-loss record.
“Now, if we were on a losing streak, I’d be more concerned.”
As long as the Hawks are winning that’s all it takes him to be happy.
“I’m really going to enjoy myself on Sunday.”
Oops . . . was that a faux pas? Are the Hawks dead certain of making the final or just a slip of the tongue?
Skeen has played defending champions Saints three times and come away empty handed every time with the collective.
Here’s a patch of unhappiness and what’ll it take to beat them?
“They’re a solid team and we have to play them that way.”
Skeen points out the Hawks stamped their authority on the NBL powerhouses in the first three quarters of all three games but the opposition closed out the final spell with an efficiency that makes perennial favourites.
“If the games were threequarter games we would have won all of them. We’ve just got to finish strong against the Saints because they are solid all the way through.”
Aha, maybe Coronel instructed his troops to ease off the foot from the Saints’ throat to lull them into a false sense of security perhaps?
No, Skeen says but he goes further to clarify that those three matches are null and void because the playoffs are a different beast.
“It’s zero-zero now for all the four teams.”
Second qualifiers Mike Pero Nelson Giants face third-placed SIT Zerofees Southland Sharks to decide who will progress to the 5pm final tomorrow.
“We now have to play the two most important games of the season right now. All the other games, who cares?”
Skeen agrees bolshy Boomer Brandt is the fulcrum of the Hawks’ nerve centre and that makes the American a vital organ to ensure there isn’t too much load on the Australian’s shoulders when it boils down to screening, creating space for the high-twitch fibre boys and rebounding.
“It’s a very accurate [assessment] but we’ve got to put that into action. You know, it’s easier said than done.
“Standing here it sounds really good but I’ve got to do it.”
So what will it take for Skeen to be keen?
“Be very aggressive, be very aggressive.”
He gives the Hawks an 8.5 out of 10 but emphasises they can improve in many facets of play.
Skeen says every player has to bring something to the court, as they have done throughout the winter but, of course, to use an example, they aren’t expecting veteran Everard Bartlett to score another 30 points.
Does the US import understand the NBL referees’ dialect?
“I don’t really talk to them,” he says. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed it but I never, ever shake their hands.”
He stresses it isn’t a sign of disrespect but he likes to keep his rapport to a need-to-know basis, even in the States.
“Because that don’t do nothing but get you into trouble so I don’t want to be on their bad side and I don’t want to be on their good side, either. I want to be neutral.”
Frankly, he feels it’s the coach’s job to establish that line of communication because he’s on the court to play.
Skeen has been fouled out in one game so far amid, what he calls, “a lot of bad calls but I didn’t say nothing to the referees”.
“It is out of my control because once they make a call they can’t take it back. It’s a foul and I can’t do anything about it.”
He has enjoyed his debut in the NBL and Napier is a piece of paradise where he’ll return in a heartbeat if the franchise wants him back.
All the best, Skeen. it’s remarkable the Saints lose so many players and still finish first.
“We’ve done enough to know we can be competitive with them and we need to finish games if we’re up and finish better.”
The week off, he says, makes a difference with recovery and optimal training.
Getting a handle on what the Saints are about also is part of the homework.
On reflection, Coronel believes the Hawks have, arguably, had the most difficult of draws this season in a league where every team doesn’t play another the same number of times.
The chance of adversity was ever present, especially early in the season. The Hawks had their fair share of knock-backs, especially in the three losses to the Saints as well as to the Sharks in Invercargill.
“The great story of this group is they have always been very unified,” says Coronel. “When there has been constructive criticism they have kept it internal and not complained outside of the group.”
That fault-finding exercise has been a face-to-face one to help them incrementally grow stronger, as opposed to cutting down individuals to toe the line.
That strength, he says, was reflected in the reversal of results against teams after making the cut in the Final Four.
“Time builds habits so it’s not just like you’ll pick things up straight away,” says Coronel. “Our habits are still growing but it’s getting closer to a level that we’ll be pleased with.”
However, there’s always more for the Hawks to aspire to.
Since the international window early last month, he says the Hawks have found more consistency and cohesiveness rather than when they let players come and go through the revolving door of availability.
Coronel points out the Hawks came agonisingly close to beating Wellington in their final outing when they didn’t have the services of Bayborn Bartlett and Boomer Brandt.
“They are two pretty good pieces to have back.”
While pleased to have made the Final Four, Coronel emphasises that isn’t going to quench their thirst of satisfaction.
“You buy yourself an extra week to continue to get better but we’re not satisfied with what we’ve done because we can play better basketball.”
To enter the Saints’ house to do the unthinkable, he reckons, is an amazing challenge in itself, never mind trying to secure the Bay franchise’s second NBL crown.
“It’s a great crowd and an amazing atmosphere. Nick Mills Snr does the best job in the league of leading his team,” he says, stressing general manager Fran Scholey’s competence is an equally vital cog in the wheel.
However, Coronel says beating Saints doesn’t mean the Hawks should go on to claim the crown because the Sharks are big and Giants are deep with a number of stalwarts.
“You can’t say either of these semifinals is really the final.”
A couple of seasons ago one could have predicted the Saints were going to beat the Sharks in the final in Invercargill but this year is different.
“It’s a real up-for-grabs Final Four,” says the career NBL assistant coach from New Plymouth who embarked on his maiden voyage as head coach this season with a new franchise.
Ironically, he was New Zealand Breakers-bound Braswell’s deputy for a few seasons so should have some invaluable insight on what makes the Saints coach tick.
Coronel says after the games some may reflect on how they should have seen it coming but right now it’s “good value for people at the TAB”.