“I’ll pat them on the back when they deserve it and I’ll kick them up the arse when they deserve,” he said at the time. He did the former after the Hawks bounced back against the Breakers on Saturday.

In a couple of flashpoints, AJ Ogilvy went nose-to-nose with former NBA big Rakeem Christmas while Demitrius Conger got right in the grill of Breakers veteran Mika Vukona late in the clash. Beveridge backed their actions post-match.

“I challenged our players about growing a set and hardening up,” Beveridge said.

“We are playing some really hard teams and if you show a soft underbelly they’ll take advantage of it so it was good for AJ to do that, it was good for Meech to get tangled with Vukona.

“These guys are grown men, they play hard and, to me, that’s what the sport’s about.”