Just when it seemed their luck couldn't get any worse, the Brisbane Bullets have almost certainly lost experienced backcourt general Adam Gibson for the rest of the season.
Gibson, a two-time NBL champion, suffered a calf injury in the closing stages of his team's 85-80 road loss to the Illawarra Hawks and has been added to a list which already includes key forwards Cam Bairstow and Anthony Petrie.
The Bullets dropped to 9-12 with their third loss in as many meetings with the Hawks and will be hard-pressed to cover for Gibson over their final seven games.
"It's likely to be season-ending," Brisbane coach Andrej Lemanis said.
"We'll get scans on it [on Saturday] but he said he heard a pop in it and that's never a good sign if you can actually hear it go."
The Bullets remain in the finals race, though a loss to New Zealand at home on Sunday will leave them fighting a much greater uphill battle.
Lemanis will put his trust in some of his team's lesser lights down the home stretch of the regular season.
"We've had to change people's positions and play a different way, and people are stepping up to the challenges. It'll happen again and other people will get more court time and opportunities," he said.
"We're hanging together and we're working our way through some adversity. All we can do is stay in the moment and control what we can control.
"You can't get lost in the whole wins and losses thing. We need to stay true to the process and each other and play with an energy we can proud of."
Illawarra boosted their record to 12-10 with the come-from-behind victory and jumped back into second spot.
"Some people might think we might've got out of jail, but I think we showed a lot of heart and character to get back and win," Hawks coach Rob Beveridge said.
"I didn't think it was a fluke. Sometimes you've gotta make your own luck and we worked our butts off and kept chipping away."
