The Cairns Taipans have officially got the business-end blues as final-term fade-outs highlight their slide from second to eighth on the NBL ladder on the back of six losses from their past seven matches.
During this horror stretch they have averaged fewer than 17 points in the final term while conceding 22. This has cost them dearly with four potential wins slipping through their fingers when they were either level or ahead coming into the final term, including giving up three-quarter-time leads on the road of nine to Wollongong, six to Perth and five to Melbourne.
Coach Alan Black is frustrated at this ongoing trend and struggling to find answers.
"We've looked at every possible angle that could be causing that. At the end of the day it's other teams making it happen and we're not," he said.
"We've looked at what we're running, we've looked at who's running it. We've done a number of things but we haven't come up with the answers at this stage."
"The season is quickly getting away. At 6-9 we are already putting a lot of pressure on ourselves."
Ironically the Taipans' one win during this period was on the road against the 36ers when Darnell Mee hit a final-second jumper to snatch victory as the Snakes outscored their hosts by nine in the final term, 20-11.
But it's been a rare highlight for the Cairns team during a tough month.
The Taipans had high hopes for the season and even with some ageing stars they still have plenty of skill and experience and expected to be in the upper echelon of teams. But the cruel injury to Stephen Black has amplified their challenge in getting the job done down the stretch.
The coach lamented the inability of his star players to step up when games are on the line.
"At the end of the game we really need our big-time players to step up and get it done," Black stated.
"We've got experience, we've got people who have won championships, we've got all-stars, we've got people who can play basketball and collectively we've got to do a better job of doing just that."
The Taipans will round out a tough seven matches in 21 days by facing the Dragons in Melbourne on Wednesday before returning to Cairns to host the Crocs in the big North Queensland derby on Saturday night.