The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Taylor Hawks.

Team history

The Hawke's Bay Hawks, then known as the Napier Sunhawks, started in the second-tiered Conference Basketball League (CBL). After winning the CBL Invitation championship in 1982, the team was promoted to the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1983 season. They made the semi-finals in 1983, before going on a nine-year playoff hiatus. The Hawks made the semi-finals every year between

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', the List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; ...

, including playing in their first NBL championship series in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

, where they lost 2–0 to the Auckland Stars. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, the Hawks finished tenth in the 11-team competition. They subsequently withdrew from the NBL and joined the CBL for the 1999 season. After finishing as CBL runners-up in 1999, the Hawks returned to the NBL in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, the Hawks made their first NBL playoff appearance since 1997. They went on to reach the championship round three years in a row between 2005 and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, which included them winning their maiden NBL championship in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

with an 84–69 victory over the Auckland Stars in the final. The Hawks continued to play in the post-season every year between 2008 and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gath ...

, including making the final in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

and winning their first minor premiership in 2012. After missing the playoffs in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, the Hawks' 2014 season saw them win second minor premiership and reach the championship round for the sixth time. Between

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a se ...

, the Hawks had a three-year playoff hiatus, including a winless campaign in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh c ...

. They returned to the playoffs in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, before reaching the NBL final in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, where they lost 78–68 to the Wellington Saints despite leading 59–38 midway through the third quarter. The Hawks sat out the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They returned in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

and reached their eighth NBL final, where they once again lost to the Wellington Saints.

Honour roll

Source
Hawks NBL Role of Honour

Players

Current roster

Notable past players

* Marco Alexander * Zack Atkinson * Kerry Boagni * Brandon Bowman * / Suleiman Braimoh * / Willie Burton * / Clifton Bush * Troy Coleman * Aidan Daly * Thomas DeMarcus *

Jamie Dixon James Patrick Dixon II (born November 10, 1965) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's team, where he played college ball. He previously served as the head coach of the University of Pittsbu ...

* Terry Giles * Paul Henare * Darryl Johnson * Jeremy Kench * Daniel Kickert * / Adrian Majstrovich * Shaun McCreedy * Scott McGregor * Chris Porter * / Dion Prewster * / Dusty Rychart * Dustin Scott * E. J. Singler * Byron Vaetoe * Robert Wilson * Paora Winitana

References

External links

Official team website
* {{National Basketball League (New Zealand) Basketball teams established in 1982 1982 establishments in New Zealand Basketball teams in New Zealand National Basketball League (New Zealand) teams Sport in the Hawke's Bay Region