Instead, the Hawks extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 82-72 win against the Nuggets at the Edgar Centre last night.
It was the home side which stole the show despite the 10-point loss.
The Nuggets took the game to their highly-rated opponents and led 41-35 at halftime.
But Dickel injured his knee shortly after the resumption and hopped towards the dressing room with the team physiotherapist in tow.
Without their classy floor general the Nuggets' accuracy fell away but certainly not their effort.
And every time Dickel tried to put weight on his leg and make a heroic return to the game, he was forced to sit back down and quickly.
He was sporting crutches after the game and despite the setback seemed in good spirit.
"Hopefully, I've just given it a good stretch," he said.
"In a couple of weeks, all things going well, I'll be able to get back into it. That's the plan."
He caught some of the second half from the sideline and felt helpless watching.
"They fought hard. If I didn't get hurt I think we could have won easily.
"We were up eight or nine points when I left and pretty much had control of the game."
The Nuggets lost 99-76 to the Hawks in Napier on Monday but showed a lot more resolve last night.
Hawks captain Paora Winitana top-scored with 24 points and Everard Barlett scored 17 points and made a handful of unbelievable passes.
Imports Galen Young (10 points, 14 rebounds) and Kareem Johnson (12 points, 10 rebounds) both posted double-doubles.
Antoine Tisby was immense for the Nuggets with 21 points and 16 rebounds and so was Akeem Wright, with 24 points.
Winitana found his range early with a long three-pointer and Bartlett made a clever no-look pass to set-up a team-mate under the hoop as the visiting side quickly seized the initiative.
The Nuggets' perimeter defence was not as vigilant as it needed to be early and Bartlett and Ben Hill dropped in three-pointers.
But Wright answered back with one of his own and then added an exclamation mark with a drive into the paint and a big dunk to give the Nuggets a two-point lead.
They might have protected that lead, had they had more success from the free throw line but missed four consecutive attempts and the Hawks took a 20-19 lead into the break.
Wright slammed in another dunk shortly after the resumption to add another two points to his first-quarter haul of 11 points and, with the Nuggets playing much tighter defence, they took a 41-35 lead into halftime.
Wright helped ease the pain of seeing the captain leave the court with a three-pointer and the gap grew with some good hustle under the hoop from Tisby.
When back-up point guard James Ross drew his fourth foul midway through the period, the Nuggets were forced to ask Riki Buckrell to take the ball up court.
He did a mighty job but the Hawks clawed their way back into the match.
A healthy lead was turned into a three-point deficit for the home side and, with no sign of Dickel, the game was slipping away from the Nuggets.
The Nuggets fall to 3-5 but it was arguably their best performance at home in eight years.
In the other games last night, the Wellington Saints beat the Nelson Giants 102-95 in Wellington and the Taranaki Mountain Airs beat the Harbour Heat 100-77 in New Plymouth.
On Wednesday night the Auckland Pirates dispatched the Manawatu Jets 96-83 at home.
Hawks v Nuggets
The scores
Hawks 82
Paora Winitana 24, Everard Bartlett 17
Nuggets 72
Akeem Wright 24, Antoine Tisby 21
Quarter 20-19, halftime 35-41, third quarter 59-56.
