Andrew Gaze said it best "there's no justice sometimes."
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That was the Australian basketball GOAT's assessment of the Hawks heartbreaking 83-82 loss to the Kings on Sunday.
With one import on a plane back to the US and the other on the bench in civilian clothing, the last-placed, undermanned, 1-8 Hawks fought back from 13 points down in the second term to remarkably lead by four with 10 seconds left.
It left them within 2.1 seconds of one of the most memorable wins in club history only for Kings guard Shaun Bruce to lob in a Hail Mary from the corner to break the hearts of their arch-rivals.
Gaze had it right. They didn't do enough to win, but it was a game the Hawks simply did not deserve to lose.
They emptied the tank, none more so than skipper Tyler Harvey, who put his side on his back with 16 of his 32 points coming in the final term.
It had the Hawks up by four after Tim Coenraad, with the Hawks in the bonus down the stretch, cooly slotted two from the line for a two-score buffer.
After a quick bucket to Bruce the Hawks again got the ball to the right man in Coenraad with the inbound, only for the veteran to go 0-2 from the stripe.
Even as the seconds died out development player Will Hickey looked to have capped a breakout NBL display with a clutch block of a Bruce lay-up.
It simply wasn't to be, with Bruce nailing the game-winner at the death, replays showing he had just snuck his lead toe behind the three-point line.
If Tyler was the engine for the Hawks with a game-high 32 points, the defending champions did it by committee, with Angus Glover (13 points) Derrick Walton Jr. (12), Tim Soares (12), Dejan Vasiljevic (10), Kout Noi (10) and Justin Simon (10) all cracking double digits.
Harvey also had five rebounds to go with his 32, while Sam Froling had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists - a huge effort given he couldn't walk freely for most of the week due to a back injury.
Amid it all, the real story came in the emergence of Hickey - DNP in the Hawks previous two outings - who played 23 minutes for nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and a block.
In the end, it wasn't enough, with the Hawks now 1-9 and riding an eight-game losing stretch into another tough road assignment against the Phoenix in Melbourne next Sunday.
Just hours earlier the club confirmed import George King has returned the US with an ankle injury ending his time in Wollongong.
The new was preceded by rampant reports the club was looking to offload the 28-year-old swingman, who had not cracked double-digit scoring in six of the Hawks seven straight losses.
Adding to the pain was the fact Peyton Siva watched on from the bench having picked up a calf injury that had not come good despite the two-week FIBA break.
Having coached just four of 10 games with two imports on deck, Jackomas will be desperate to get his point-guard back for the Phoenix clash.
Beyond that, he's hoping he won't see a repeat of the six games that passed before Siva, who was acquired as a replacement for marquee import Justin Robinson, took the floor in Hawks garb.
"It has to be ASAP," Jackomas said.
"The six-game break without an American hurt us a bit and now we're getting a bit of a flow back and a bit of belief. This [loss] will dent us a little bit, but it needs to happen quick.
"These guys are professionals and they're dealing with kicks in regards to injury after injury. Myself as a coach, and management, are trying to get it right for them. We need to do a better job to help them perform.
"We were right there tonight and, nothing against the guys that played today, [if we had] one more player maybe it's one point the other way.
"[Sydney are] the defending champions so it's a pretty good effort if it tips over one point on their floor. I hope people get around the guys because they are doing what they can to win basketball games.
"We've got a young group and I'm pretty proud of the way the guys we're investing in went today. That's who we are and eventually we'll crack one open."
It's understood the Hawks front office is prioritising an athletic forward to play predominantly in the four spot but Jackomas said the club can't afford to be too choosy.
"We do need a few pieces right now, the instruction to management would be [get the] best player possible," he said.
"I don't know if we can be picky right now. There's not a lot out there at the moment because most people have jobs.
"We need to get the best player possible. Tyler needs a bit of help, that will [come] when Peyton comes back.
"Then if we can get someone who can create a bit, that'd great, if we can get someone who's a great rebounder that'd be great, but my instruction will be [get the] best possible player."
It looked like a training run for the hosts in the first quarter that saw them lead 25-19, but it was anything but in the second as the Hawks closed the show with a remarkable 16-6 run to finish the half.
Walton Jr. had all six of those points for the Kings, who watched a 13-point lead whittled down to just one before he was fouled with 0.3 of a second left.
Froling was the main target, with 13 points and five boards through two quarters, with the hosts settling too often for the long-ball where they were 4-16.
The Kings went 8-3 to start the third before another 7-0 run from the Hawks tied the score at 49 apiece and forced Chase Buford to call timeout.
He was teed up before things resumed, with Harvey dropping the bonus from the foul-line and taking a 50-49 lead. The Kings went 14-6 from there for a healthy nine-point cushion at the final break.
Harvey had seven straight points on a 9-2 run to start the fourth as the margin was quickly cut back to two, prompting Buford to halt proceedings.
It didn't slow Harvey, who took the lead for the Hawks with his second three of the term as he went to work for the highest personal fourth-quarter tally of his NBL career.
It looked to be enough when Coenraad went 2-2 from the line for a four-point lead with less than a minute left, but his 0-2 from the same spot moments later kept the Kings in it.
Hickey's block on Bruce looked to have sealed the deal, only for the Kings bench ace to nail the game-winner on his next possession.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
