The Otago Nuggets melted away against an understrength Auckland Tuatara side in Auckland tonight.
They put the oops in offence and the delicate in defence.
The 102-70 anaemic loss has put a big dent in their slim playoff prospects.
The Nuggets (6-10) desperately needed a win to keep up with the Nelson Giants (7-9), who are also gunning for the final playoff spot.
The Tuatara (14-3) are safely through to the playoffs, though.
They spread the scoring. All the starters clocked double figures.
Braydon Iuli and Tukaha Cooper top-scored with 20 points. Charlie Dalton was good value for his 19 points.
And Rob Loe was not far off a triple double. He landed 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and made seven assists.
Zaccheus Darko-Kelly top-scored for the misfiring Nuggets with 19.
Both teams fielded depleted line-ups. The Tuatara were missing Tall Blacks trio Reuben Te Rangi, Corey Webster and Tom Vodanovich, while the Nuggets were without Ben Henshall and Dontae Russo-Nance.
Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere was also missing from the sideline. He has Covid and had to skip the trip north.
Iuli banked back-to-back baskets for the home side to open the scoring.
The Nuggets responded with a three from the corner from Darcy Knox.
Dalton injected himself into the game with a couple of lay-ups. The Tuatara were playing the game at a high pace.
The Nuggets like to play with tempo as well and the opening exchanges offered plenty of action.
Kimani Lawrence was not getting the ball to drop though, but Darko-Kelly was rattling off the shots and his pace in transition was proving a big asset initially.
Cooper drilled a brace of three pointers to close the small gap the Nuggets had opened.
And Cam Gliddon finally connected with a three to put the home side in front 23-21 at the break.
Loe made a big stride to the basket early in the second period. He was doing a tremendous job shutting down Lawrence. But he had a big role on offence as well and on cue he dropped in a three-pointer.
The Nuggets trailed by five and they needed a spark.
Knox stuck a mid-range jumper and hit a three as well. But basically the Nuggets faded away on offence and doubled up by allowing some cheap baskets at the other end.
The Tuatara outscored their opponent 24-12 in the period to establish a chunky 47-33 lead at halftime.
Loe lifted his work rate on offence in the third quarter. The former Tall Black centre has an inside-outside game which presented the Nuggets with a massive defensive challenge
Cooper swished in another from deep as the lead blew out to more than 20, and Iuli finished the period with five quick points.
The Nuggets trailed 76-55 with 10 minutes remaining. The game was gone.
Dalton hit an early three to underline just how far gone it was.
In the Rapid League game the Nuggets won 26-16. Josh Aitcheson starred with 14 points and six rebounds.
The scores
Auckland Tuatara 102 (Tukaha Cooper 20, Braydon Iuli 20), Otago Nuggets 70 (Zaccheus Darko-Kelly 19, Kimani Lawrence 11). Quarter scores: 23-21, 47-33, 76-55.
