Melbourne United will have their depth tested in the coming weeks after star forward Casey Prather dislocated his elbow in their 84-78 NBL victory over Illawarra in Wollongong.
Josh Boone (20 points), Tai Wesley (17) and Chris Goulding (15) carried the load for the visitors on Saturday night after Prather landed awkwardly and left the game midway through the second quarter.
"He's not feeling very good," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said of Prather after the game.
"We gave him some painkillers and they'd worn off by the end of the game.
"It's obviously a bad dislocation. We're not sure of the time frame but I couldn't see him getting back in a couple of weeks.
"We'll assess that situation and make the adjustment from there."
Melbourne guard Casper Ware was held scoreless for the first three quarters before stepping up in crunch time to finish with 13 points.
"We challenged Casper and I think any time I've ever challenged him I've got a really good response from him," Vickerman said.
The Hawks made just 33 per cent of their shots, with American duo Demitrius Conger (20) and Rotnei Clarke (18) the standouts.
Melbourne led at every change before the Hawks grabbed their first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter.
Ware took over down the stretch, sinking nine of nine free throws to seal third-placed Melbourne's eighth win of the season.
Boone and Wesley tormented with the home team throughout the first half, sinking 11 of 12 shots.
Melbourne outgunned the Hawks 32-28 in a frenetic opening quarter and held them to just two points for the first six minutes of the second period, pushing the margin to 16.
Even the loss of Prather didn't stop Melbourne's momentum as Boone, Wesley and Goulding shouldered the scoring to have the visitors in front 51-40 at half-time.
Illawarra were ice-cold in the second quarter, missing 15 of their 18 shot attempts.
The Hawks continued to fight in the second half but they ran out of steam in the closing minutes to slip to 5-9 for the season.
"We're not quitting," Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge said.
"We're still in this and we're not giving up. We know we can go on a (winning) run and turn this around."
Melbourne host Adelaide next Friday and Illawarra are at home against NBL titleholders Perth.
