Season alive: McDonald insists “we’ve got a chance”

At six wins and 15 losses, the Brisbane Bullets face an almighty uphill task to play Finals.

But try telling Darryl McDonald that. A three-time NBL champion as a player, D-Mac knows how to win, and when it comes to calling a season “over”, it’s simply not in his vocabulary.

The Bullets currently sit three games outside the top six, but have shown encouraging signs since McDonald stepped in as interim coach, defeating New Zealand and falling just short against Melbourne in successive games.

They have also added former Phoenix import Hunter Maldonado in a bid to spark a late-season surge.

“There’s a reason we’re bringing him in. I still think we’ve got a chance,” McDonald said after the loss to Melbourne.

“I don’t think we’re out of it until we’re actually out of it.

“(He’s) another ball carrier, another defender, but being able to get us into offense, get downhill and get guys shots.”

A 15-2 run to open the fourth quarter against Melbourne showed just what the Bullets are capable of, and McDonald is eager to turn those flashes into wins.

“We’ve got to fight every game. These close ones, we’ve got to try and come up with some of these wins and put pressure on the teams we’re chasing,” he said.

“I put on my board earlier, 'let’s not get outworked, don’t get outhustled'. That’s what they (United) do, that’s what they do well. Last time we played them they killed us on the boards the same way. We gave ourselves a chance, but I’m not in the business of being happy that we came close. It’s only about winning for me.

“There’s some fun to it, but I don’t like losing. I don’t care who we play. I love game planning against these guys, but I’m struggling with the losing. We’ve got to find ways to get wins.”

Brisbane will have another opportunity to prove its credentials on Tuesday night when it travels to Qudos Bank Arena to take on Sydney.

From here on in, every game is like a mini-final.

McDonald is hopeful Maldonado will be available to make his Bullets debut in another must-win game.

“It’s the holidays and there’s clearances and all that stuff … if his clearance gets through and he’s available, he’ll definitely be playing,” he added.