Brisbane Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis did not see the poor performance his side produced against the Perth Wildcats on Friday night coming.
Despite being out of finals contention and having lost 11 of their previous 14 games, Lemanis was not expect such a poor start in Perth, nor a 31-point blowout.
After the Bullets had led 15-13 in the opening term the Wildcats set up the win with a run of 16-5 to lead 29-20 at the first break.
"I thought the mindset with which we approached the first quarter was poor, or lacking," Lemanis said.
"Until this point, even through some of the struggles we've had, I have been proud of the way we have continued to play and the intent with which we have come out to play.
"Tonight, I thought we didn't have that same intent about us and that was evident in the defensive breakdowns.
"I wasn't anticipating it because we have been great all week at practice. I know some reporters came out to Wednesday's practice and they made the comment - 'wow you guys are still really going at it'.
The Bullets' defence was poor in the opening term, allowing Wildcats import Bryce Cotton to score 12 points (all from beyond the three-point line, at 100 per cent) and Matt Knight to get under the ring for his seven points.
Those struggles referred to by Lemanis are injuries to starting trio Adam Gibson, Anthony Petrie and Craig Bairstow and the recent sacking of import Jermaine Beal.
After making the long trip to Perth for their second last game of a long season, the club's first in the NBL since 2008, the body language from the players was off from the first buzzer.
It improved after half-time, but by then the damage had been done.
The task ahead of Lemanis is to get Brisbane's mindset back on the job one last time, when they finish their campaign with an away clash at Illawarra next weekend against the second-placed Hawks.
Bullets forward Mitch Young says that injuries are no excuse for their performance and that the unavailability of those players was not talked about.
"We're just trying to build a winning culture," he said.
"Credit to (Perth); they have been playing together for a few years, there is a winning culture here. They play well tonight and that's where we are trying to go."
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