FOR the Bendigo Braves men, it all comes down to Saturday's night clash against Geelong Supercats.
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But not even a win over the fourth-placed Supercats will guarantee the Braves, under first-year coach David Hogan, a place in the inaugural NBL1 finals, nor will a loss rule them out of contention either.
They will have to sweat on a bunch of results involving a raft of teams chasing four open finals spots.
It's why Hogan, who has guided the team to a 10-9 record to date, believes there is no other scenario for his team to contemplate other than a win in Geelong.
"As we have said at training this week, we can only control what we can do - if we win, hopefully the rest takes care of itself," he said.
Hogan conceded it was somewhat disappointing the Braves had not already sealed their finals fate, but can take comfort that there are plenty of teams in the same boat, in a convincing sign of a tough and evenly-matched league.
"We probably let ourselves a little bit down last Friday night against Albury, if we had have won that we were probably in," he said.
"In saying that, the other seven results we needed to go our way lat week, zero went our way.
"That was unlucky, but at the same time it's a great challenge. If we do win (against Geelong) it's basically playing a mini-final before the final if we can make it."
A 93-82 loss to Albury-Wodonga was preceded by a gritty 80-78 win at Knox, highlighted by a dominant 26 points and 12 rebounds from Ray Turner.
Hogan confirmed the American 'ready to go' after tweaking his knee in the loss at Albury.
The coach is anticipating a hostile reception for the Braves at Geelong Arena, with the match being sold out a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile, the Braves women will be without Tessa Lavey and Tess Madgen (attending an Opals camp in Phoenix) for their top of the table clash against the Supercats.
The Braves (18-1) will cement top spot and home court advantage through the playoffs with a win, while the Supercats (17-2), who will be minus Sara Blicavs, also in Phoenix, can do likewise with a victory.
Geelong inflicted the Braves' sole loss for the season, winning 111-95 at Bendigo Stadium in May, before the arrival of American import Becca Tobin.
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