Bullets rocked by Prather injury

Just when the Brisbane Bullets thought their night on the Gold Coast couldn’t get any tougher, superstar Casey Prather went down with what looked like a knee injury.

All anyone can do now is hope it’s not as serious as it appeared in the moment.

Despite already being a three-time champion and former All First Team selection, Prather has arguably been in the best form of his NBL career this season.

That level of play continued on Wednesday night even as Brisbane fell 37 points behind the New Zealand Breakers and trailed by 32 at the half.

Prather had 16 points by the break and eventually finished with 26, plus 8 assists and 2 steals.

But three minutes into the fourth quarter, after scoring his final bucket of the game, he landed awkwardly on his knee and instantly knew something wasn’t right.

Given his history before arriving in Brisbane midway through NBL24, he had a sense of how serious the injury might be. But it was still far too early post match for any clear prognosis.

"Not at this time (an update) ... we talk about brotherhood and obviously we get around him," coach Stu Lash said.

"We love him and will support him, and we'll see what the next 24 48 hours bring on that.

"Sometimes you just need a day or two to really evaluate it, get it looked at and obviously it was his knee so we hope for the best, and we will pray for him."

It was difficult for Lash to face the media so soon after the game while trying to process a possible injury to Prather. But he wasn’t prepared to offer his team any excuses for their performance.

"It's hard, it's hard because he's a great person and a great ambassador for the club, and he's a leader for us," Lash said.

"The one thing this group has proven time and time again this year is that when our backs are up against the wall, we find a way.

"But make no mistake, tonight was an embarrassment for our fans. It's just not good enough, not tough enough, not physical enough and if we're going to play like this, we're going to be in for a long season."

"We believe in every guy in this group still and I told them that if they don’t have a belief that we can go into Melbourne on Saturday and get a win, don't even show up on Friday."

Breakers coach Petteri Koponen also paused after the game to send his best wishes to Prather.

"I want to say also that I hope really that Casey Prather is alright, it's never great to see a player like him, or any player, go down," Koponen said.

"He's one of the best players in this league and let's just hope that he's going to be alright, and he can come back soon."

Even Breakers Next Star Karim Lopez, who hit three three pointers on the night including banking one in on his way to 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, ended the post-game press conference with a message for Prather.

"Prayers up for Casey," he said.