HOOPLA: What comes next the biggest test for Hawks following Kings gut-punch

Looking back at nearly 10 years covering the club, it was a struggle to think of a better win had Shaun Bruce's Hail Mary not sailed through the net. As Andrew Gaze touched on in commentary, the sporting pendulum rarely swings toward justice.

Coming so soon after Xavier Rathan-Mayes netted an even bigger speculator to force a second overtime in Wollongong three weeks, it's enough to think Jacob Jackomas spent the off-season throwing hammers in a mirror factory.

Factor in a shot either way in both those games, and the situation doesn't look quite so dire. If they'd got home like they should've in Perth, the Hawks could easily be 4-6.

Read more: 'No justice' as Hawks go down to Kings in last-play heartbreaker

It's not the case, but one can hope it's a turning point. Certainly Jackomas spoke more assurdly post-game than he has in just about any other presser this year when asked if criticism had been a motivator for his team.

"I don't think it's criticism, I think it's bullshit," he said.

"I don't want to give it that credit because it's ill-informed and it's [coming from] people who don't know what they're talking about. The FIBA break was a little two-week hiatus from media and opinions.

"We've got guys everyone likes to have a crack out because they're not doing well doing well now and picking themselves up. The situation we're in, when you've got our record, a lot of teams would roll over.

"It's not time to kick guys, these guys have got good resilience as you can see with what's going on. We're disappointed, I'm disappointed, I'm still proud of them but there'll be things we need to get better at.

"On Tuesday we'll hit them hard with that again because we still lost a baksetball game, but it's definitely not time to do that to them."

They may not have got the win, but it passed something of a character test. To push the reigning champions to a buzzer beater on their own floor, with two imports missing, while rotating a pair of development players through the point-guard position is no mean feat.

Working on the run, Will Hickey's nine points, eight rebounds, three assists three steals and a block in 23 minutes having not even made it onto the floor in his side's previous two games was going to lead this columnist's yarn; even with Tyler Harvey's mighty 32-point effort.

It's something a coach in Jackomas' position might be tempted to cling to, but he wasn't going there either.

"The moral victory isn't something we're interested in right now," he said.

"If there's something to talk about it is Davo (Hickey). He's been at a couple of clubs, he's had a good game [against Sydney]. Lachie [Dent's] been god, Mud (Alex Mudronja) is coming as well.

"With some of the stuff we're getting I'm very proud of the whole group, staff and players.

"We'll celebrate them for a second, but there's been a lot of guys in their position that have done well on teams that just can't get it done in the wins and losses column.

"They should feel good about themselves right now, but they're trying to be NBL players and that involves winning."

While last week was effectively a free swing at the Kings, the real character test will come with this week's trip to Melbourne to take on the Phoenix.

Jackomas will be hoping to have Peyton Siva back on board, with new import Michael Frazier II expected to be on deck for the trip to Melbourne.

Read more: King departs Wollongong as Hawks return to import drawing board

The last time they came off a loss that stung as badly as Sunday's, the double-overtime loss to United, they were simply abysmal next time out against Adelaide.

The effort this week will reveal whether the pain of the last-second loss was really worth it.

"[Backing up] is the biggest challenge with not having everyone on board," Jackomas said.

"Luckily enough we do have seven days so maybe we can get a bit of a reset in, hit it again and do a bit of a slow grind in the preparation, but we've got back-to-back-to-backs coming.

"You can throw a massive effort in, it's [about] backing it up right now."

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