Four losses from six games has the Perth Wildcats in danger of slipping out of the top four on the NBL ladder.
And now Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has called on his experienced players to step up ahead of Thursday's game against the Bullets.
Gleeson also expects the Wildcats' guards to better organise the team's offense in the absence of captain Damian Martin.
After an 89-85 home loss to the Illawarra Hawks on Sunday, their second consecutive defeat, Gleeson pointed to a lack of consistency hurting his side.
The NBL reigning premiers have also lost their past two home games and since Martin was sidelined in round six with a knee injury, they have lost three of four overall.
"This is game No.11, and we're still being inconsistent, especially from a senior team perspective," Gleeson said.
"And guys that have been around here for a while are very up and down, which is a concern.
"If you don't play with effort and intensity you're going to get beaten in this league.
"(The Hawks) played harder that we did; that's disappointing especially coming off a Sydney game (last week), when we got beaten by double figures.
"We have some issues to fix up."
The Bullets beat the Wildcats in round one in Brisbane, with Perth managing only 65 points, led by 18 from Jameel McKay.
The Wildcats were badly beaten on the boards by Illawarra but to Gleeson there were other areas just as concerning.
"Our effort level was disappointing on the glass; we weren't moving the ball well and didn't set enough screens," he said about the loss to the Hawks.
"A lot of the time we looked disorganised and looked like we have never played organised basketball before.
"The point-guards are going to have to step up.
"Perth led the Hawks 22-8 after five minutes of Sunday's game, but led by only five points at the first break after the Wildcats bench failed to sustain the effort of the team's starting five.
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