Melbourne United coach Dean Demopoulos insists that a third narrow loss to the Perth Wildcats has not ended his side's chances of playing NBL finals.
United missed two shots in the dying seconds of the game at Perth Arena on Saturday night to lose to the Wildcats 73-71.
The result was the difference between Melbourne sitting seventh on the ladder and third.
Their three narrowest losses this season - all by three points or less - have all been at the hands of Perth.
Demopoulos said that although he was proud of the game his side produced against the reigning NBL champions, the two-point margin didn't make losing the game any easier.
"Losing is losing," he said bluntly.
"I get frustrated losing by one, or 101. It makes no difference to me, it's still frustrating.
"We played a good game tonight; it wasn't enough, we're not satisfied.
"But it's not the end of the world and not the end of the season. There are still four games to go and we plan to do our best to win all four."
Those games are against Sydney (away) and Illawarra (home) next weekend and then New Zealand (away) and Perth (home) to finish the home and away season.
Melbourne will need every second of the week it has to prepare for Sydney after a physical clash against Perth that Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson said had finals intensity.
Casper Ware missed the last three minutes of the second half on Saturday night while he received treatment for a sore knee that he received when he was called for a charge.
He returned to start the second half and finished the game. His six points in the final term almost got his side home.
David Andersen also made his return to the court on Saturday night after sitting on the sidelines since December 9 with a knee injury - sustained in the round 10 loss in Perth.
