HAWKS coach Matt Flinn says his club wont' be conceding defeat after Sunday's Indigenous Round clash with New Zealand was sensationally abandoned after water leaked through the WIN Entertainment Centre roof.
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Play was halted when Hawks coaching staff first pointed out the leak with three minutes and three seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The stoppage came with the Breakers leading 65-52, with the Hawks having cut a 22-point deficit to just six earlier in the term.
Venue staff worked to fix the issue for close to 40 minutes but could not plug the leak, with the match ultimately called off in the interests of player safety.
There was initial confusion over which way the result would go, with the Breakers deemed winners in the interim ahead of reviews to be carried out on Monday.
The Breakers remain an outside chance of seeing action in the playoffs, while the Hawks are headed for the wooden spoon, but Flinn said his side will never meekly surrender competition points.
"I definitely wouldn't give the game to the Breakers because we play every 24 seconds to win," Flinn said.
"There's no question we were coming back in that game. Others might argue, I'm sure the Breakers will argue, that they were in total control of the game.
"We obviously had a poor start again, which we've been trying to address, but I thought we made a good run at them early in the third.
"They blew it back out again but I just felt, with the group we had on the floor at the time, we were going to make a little run
"Credit to them, they were smoking hot early... you've got to make shots on the road to win and they did a good job of that in the first half but I thought we were slowly closing that [gap].
"There's a process now, I think there'll be a protest. There'll be some formula to predict or come up with a result, I'm not sure what that is, but I guess we'll wait and see."
Flinn's rookie season as head coach has thrown up some curve balls through injuries to key players, the unavailability and then the early departure of star rookie LaMelo Ball, and speculation around the club's ownership structure.
Such hurdles are to be expected, but Flinn said there was simply no anticipating a game being called off due to rain, despite having seen the roof leak previously.
"I've had it all now, I've actually had it all," he joked.
"As soon as it happened I thought 'yep, this is going to happen, it's going be called off'. It's pretty typical of the season I've had in my first year.
"It's a little comical that we had to finish that way. I felt good in that game, but I knew [it was over] straight away when I saw the drip.
"We've seen that before so I knew there was going to be some sort of delay. It's definitely disappointing for it to be abandoned, its sort of unprecedented.
"I've never seen a rain delay at an indoor venue but I'm not pointing the finger at anyone because I'm not really sure what the go is."
Breakers counterpart Dan Shamir was equally perplexed by the circumstances that could have big ramifications for his side as they make a late charge at the finals.
Should they be awarded the win it'll set up a huge clash with Brisbane next week, with the Breakers just one win behind the fourth-placed Bullets.
It could make for a nervous wait but Shamir said he won't deviate from his approach that doesn't look beyond his side's next outing.
"These things happen," Shamir said.
"Unfortunately we couldn't finish the game and we'll wait for the league's decision. I think this is the time for me, and anyone not involved in the decision-making, to step aside and let whoever has to make a decision go through the process.
"Like everybody, we'll be waiting for the decision to be made. Like everyone in this business I've been in a lot of big games and it always gets to the point where this game or that game is the deciding game.
"I don't think it is but I don't even know. I decided a long time ago to totally keep myself out of that [thinking] it doesn't help me, it doesn't help me prepare.
"We approach every game in all seriousness and we're going to put together the best game plan to give ourselves a chance to win and we see what happens after that."