Guard CJ Bruton hopes the frank assessment he delivered to his teammates in practice will spark the New Zealand Breakers as they battle to keep alive their ambitions of a fourth NBL title.
The Breakers sit sixth on the table with a 9-14 record and face having to win their last five matches to make the playoffs.
They are back in action on Thursday night, when they host bottom-of-the-table Townsville, whom they trail 2-1 in games, and 16 points in differential, in the two teams' season series.
Near the end of Breakers training on Wednesday, there were stern words spoken by some senior players during a squad huddle.
Bruton was particularly forthright over the defeats away to Wollongong and Adelaide last weekend and the effort in the practice session.
He said afterwards that he hoped his words had the desired effect against the Crocodiles.
"Just to see that practice, I didn't think it was as intense as it needed to be and we didn't get the job done," he said.
"Then again, we've had quite a few days like that, not only at practice, but in a game. You can only say so much and it comes on each individual."
Bruton, 38, is nearing to the end of his sixth and final season with the Breakers.
He has been involved in six title-winning campaigns during a 19-year career, including the Breakers' successes of the past three seasons, and his desire for one more championship hasn't dimmed.
The Breakers have been largely in catch-up mode this season as they adjusted to referees being far stricter on physical contact.
Despite the odds, Bruton believed the four-peat was still achievable.
"For sure, and the tougher ones are even more special," he said.
"When you have the injuries we've had during the season, the fight-back, going for four, the league getting stronger, the league changing the rules - everything plays its part.
"So it's going to be more rewarding, this one."
