The incentive is high for Cairns as they travel to Adelaide ahead of Saturday's crunch NBL clash against the 36ers.
The Taipans are already a chance of making the finals if results go their way after their 89-85 win over the 36ers in Cairns on Thursday, but they can concrete a spot in the finals with a win on Saturday.
And that's what driving Taipans coach Aaron Fearne.
"This is what you play for, this is a privilege to have this pressure," said Fearne. "We are in with a chance and I'm really proud."
Adelaide still can't finish anywhere but first despite looking down the barrel of four consecutive defeats to finish the regular season.
Coach Joey Wright made the decision to sub his starting five out of the game in the fourth quarter in Cairns despite the fact his team were only trailing by two points.
"We wanted to test some guys that we know will get minutes come the playoffs and I thought our young guys played well under the pressure," Wright said.
Fearne says there's no chance the 36ers won't go all out on Saturday night on their home court.
"We've got to be better on Saturday than we were tonight but we'll go out and give it a big old swing," Fearne said.
There were rumours 36ers star import Jerome Randle could miss Thursday's match in Cairns after skipping training with a knee complaint but the pint-sized point guard suited up, playing 11 minutes and scoring 4 points.
"He'll play (on Saturday), still not the minutes he's been playing but hopefully he can play some more," said Wright.
Fearne reflected on what an achievement it would be for the Taipans to make their first finals series since the 2014-15 season.
"We're a small market team, we're not supposed to be a playoff team but we've fought really hard and we are right there on the doorstep," he said.
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